Princess Daisy (film character)

Princess Daisy in the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film is the princess of Dinohattan, the sole remaining city in a parallel world created through the power of the meteorite strike that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Daisy is an intelligent and analytical girl who, perhaps in large part due to her hidden dinosaur-heritage, is incredibly passionate in regards to paleontology and dinosaurs in general. Even before discovering her own origins as a dinosaur Daisy felt a strong connection to dinosaurs and the idea of "trying to be human." This passion later becomes a strong connection to the parallel world where she encounters real-live dinosaurs and faces her own growing desires as one. It is her relationship with Luigi that grounds her humanity and prevents her from completely losing herself to those reptilian urges.

History

The first scene of the Super Mario Bros. film shows Daisy’s mother smuggling a metallic egg into our world while being pursued by the then General Koopa. Koopa had previously slaughtered the Portal-Keeper religious order, of which Daisy and her mother were born into, during a military coup to take over the kingdom. Koopa planned to merge the two dimensions and needed the Portal-Keepers to do so as they were the only ones capable of withstanding the force of the dimensional radiation. Knowing Koopa would seek her out as the sole survivor, Daisy's mother escaped to our world with the metallic egg containing Daisy's unhatched egg and the meteorite shard. Both were deposited on the steps of a cathedral where they was found by nuns.

The newly-hatched Daisy at St. Theresa's Cathedral

Simultaneously, Koopa confronts Daisy's mother in the underground tunnel leading to the dimensional portal. Trying to escape, Daisy's mother causes a cave-in which kills her and seals the tunnel, preventing Koopa from entering our world to retrieve Daisy and the meteorite shard. Back at the cathedral, the metallic egg is opened to reveal an actual egg inside. This egg then hatches an infant Daisy crying with life. Daisy would remain in our world to be raised by the nuns as a human, who never revealed to her her mysterious origins.

We next see Daisy twenty years later when she is a beautiful young woman and still completely unaware of her origins. She is now a paleontology student with a passion for dinosaurs that she can't explain. She first appears at a digsite funded by the local university that is being hounded by Anthony Scapelli, a construction and plumbing mogul, because the recent discovery of dinosaur bones during construction has prevented further work.

Scapelli threatens Daisy and the digsite which causes her to enter the city to make a call to the university for increased security. As she crosses the street to a payphone Spike and Iggy, Koopa's bumbling goons, spot her and decide she's "the" girl they're looking for. They begin to trail her and attempt to snatch her on the street but are thwarted due to their own stupidity. Daisy continues on and meets Luigi at the payphone where he offers its use to her.

Luckily, the cousins continually kidnap the wrong girls, including Mario's girlfriend Daniella. Finally, when Mario and Luigi are helping her repair damage (done by Scapelli) to the fossil site, Iggy and Spike knock Mario and Luigi out and kidnap Daisy. They take her to Dinohattan and Mario and Luigi quickly follow. Luckily, Luigi is able to recover Daisy’s crystal necklace before she is abducted in a car, which takes the young woman straight to King Koopa’s Tower.

When Daisy arrives, King Koopa reveals to her that she is the princess of the dinosaur world. King Koopa states that the meteor that supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs actually sent the reptiles to an alternate dimension, where they eventually evolved into humans (just as had happened on Earth, albeit Earthlings evolved from primates). Her mother and father, King Bowser, were the king of this dimension, until King Koopa turned her father into a fungus. Her mother fled to the dinosaur's original dimension, using a crystal recovered from the meteor that caused the dimensional rift, and, as previously mentioned, entrusted her daughter’s life to a group of nuns.

After revealing this to Daisy, King Koopa states that he has long harbored an ambition to take over the real world (his former home), but cannot send his entire army there without the crystal. As such, he sent Iggy and Spike to find her and with her, the meteorite piece. However, Daisy does not have the crystal, Luigi does. When this is revealed to King Koopa, he locks Daisy up in his tower.

While imprisoned, Daisy forms a friendship with King Koopa's pet, Yoshi. King Koopa’s mistress, Lena, grows to hate Daisy, suspecting that King Koopa has a crush on her. Eventually, this hatred drives her insane, and Lena attempted to kill Daisy. Yoshi saves the princess at the last minute, and they both escape from the tower together. She is then kidnapped by a Goomba (who, in fact, used to be an anti-King Koopa street musician named Toad). Ironically, it is Iggy and Spike, who had recently had there brains enlarged, that save Daisy from her new prison. She then meets up again with Mario and Luigi. Mario goes to save the "princesses" that Spike and Iggy kidnapped while searching for Daisy, while Luigi and Daisy go to stop the invasion.

Finally, Daisy seals the breach between the dimensions and decides to stay in Dinohattan an take her rightful place as ruler. The end of the movie shows Daisy, geared for war, appears at Mario's apartment, telling them that they have to come back to Dinohattan, because a new threat had emerged. This was an attempt at setting up a sequel, which never came.

Trivia

• Although the character shares name with Princess Daisy of the video games, her qualities come mostly from Princess Peach.

Quotes

• "I'm the boss here."
• "Thank God you're here! I mean, you're a plumber, right?"
• "Luigi, help me!"
• "Where's my father?"
• "I guess we're both prisoners here, huh?"
• "Uh, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat anything with a face."
• "I hope he's alright."
• "The rock will merge our two dimensions!"
• "Only I can stop it."
• "Luigi, Mario! You gotta come with me, I need your help."
• "You're never gonna believe this."