Super Mario Bros.

Over thirty years later, 1993's "Super Mario Bros." remains one of the most fascinating case studies in "missing the point" to have ever emerged from a major studio. A film that is such a bizarre misfire that it's genuinely entertaining to watch for just how darned weird it is. By the time the movie came out, Super Mario had been well-established with dozens of game appearances, and about a half-dozen different shows and animated films. And in virtually every instance, there was a lot of consistency... Mario and Luigi were boisterous plumbers who needed to save the magical Mushroom Kingdom and its princess Peach from an evil lizard-king known as Bowser. The live-action movie on the other hand? Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi (John Leguizamo) are adoptive father-son figures who are pulled into a dark, dank post-apocalyptic nightmare-world called "Dinohattan" to save a woman named Daisy (Samantha Mathis) from a germaphobe tyrant (Dennis Hopper) who wants to merge his dimension with Earth by uniting two pieces of an ancient asteroid. All in a bid to... turn humans into monkeys? The stories behind this film's production are almost legendary, with seemingly everyone having a different take on how to translate the game into a movie, and the creators at Nintendo being relatively hands-off. (A mistake they would not repeat with the far superior 2023 animated movie.) And as a result, we ended up with quite a messy little film that bombed on release, but has slowly garnered a dedicated cult-following over the years. Like others in my age-range (adults in their 30s-40s who grew up in the 80s and 90s), this is a film that I have a lot of nostalgia for. For the longest time, this was the only Super Mario movie there was. And many of us grew up watching it, oblivious to its faults because we were too young to care. And Australian boutique distributor Umbrella has given it what is perhaps one of the most beautiful and comprehensive releases with their two separate 4K sets. (I opted to go for the slightly cheaper "1-Up" edition, which largely has everything from the slightly more expensive set, minutes a few minor collectibles.) To start, if you're in the United States, this set will work in your R1 players. The 4K disc is region-free as most 4K discs are, while the Blu-Ray discs are technically region-coded B, but have a nifty little coding quirk allowing them to play in American R1/A players. (This seems to be fairly common with many Australian boutique releases.) So if you want to pick this up but you're in the US, don't fear... it'll work perfectly! The 4K transfer is absolutely fantastic. This is probably the best the film will ever look on a home-video release, and it feels near cinema-quality. Scenes display clear sharpness with a nice amount of natural film grain present, while colors are faithful to the original release, albeit with a nice boost in vibrance compared to previous releases on VHS and DVD. Fine details in clothing and backgrounds also blew me away in a few key scenes. And the standard HD Blu-Ray similarly looks phenomenal, and is worth watching even if you can't view the 4K presentation. In terms of extras, it's absolutely mind-blowing how much there is on this release. Among other things, this release contains: 4 Audio Commentary Tracks Deleted Scenes Vintage and Newly Created Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes and Interviews And even a digitized VHS screener of an early cut of the film containing some minor alterations and a temp-score containing a slew of music from other feature films. Also included are a multi-hundred page book with articles, photos and early designs along with a second book containing two fairly different early drafts of the script, along with a reprint of a 1993 magazine about the movie and art-cards. If you're a fan of this movie, there's really not much else you could hope for. The discs alone are worth the purchase, and the extra books and art-cards just sweeten the pot even more. 5 out of 5. One of the best 4K releases I own for one of the weirdest films I've ever seen.

The 4k part of it is decently quality, pretty good actually. The screener rip on the 2nd disc is meh, quality wise I've seen way better for a vhs rip, but what bugs me the most is the cropped aspect. Someone obviously didn't know what they were doing. But it's better then not having it at all. Someday maybe someone will do it right. Heck I'd doit if I had the tape. 4/5 stars. As a heads up there's a youtube channel (The Bigger Pictures Film Restoration) that has more on the re-construction of the vhs screener. They never mention they totally botched it of course, but it's supplemental media. And at least the case didn't come with mold in it, like other blurays sometimes do, so that's a positive.

I would've actually given it 4 stars, but just for the DVD itself and not the movie. It was transferred from the VHS and thus is kind of grainy and the more expansive shots aren't quite as sharp as they should be. But here I'm just reviewing the movie itself, so that's where my focus will be. Anyone who is a fan or at least familiar with the original Super Mario Bros. games would naturally be in for a surprise when seeing this movie from 1993. Both share the same general "story" in which the plumber Mario brothers travel worlds and lands to save a princess from a Koopa monster in its tower. But that's where the surface-level similarities end. With this movie, we get a sci-fi/action/comedy involving Earth being split into two dimensions, one ruled by us, the human race, and the other by an evolved civilization of dinosaur people. Daisy (not Peach) is a girl from the dinosaur dimension but grew up in the human dimension, yet gets kidnapped back to her home dimension per orders of Koopa (Dennis Hopper), here a military dictator. He needs Daisy's crystal to help merge both dimensions so he can rule over both worlds. He has the devo guns to make it possible, weaponry that would literally de-evolve anyone who gets in his way into primates (or normal dinosaurs), and the army of Goombas (seven-foot dinos similar to stormtroopers, in that they're cool-looking if just slightly more useless) to back him up. Daisy was Luigi's romantic interest (Mario already has a girlfriend), and thus both brothers go after Daisy into the dinosaur world, into a city that's a savage, more brutal version of New York City (the movie set of which was constructed inside an abandoned cement factory and still looks kick-ass even today), and take it upon themselves to both save the girl as well as their world. This movie flopped at the box office (its release coinciding with Jurassic Park didn't help much), and it was an even lesser hit with fans of the game at the time. At a glance it appeared to be absolutely nothing like the game, instead just taking names and creating an alien story that resembled very little to the source material. Historically, it's the first film adaptation of a video game ever made in North America, but since it made such a horrible first impression, it was thus regarded as a horrible film, and thus since then forever carried the stigma of being the "worst video game movie ever." It was a popular stigma that just never went away, and those who've never seen the movie and only heard of its reputation wouldn't have thought otherwise. Believe it or not, one of the fans' biggest complaints, among other things that would've ruined the movie for them, was Mario having the signature moustache, but Luigi did not. But Mario and Luigi are supposed to have a big brother/little brother dynamic to begin with, so Mario having a moustache to make him seem older and Luigi not having to make him seem younger actually works. Also, the characters are apparently supposed to be Italian-Americans. Bob Hoskins, who plays Mario, is natively a Brit, but he dons a convincing Brooklyn accent that makes it easier to suspend disbelief. However, John Leguizamo, who plays Luigi, is still clearly a Latino, a different ethnicity from Mario. But there is a double-date dinner scene where it was implied that Luigi was actually adopted into Mario's family, so while they are brothers to each other, Luigi also looks up to Mario as a father figure. As far as story setup goes before we launch into the inter-dimensional journey, it's definitely a short one, but they somehow make each and every moment count in establishing who Mario and Luigi are, what they mean to each other as family, and we're already rooting for them as they go on their adventure and along for the ride. Same thing with the dinosaur world. As the movie keeps its story rolling, we only get to see snippets here and there of the dinosaur peoples' city life, but even those snippets are still telling as long as you notice them (better yet on repeat viewings). For example, if you were to get run over by one of the electric cars and your body gets stuck on the hood, your body would get left there to rot into a skeleton. A very intriguing world in a darkly humorous way. One last thing--it would be wrong to say that the movie is absolutely nothing like the games. It actually takes names, characters, objects, and elements from the games and incorporates them into the movie's story in often subtle and clever ways, some more so than others. In the game, Mario is able to jump great distances. In the movie, Stomper boots enable him this ability. In the game, Mario hurls fireballs. In the movie, there are flame-throwers that shoot fireballs. Although Yoshi was more of an iguana in the games, in the movie he's a pygmy T-Rex (which also still looks awesome even today), yet both versions still have that whip-like tongue. In both the games and the movie, Mario and Koopa face off on a bridge, and Koopa winds up inside a floating tub-thing far out of Mario's reach. Over time and to this day, Super Mario Bros. has a developed cult fanbase--of which I'm a part of--that see it as an underappreciated and misunderstood film. If you ask me, for its story and all its elements, it's very imaginative and inventive, along similar lines of Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice, a kind of entertainment that personally appeals to me. Sure it has its flaws, but even those are part of the movie's charm for the time it came out. Behind the scenes, the production was chaotic and stressing due to a variety of factors, and the actors were waiting for all of it to be over (the two stars repeatedly took shots between takes just to get through the shoot). Despite that, the actors still gave it their all, so for as wild and crazy as the movie gets, it's incredibly well-acted, and it's amazing how well put together the movie became in the end. The best thing they can do is give this movie a proper, sharper DVD release, and if they can do that, they should consider a Blu-Ray release for its fans. Until then, this is the best we can get. When the movie is exciting, it's exciting. When it's intriguing, it's intriguing. When it's funny (and it definitely is), it's funny. And when it's fun, it's just plain good ole' fun for what it is and what it was meant to be.

You read that right: I think that this film is good, and not in a "so bad it's good" type of way. Anyway, I got this for somebody for Christmas, but I've watched it more than enough times to review it. For starters, I don't think it's the worst conceivable implementation of the Super Mario Bros. universe. Think about it: In the original Mario Bros. arcade game, Mario and Luigi are plumbers from New York. What are they in this film? Plumbers from New York! Imagine that. The films tries to do something that Nintendo has never even attempted in reconciling Mario Bros. with Super Mario Bros. (Yes, I know that Yoshi's Island makes the film's idea impossible, but that game wasn't out when this movie released.). Also, they went as far to include Paulina and Daisy, and they spent a few seconds building up Princess Toadstool as this great leader. There's a lot of fan service in the movie, despite some of the (valid) problems Mario fans find with it. I see where people are coming from by hating some of the design choices in this film. King Koopa, Goombas, and Iggy are not human beings. There's nothing in Mario that would imply that they are. I don't know why they didn't at least have King Koopa transform into a dragon or something. But these are small things when you consider the larger film. The reason I like this movie is because the ideas in the story are fairly interesting. There's good trope use. At the beginning of the film, they establish the unborn Daisy as a sort of "child of destiny" by handing her egg off to some nuns. The nuns, of course, believe the child is from God (as opposed to being from otherworldly dinosaur men). You never expected to see something like that out of a Mario film, eh? But it's gets even better as it tells more about how Daisy has always felt "drawn" to dinosaurs, then establishes this alternate world where dinosaurs still reign supreme. I could elaborate more, but I don't want to spoil too much of the story for those who haven't seen it. You have to wonder if David Icke watched this movie and thought, "Sounds real to me!" and came up with his Reptilian theories. Watching this movie from that perspective creates a whole new level of entertainment value for it. Anyway, I think this film is unjustly despised. It's not my favorite movie ever, but I really do love it.

I watched this when I was a kid and it was silly and a lot of fun. I bought the new Mario bros movie for my kids and it was a hit, and a miss for the other. Let me start by saying the 2023 mbm is great, lots of colors, moves like a video game , lots of stimulation. One of my kids loved it because of this. My neuro divergent kid, got 1/3 of the way through and was burned out and finished watching. So. That was the reason I got this classic version. Not so bright, (even though it was made in a time when brightness was the fashion), lots of action but not video game fast, and it's a live action, so people move at people speed. Both kids loved this version just as much and the 2023 version. But with this one, my neuro-spicy unicorn-dragon can make it through the whole movie and not have a meltdown. He enjoys looking at the costumes and the retro detail as well as the gross slime that shows up in some areas. Great movie. Highly recommend for the whole family.

This is one of those movies that drive the critics crazy. They can't figure out what to do with it. After all movies are made to cause a suspension of belief and just plain old entertain. This is funny, actually kind of interesting if a person is into hard scifi, romantic in a silly way, scary if you consider Koopa and is transformation. Yea it is a dinosaur movie. And worth four if not five stars. Now on to a complaint. I purchased a copy at a discount store and it was chopped to pieces. I saw the original movie, yea folks I am over the hill but still can't get enough Scifi, crazy comedy, and scary movies. The store bought version was ruined by whoever did the editing. I can't even grasp why they cut so much of the movie in the places they cut. Scenes that helped make some sense of the craziness were gone leaving me scarmbling to figure out what was cut. The Viewer has to sort of either suspend belief and start over like it was a new movie to them or get angry and find a full uncut version which apparently is very hard to do. I am going to try this version on Amazon and see what happens. If it is cut like the other one, I will really be p. o'ed. The price is right but if the full story isn't there, whats the point, right? Good movie over all.

Movie plays.

In a fit of nostalgia, we really wanted to watch the Super Mario Brothers. It turns out you cannot stream it, and the only option available is to order a physical copy. It proved to be even more goofy and entertaining than my husband and I recalled, although we may have been slightly more entertained than our 30-something son. Assuming you still have a DVD player and are a fan of Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, or Dennis Hopper, you might want to add it to your collection. It’s rated PG and runs 104 minutes.

NOTE: This review was originally posted on the Super Mario Bros. Movie Archive website (http://www.smbmovie.com). I'm reposting it here for anyone checking out the Blu-Ray on Amazon! --Video Quality-- Some of the other reviews I've read online focus quite a bit on what the reviewer thinks about Super Mario Bros. as a film, without really touching on the technical aspects of the Blu-Ray. This review isn't going to have any of that. I'll go deep into all the technical aspects of the release and all of the special features. So, how does the video quality match up against previous releases? The difference is quite a dramatic one. This website has a long track record of bashing the original 2003 Disney DVD release because of its strange non-anamorphic, full frame widescreen presentation. Second Sight did a new anamorphic transfer for this Blu-Ray release, and it looks fantastic. The film looks vivid and sharp. The added detail of the high-resolution transfer finally allows us to see details and easter eggs that we've never seen before. I don't think I'll be the last person freeze-framing through this thing--literally each scene has something new to discover. Check out the SMB Archive's DVD to Blu-Ray comparison video for a closer look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLa3G2bULwo Print damage artifacts (abundant in the DVD) are a lot less common. Black levels seem deep and pure, which is a huge help since many scenes in the film take place on the neon-centric Dinohattan streets or in the dark corridors of Koopa's Tower. Upon closer comparison to the original DVD, it also looks like the Blu-Ray offers a marked difference in the color grading. Many scenes on the original DVD had some over-saturated pinks and blues that seemed to be overlaid on the scenes. On the Blu-Ray, the colors seem more standardized and pure, but still pop from the screen when appropriate. In almost every way possible, it's a completely different looking film than we've grown accustomed to over the years, and that's a very good thing. And in case you're wondering, the way the film is presented on this Blu-Ray (corrected colors and all) is what we've experienced during our theatrical screening events, which darn near reassures me that this is exactly the way the film was intended to be seen. --Audio Quality-- If you thought that the video quality would be the only major selling point for this release, think again. Second Sight pulled out all the stops and licensed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for this release. When Steven and I watched the film on the big screen for the first time during our initial 19th anniversary screening, the audio quality blew us away, even more than the video. Personally, when I was watching the old VHS or DVD releases, I could imagine what kind of quality jump that an HD video transfer could provide. But with audio, I had no idea what I was missing out on. During the theatrical screening, there was all sorts of added flair that greatly enhanced the experience. The Stereo PCM mix sounds much better compared to the DVD. The sound does has more depth to it though, with clear dialogue and balanced score and sound effects. The 5.1 DTS-HD sound mix is also a step-up. It's not as crisp as some newer films and doesn't utilize all of the channels as well as I'd hoped, but again, it's better than what we got on the old DVD and the Stereo PCM mix. --Special Features-- The experience doesn't just stop with the film itself, either. This release also includes an extensive amount of special features, some of which (I know) will be the main reason some fans will pick this up. Included on the disc is the 60-minute "This Ain't No Video Game" Documentary, the original "Making Of" featurette, the original trailer, the original electronic press kit, and a series of behind-the-scenes and storyboard galleries. Obviously the biggest and most hyped special feature is the "This Ain't No Video Game" documentary. It features quite an extensive list of people with whom new interviews were recorded: Co-directors Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, Producer Roland Joffé, Actors John Leguizamo and Richard Edson, Writer Parker Bennett, Production Designer David L. Snyder, Art Director Walter P. Martishius, FX Artists Paul Elliot, Vincent Guastini and Rob Burman, Visual FX Designer Chris Woods, Editor Mark Goldblatt and Creature Designer Patrick Tatopoulos. The documentary also features Archival interviews with Bob Hoskins and Jake Eberts. Overall, the documentary provides an excellent view into the production, reception, and legacy of the film. Since 20 years have passed, many of the people interviewed are able to speak openly and thoroughly about their experience. You'll also hear commentary on what they think of Super Mario Bros. now and how popular opinion has shifted to provide the film its cult classic status. And, the documentary is featured in 1080p HD quality to boot! The original "Making Of" featurette was produced to promote the film upon its release in 1993. The 18-minute featurette contains archival interviews with many cast and crew members, and has lots of footage from the filming. Of course, compared to the new documentary, the feature has a more positive slant towards the film, since it's meant to be a promotional piece. In case you were wondering, the featurette is very similar to the "Behind the Scenes" feature included with the VHS Screener. This is the full, complete version and even has some footage from deleted scenes if you know what you're looking for. If you wanted even more behind-the-scenes footage, the original Electronic Press Kit should fit the bill nicely. It's 30 minutes of footage loaded with interview featurettes, soundbites, actual B-Roll footage from filming, movie clips, and a trailer. These EPKs were sent to TV studios for them to utilize while reporting the film. It's an incredible rarity to get the entire thing in its complete form. Finally, the BTS and Storyboard galleries are presented as video slideshows that will take you through a particular scene or aspect of production. Some of the storyboards feature scenes from some of the earlier, more adult-oriented drafts (featuring an Schwarzenneger-esque Koopa). The Walter Martishius set design photos are particularly stunning--they're very moody and interesting to see how he incorporated game characters and motifs into Dinohattan structures. In short, it's nice to be able to pick your favorite aspect of the film's production, sit back, and watch a slideshow of the content. --Final Thoughts-- No, there aren't any full deleted scenes (other than the ones contained in the EPK). And yes, it's a Region B release, so if you don't live in the UK it'll be a bit of a hassle to get it working. Overall, Second Sight has really outdone themselves with this release. As fans, we've wanted a high-definition transfer of the film for ages--something we could appreciate and enjoy for years to come. But with this Blu-Ray, we've gotten so much more than that. Not only did we get an excellent version of the film, but we got a ridiculous amount of special features that most big-budget films don't even get nowadays. Without a doubt, it's the definitive Super Mario Bros. experience. If you're a fan, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. For more information about this Blu-Ray or the Super Mario Bros. Film, check out the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive website at http://www.smbmovie.com!

Damals total verrissen, aber aus heutiger Sicht ein absoluter Hammer. Man darf es halt nicht so sehr als "Super Mario"-Film sehen. Es kratzt nur am Rande an der Geschichte von Super Mario. Aber an dem Film ist so viel auf eine gute Art bescheuert, dass es einfach nur Spaß macht, ihn zu schauen. Schaut Euch mal den Trailer auf Youtube an und die ganzen Explosionen, dann wisst ihr, worum es geht. Also nicht zu ernst nehmen und beim anschauen mal auf die ganzen Details achten, wie zum Beispiel, dass die Autos in Koopers Welt scheinbar keine Bremsen haben. Wer einen ernsthaften Film erwartet, sollte natürlich vom Kauf eher absehen, aber sonst ist das Ding echt eine Perle.

Such a great movie!! And no one from this century has ever even seen it. I couldn’t get my younger family members to turn away though!! It’s true the 90s were the best time for movies.

Vi esta película alquilada del videoclub en VHS y recuerdo que no era como el videojuego quedándome un recuerdo no muy bueno.Hoy la e adquirido por puro coleccionismo y por formar parte de mi infancia y al verla de nuevo otra vez sin recordar nada sólo puedo soltar elogios .No es fiel al videojuego pero acaso importa? Es una película muy entretenida con un presupuesto que se hace notar para la "época" .Me soprende que no sea mas cutre de lo que recordaba y me haya acabado entreteniendo.No ay que tomarselo como SUPER MARIO BROS" sino como una pelicula de aventuras.El precio de 12 euros es alto pero la nostalgia y tenerla en mi videoteca en formato fisico para volver a verla lo vale.

Excelente película, dure más de 25 años sin poder verla de nuevo, solo la recuerdo cuando salía en la TV, por eso cuando la vi aquí no dudé en comprarla, aunque si bien es una mala adaptación es nostalgia pura para mi, tomen en cuenta que no viene con doblaje ni subtítulos, solo en inglés y es región 1, cosa que no fue problema para ni pero para algunos quizá si