The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been hyped up as the first true big screen adaptation of its
source material but video game fans who have been around since the 90's know that isn't the
case. Mario and Luigi were also the stars of the 1993 film Super Mario Bros. which,
despite being critically massacred, has found a cult audience years later praising
it for its ironic entertainment value. We certainly enjoy both films albeit for much
different reasons which has prompted us to compare what aspects each film adapted
from the games to determine what worked in one case but didn’t in the other.
I'm Caleb with WickedBinge and this is The Super Mario Bros. Movie vs. Super Mario Bros. (1993).
To start this video off, we're going to be delving into how each film handled the main protagonist,
Mario. The titular plumber was played by the late great Bob Hoskins in 1993 who is probably
best known for his role as Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Many people deemed Hoskins
an odd choice to play an Italian plumber but this was before Charles Martinet breathed new life into
the character with his performance so there wasn't really a standard to go by as of yet. Chris Pratt,
on the other hand, received mountains more criticism as a casting choice, partially for
being so far from what we had become accustomed to. This is a case where both actors seemed like
a square peg to begin with and seeing the final products, while neither actor did a bad job,
they still wouldn’t be our first choices. Mario isn't exactly a complicated or deep character in
the first place so we're not going to act like his emotional journey in either film was particularly
noteworthy or interesting. Still, we have to give credit to the new film for giving
us a more accurate portrayal and for Chris Pratt’s Brooklyn accent for not being nearly
as bad as we thought it was going to be. Of course, we can't forget the deuteragonist
of each film, Luigi. Luigi had the same problem as Mario in 1993 with not having many definitive
personality traits to adapt as of yet. As a result, the screenwriters felt they could do
whatever they wanted and they certainly did by making Luigi much younger and more adolescent
than Mario. Over the years, Luigi as a character has actually received a lot more development than
this brother, being portrayed as a high strung, easily frightened reluctant hero. As such,
the filmmakers kept that in mind while developing the recent film adaptation
and game Luigi his signature characteristics we all know and love. Granted, Luigi took the role
of a damsel in distress which is different from most games but his characterisation along with
Charlie Day's performance were spot on. We have to say the new movie's interpretation
of the character was much better than the older one. John Leguizamo has been vocal about the lack
of diversity in the new film but even so we think Charlie Day had a lot more to work with
when it came to adapting Luigi as a character. One of the biggest differences between the 1993
film and the new one is the interpretation of Bowser vs. President Koopa. In the live
action outing, President Koopa is the leader of Dinohatten who is a human of reptilian origin.
He plots to use a piece of the meteorite that sent the dinosaurs to an alternate dimension to
reunite both worlds and become the ruler of Earth. If that explanation makes sense to you then please
explain it to us sometime. Even in 1993 this was an incredibly bizarre take on the character
and we're not really sure what the filmmakers were even thinking. Bowser in the new movie is
much more consistent with his character in the games and played greatly by Jack Black. This is
a case where the new film absolutely trounces the original in this area. With that in mind,
we do acknowledge that a lot of the original film's cult status stems from this incredibly
odd portrayal of the villain helped out by Dennis Hopper's hilarious misguided performance. We
certainly enjoy those parts of the original film but we have to give credit where it's due and
praise the newer film's dedication to accuracy. Up next, we have Toad. Toad in the original Mario
movie is a punk street performer who plays protest songs condemning President Koopa's
actions. In what way does he resemble the character from the games? He...
uh... wears a blue vest... yeah, that's about it. In the newer film there are many Toads which are
much closer to the design we're used to. The main Toad here is played by Keegan-Michael Key
who gives a perfectly acceptable performance even if it's not necessarily the stand-outs in the
cast. In this case we're glad we didn't get the scratchy, high-pitched voice from the games that
likely would have become grating quickly. Overall, Toad is much better in the new film. Toad's punk
protestor character had arguably even less to do with the original character than President Koopa
which is quite the statement. At least the Toads in the new film are accurate and respectable even
if they don't necessarily steal the show. Though they're not technically based on the
same characters, we still think there is ground to compare Princess Peach with Princess Daisy.
The lead female in both film, Peach and Daisy both take liberties from the original characters
but not necessarily in bad ways. Daisy is a highly intelligent paleontologist who begins
a relationship with Luigi. She is eventually captured by President Koopa but escapes and with
help of Yoshi. This is a case where, despite being in captivity for much of the movie,
Daisy's character is fleshed out and not used as a simple plot device. Peach in the new film
drops the damsel trope altogether and instead sets out with Mario to take down Bowser. Peach
has definitely jumped into action in several games as well as cartoons and comics so we're
glad to see her stronger side be represented here. We're going to give the new movie the
edge over the old one in this category. While both films do feature surprisingly strong female roles,
the new one does so while still being consistent to the original character.
That about does it for the main characters so let’s instead compare the side characters.
President Koopa has two main henchmen who work under them, those being Iggy
and Spike who have nothing to do with their game counterparts. Bowser, on the other hand,
is accompanied by Kamek who is portrayed very closely to his game counterpart. Beyond that,
the 1993 movie has Yoshi who looks like a regular dinosaur, Big Bertha who went from being a fish in
the games to a bouncer at the Boom Boom Bar, and Goombas who are… well, let’s just say,
not Goombas. The new film included a wide variety of enemies including Koopa Troopas, Goombas,
Shy Guys, Spinies, Dry Bones, Cheap Cheaps and many more, all of which were extremely faithful
to its source material. We also got a bunch of Donkey Kong characters in the animated outing,
both old and new which was a nice surprise. Although the background characters in the
original film are intriguing due to how bizarre they are, the new film does a much better job
at respecting both the source material and the fans who were expecting faithful adaptations.
Now that we’ve covered all the characters, let’s compare the settings of both films. Both movies
start off with the Mario Brothers in New York being transported into a new world via the sewers.
In the 1993 film, this world is Dinohatten, an odd dystopia that looks much closer to
Blade Runner than it does anything from the Super Mario games. In the animated outing, Mario ends up
in the Mushroom Kingdom which much more closely resembles its videogame counterpart. We also see
neighboring islands such as the Jungle Kingdom ruled by the Kongs and an Icy Kingdom ruled by
penguins. While these do take a few liberties from its source material, the changes in this case are
understandable whereas the original film didn’t try to resemble the games whatsoever. It also
helps that the landscapes in the animated version are breathtakingly beautiful regardless as to
whether you played the games or not. The old one feels like a cluttered, messy sci-fi movie set,
in other words, exactly what it was. Now let’s take a look at how each Mario
movie utilized items. Mario and Luigi are well equipped with many power ups on most adventures
and their film counterparts are no exception. The items found in the original film included
flying rocket boots known as the Thwomp Stompers, fireball guns known as the Fry Guy Flamethrowers
and Devolution Guns which reverts its victims back into their ancestral species. What do these items
have to do with the games? Well, some of them are named after characters and the Devolution Guns
are painted Super Scopes but that’s about it. Much like everything else from the 1993 film, it’s very
loosely connected. The new film remains much more faithful to the games, featuring fire flowers, ice
flowers, super leaves, super mushrooms, stars and mini mushrooms all of which give the characters
the powers you’d expect from them. That’s not all as the Mario Kart sequences feature Koopa shells,
banana peels, blue shells and other items you’d expect to see in this sequence. Not only is the
new film much closer to the games but it also introduces a wider variety of weapons to choose
from, making it much more engaging overall. Next, we’ll be taking a look at the animation.
Now, how are we going to be comparing the animation for these when the original is a live
action film? Simple, by looking at the opening and the CGI. The pre-title sequence of the 1993 film
is indeed a cartoon and a very bad one at that. The quality of animation here looks worse that
Super Mario World on SNES so there’s no excuse for putting something like this into theaters.
The other animation comes in during CGI sequences, most prominently during devolution scenes like
President Koopa reverting back to his reptilian form. The animation here has aged as well as most
CGI from the 90’s, which is to say, not very. The animation in the new film is something that
even its biggest detractors have praised, often being cited as the best looking film Illumination
has ever produced. The environments are lush and beautiful, the character movement is very fluid,
and the movie overall is colorful and appealing to look at. We don’t even think that the most
die hard fans of the original Mario movie would concede that the new film looks much better in
the animation department in virtually all areas. Finally, let’s compare the stories of both films.
Mario isn’t exactly a game series known for having a great, deep, impactful story (with the exception
of maybe the RPG games) so adapting this onto the big screen was always going to be a tall order.
As such, both films opted for very different approaches to taking on this material which
resulted in polar opposite results. The original movie saw the Mario brothers rescuing Daisy from
President Koopa who planned to use a piece of a meteorite to combine two parallel dimensions into
one, becoming its ruler. The new film sees Mario going on a journey to rescue Luigi from Bowser
while Princess Peach tries to stop him from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. While the original film
received criticism for being too complicated and too far off from the games, the newer film
got flak for being way too basic and not featuring enough character development. Perhaps neither film
struck the perfect chord in terms of its story but at least the newer film tried a lot harder
to get it right. No one is expecting a Mario movie to be the next Lawrence of Arabia but perhaps we
could use a slightly deeper story in subsequent films to make the experience more impactful.
With all that covered, let’s wrap this up by assessing the overall quality of these projects.
This might sound like a pointless task considering we’ve pretty much stated the new film is better
in every way but the answer is actually a lot more interesting that that. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
is made for Mario fans, old and new, to appreciate and we’d say that it accomplishes that goal in
spades. Super Mario Bros, on the other hand, was a misguided attempt from studio executives to cash
in on a popular property. We’re not going to act like the newer film wasn’t made with financial
gain in mind but there was also a much greater attempt to honor the fans of the series. The
Super Mario Bros. Movie is the better film in pretty much every way including the characters,
setting, story and even animation. However, does that mean we should write off the 1993
film altogether? Absolutely not. Super Mario Bros. was initially massacred for its ridiculous acting,
overblown effects and not resembling the games in any way but that’s kind of what makes it so
charming. It’s reached cult movie status for a reason and we’d hate to see that audience
diminish with the release of this new film. With that being said, The Super Mario Bros.
Movie was made with much more tact and respect for the fans in mind so we’re glad we finally
got the Mario movie we were waiting for. But let us know in the comment section
what Mario movie is your favorite, as well as what we should cover next. Make sure to hit
that notification bell and binge our other videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.