From Uncharted to Tomb Raider to Mortal Kombat to House of the Dead, so many video game franchises
have hit the silver screen in one shape or form ever since the 90’s.
Undoubtedly, one film that has garnered more attention and hype than almost any other game
to screen adaptation is the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Not to be confused with the 1993… thing that was released theatrically, the upcoming
Super Mario Bros. Movie is a fully animated feature film spearheaded by Illumination and
features an A-list celebrity cast.
With a teaser trailer for the movie dropping recently, this has led to a lot of predictions
from fans and critics alike about what we will eventually see in the finished project
of the film.
Today we’re looking at some of the predictions we and many others have regarding The Super
Mario Bros. Movie and choosing which ones we’re hoping for and which ones we hope
take a warp pipe to the cutting room floor.
I’m Kyle with 1upBinge and this is The Super Mario Bros. Movie Predictions We Love and
Hate.
For the sake of this list, let’s establish what readily available information we are
taking into account.
Not only has the teaser trailer and a poster dropped for this film but the cast list for
many characters have been revealed, giving us a little bit of information to go off of.
We’re going to mostly be discussing plot details, future unannounced characters and
possible references that many predict could be implemented in one way or another.
With that established, let’s jump into our list and take a look at some of our predictions
for The Super Mario Bros. Movie!
First off, let’s take a look at one of the most important aspects of this film’s story,
that being What is Bowser’s Plan?
In the recently released teaser trailer, Bowser, along with Kamek and an army of Koopa Troopas,
invade a land full of penguins to steal a Power Star away from their possession.
Bowser is a forced to be reckoned with and Kamek’s magic only intensifies the already
looming threat.
From this trailer, it seems Bowser’s plot will be very similar to that of Super Mario
64, stealing Power Stars to gain a monopoly over the entire kingdom.
Since Bowser’s size has been considerably inconsistent over the course of the Mario
series, we wouldn’t be surprized if the Koopa King is gathering these stars in an
effort to become bigger and more destructive.
It’s unconfirmed whether or not Bowser will capture Princess Peach in the film, but given
that’s one of his defining actions over the course of the series we would be surprised
if that didn’t come into play.
Personally, we love this idea due to showing respect to the plot of the games and we’d
be happy to see it unfold on the big screen.
Now that we’ve predicted the villain’s motives, let’s take a look at the other
side of the coin.
How Does Mario Get to the Mushroom Kingdom?
Canonically, Mario has been mostly known as a plumber from Brooklyn before he and his
brother found a warp pipe leading to the Mushroom Kingdom.
The teaser trailer seems to follow this interpretation, with Mario being ejected from a pipe and being
introduced to Toad who takes him on a kingdom tour.
That being said, how did Mario find this pipe?
Was it in his own bathroom or was he plumbing for a client?
Well, one of the more surprising character’s to be featured on the movie’s roster is
that of Foreman Spike, the villain of the 1984 game Wrecking Crew.
Since Foreman Spike is a human character, we wouldn’t be surprised if Mario was working
on the pipes of a construction site that was being led by the angry foreman.
As a prediction, we really like this idea.
Wrecking Crew was originally released before the first Super Mario Bros. game, so this
would even be a really clever nod to how Foreman Spike was a part of Mario and Luigi’s lives
before they ever set foot in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Sticking with Mario, one of the more contentious casting choices ever since it was announced
is that the role of the Italian Plumber will be voiced by Chris Pratt, with his brother
Luigi being voiced by Charlie Day.
With that said, the original voice of the iconic brothers, Charles Martinet, is slated
to make a cameo appearance as some character in the movie.
Who Will Charles Martinet Play?
Even though he’s known mostly as the two Mario brothers, Charles Martinet has voiced
a pelethora of other characters throughout the Mario series, including Wario and Waluigi.
With that said, if Wario and Waluigi do end up making appearances in the film, we predict
they will be voiced by another Hollywood celebrity.
So, who does that leave Charles Martinet with?
We may be stretching, but we believe that Charles Martinet will have a role as an infomercial
narrator that explains the function of power ups to the audience.
In Super Mario Sunshine, Charles Martinet is credited as not only playing Mario but
also as the Isle Delfino commercial narrator in the opening cutscene of the game.
While Charles Martinet does do a good job at sounded like an infomercial, we have to
say we kind of hate this idea.
It really feels like Charles Martinet is getting somewhat shafted even though he’s part of
what brought the iconic plumber’s personality to life in the first place.
Even if he can’t be the main moustached men himself, we think this voice actor deserves
much more than a cameo in the finished product.
Two characters we were somewhat surprised to see announced for the movie are that of
Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, who rarely get major roles in the Mario series.
What Will Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong’s Roles Entail?
Let’s get into the lore of the Mario Universe before we go any further.
It has been stated on numerous occasions that the Donkey Kong that Mario originally fought
eventually grew old and became Cranky Kong.
The Donkey Kong that is the star of the Donkey Kong Country series is the grandchild of Cranky
Kong and supposedly took over the previous ape’s title.
This may seem contradictory to the movie’s plot if they’re supposed to appear together
in the Mushroom Kingdom but let’s see if we can give an explanation.
Let’s say Cranky Kong, back when he was the original Donkey Kong, found a pipe to
the Mushroom Kingdom after being defeated by Mario.
Now let’s get really crazy and say that time in the Mushroom Kingdom moves much faster
than time on Earth, thus allowing the ape to age many years before Mario and Luigi find
the pipe a little later.
This would explain why Cranky Kong is much older in the Mushroom Kingdom while Mario
is around the same age that he was when he originally fought Cranky Kong.
Personally, we like this idea.
It’s a little convoluted but it would finally give an explanation to one of the Mario games
most glaring continuity errors, and it would work in the movie as Mario would discover
that there are indeed other beings which have traveled to the Mushroom Kingdom on Earth.
As a side prediction, we wouldn’t be surprised if the inclusion of Donkey Kong and Cranky
Kong lead to a Donkey Kong Movie a few years down the line.
Let’s cross our fingers on that one.
Moving away from lore, let’s go back to the movie’s plot.
How Will Mario Overcome Bowser?
I’m pretty sure we’re all expecting this film to wrap up with an epic confrontation
between Mario and the Koopa King, but what exactly will happen in that battle?
Looking at the recently revealed poster of the movie, we see Mario surrounded by many
shops run by Toads.
One of the shops has a sign with a treasure chest from Super Mario Bros. 3 hanging from
the building.
We could chalk this up to a simple Easter Egg, but personally we wouldn’t be surprised
if Mario and Luigi got their hands on some of the iconic power ups and used them for
the fight against Bowser.
Since Bowser is apparently harnessing the Power Stars for himself in this film, we also
wouldn’t be surprised if the fight ended with Mario doing the same thing.
We all know what happens when Mario gets a Starman in the games, after all.
One last prediction we have about this fight is that it may include one of Bowser’s many
forms.
In the trailer, we see Luigi running away from a herd of Dry Bones.
While this could be non-related, we personally think this could be hinting at the inclusion
of Dry Bowser as the final form of Mario’s duel with the Koopa King.
Since Kamek is apart of the movie’s roster, we can definitely see him using his magic
to bring Dry Bowser to life.
We really love this idea.
The use of powerups and inclusion of Dry Bowser would be a great climatic and faithful way
to end this movie with a bang.
With most of the announced characters examined, let’s ponder for a second who else may show
up in the movies roster.
What Other Mario Characters Will Make Appearances?
First off, considering Foreman Spike and Donkey Kong could potentially be seen before the
Mario brothers enter the Mushroom Kingdom, we wouldn’t be surprised if Pauline made
an appearance in the film’s opening as well.
Much like the aforementioned gorilla and construction worker, Pauline was a part of Mario’s life
before he ever set foot in Princess Peach’s territory.
We wouldn’t be surprised if Pauline is seen or at the very least, alluded to before Mario
and Luigi enter the fateful warp pipe.
Speaking of the Kongs, we also could definitely see Diddy Kong joining the roster among Donkey
and Cranky.
We’re not sure how many Kongs will be in this movie, but if there’s even one more
beyond those announced, we predict it would be Diddy.
There will definitely be a lot of Toads in this movie, as demonstrated on the movie’s
poster, but what about the Toadettes?
We haven’t seen any as of yet, but given Toadette’s larger roles in games as of late,
it would feel odd if Mario never came in contact with at least one of the female mushrooms
over the course of the movie’s runtime.
On the villain side of things, we have yet to see any mention of Bowser’s offspring
amongst the cast of the movie.
We will say we don’t expect the Koopalings to make the cut, as developing seven children
would be a tall task for what will probably be a 90-minute movie.
However, we could definitely see Bowser Jr. being amongst the cast, since narrowing that
task down to one Koopa kid would be more than manageable.
Finally, we wouldn’t be surprised if Wario and Waluigi find themselves into the movie
in one way or another.
These silly villains could make for some great comedic relief that the writers could take
advantage of.
Personally, we like these ideas but we don’t love them.
While it would be cool to see Pauline, Diddy Kong, Toadette, Bowser Jr, Wario and Waluigi
in the movie, we do want to avoid potentially bogging down the film with too many characters
that could hurt the overall narrative.
It’s definitely a give or take situation here.
Let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what predictions
you have for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist, where we
break down the morality of the characters in your favorite games.
But most importantly, stay wicked!