"Buckle up and hang on tight-the discovery of a parallel universe launches you into the adventure of a lifetime! Mario and Luigi, two wacky plumbers, undertake a daring quest to save a princess in "Dinohattan" - a hidden world where the inhabitants evolved from dinosaurs! Mario (Bob Hoskins - Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and Luigi (John Leguizamo - Regarding Henry) face deadly challenges from a diabolical lizard king (Dennis Hopper - Hoosiers) and must battle giant reptilian goombas, outwit misfit thugs and undermine a sinister scheme to take over the world! Blast off for nonstop excitement with Super Mario Bros., the live-action thrill ride that dazzled moviegoers everywhere!
-back of movie box

In my opinion, at least, the Super Mario Brothers movie ain't half bad. Oh sure it's really only a film that's out to generally target younger fans of the games, but you could say that about many films targeting to their own specific auidences. And for that argument, I take critic reviews (see Critics Circle) quite liberally. I am quite positive that neither Siskel nor Ebert have ever played a SMB game, or any other game on the NES for that matter. Furthermore, to have based their entire critiques without holding an appreciation for the games may have possibly changed more than an iota of the reviews. However, looking past the greatness of the games and eye-dazzling special effects associated with the movie, you get (at best) an average movie that would have totally bombed if it stood without the Nintendo franchise.

The underground argument flaring behind the scenes in cyber crawlspaces is whether the movie tells a better story than its counterpart book. The majority of readers, of course, agree that novels are better than the movies based on them simply because of the ability for the author to go into great detail and at slower paces to fully develop characters and situations. This example appears to be no different. From what I hear, the story behind Super Mario Bros. is actually very articulate and possibly thought-provoking, whereas the movie is hideously weak in comparison. Although I cannot justify this judgment (never read the novel), it seems to me that most of the people who had the chance to see the film tend to agree with one another-- that Super Mario Bros "stunk".

My purpose for writing this short summary isn't to turn you away from viewing the film if you haven't already. If fall into this category and weren't as fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) and are a fan of the game series, I would definitely recommend you DO grab a copy to watch. It has appeared on TBS last year and can be easily obtained at retail stores.

Don't go into this film with any early expectations or carry any of the hype. It'll simply ruin the whole movie experience. Most of all, make sure to have fun watching the Bros. first (and only) visit to the big screen!