Super Mario Bros. (film)



Super Mario Bros. is a movie loosely based on the Super Mario Bros. series of video games. While the film draws inspiration from the series, it follows a completely different continuity based in an entirely different world from its inspiration. Similarly, the characters are based on their archetypal roles from the games rather than their specific natures and actions.

The film cost an estimated $42 million to create due to its high profile cast and special effects, yet its gross revenue was only $20,915,465.

Plot Synopsis
The film begins at the future site of Brooklyn, sixty-five million years ago (from 1993). In an animated segment, viewers see that dinosaurs, such as a brachiosaurus and triceratops, dominated Earth due to their large size. Long before humans existed, small mammals, such as one resembling a skunk, coexisted with the dinosaurs and life was good. However, when a giant meteorite crashed into Earth, many dinosaurs were destroyed and the remaining banished to the parallel dimension created by the meteor's impact. There, the evolution of the dinosaurs continued and they became, according to the narration, "intelligent, vicious, aggressive beings" just like humans. The narration begs the question, "What if they found a way back?"

Twenty years before present day (1973 using 1993 as the present), a young woman hurriedly runs down an unidentified Brooklyn street to the steps of St. Theresa's, a cathedral, carrying a bundle covered in a red blanket. There, she places her bundle down, revealing an egg-shaped protective case. Taking a blue rock shard into an opening on the case, she lovingly strokes the case, pounds on the door repeatedly, and flees. A nun opened the door, saw the case, and took it into the cathedral with her. The young lady continues to run down the Brooklyn streets, narrowly dodging honking drivers. She then climbed down into an open manhole. Back at the church, the nuns observe the case as it opens, revealing a large egg.

The young lady continues to run down a long sewer tunnel, frequently looking back. As she backs into another tunnel, she runs into a tall, sinister man, who asks her where the rock is. She jumps away from him and exclaims, "Koopa!" As the tunnel begins to collapse around the young woman, Koopa blocks the exit, leaving her to be crushed as she screams. Back at the Cathedral, the egg hatched to reveal an evidently human baby girl.

In present day (1993), Mario Mario and Luigi Mario were at their home and business, Mario Brothers Plumbing Services. Luigi lay on the couch, eating snacks and watching a television program, Miraculous World, in which the host introduced the concept of other dimensions, alternate worlds separated by time and space which somehow remained continuous with Earth's dimension. As the show continued, Mario picked up the phone and began speaking with the River Front Café regarding a broken dishwasher. As the brothers prepared to leave for the job, he and Luigi discussed the television show. Luigi was enthusiastic while Mario gruffly proclaimed that the only miracle he knew of was that they were still eating while they were going broke. Mario then complained that Luigi was spending money on the New York Post, a newspaper Mario believed to be full of fiction. Luigi protested that it had the article on the missing Brooklyn girls, but Mario cited an article about a scientist who turned his brain into cheese. Luigi confidently responded that, "Anything is possible, Mario, you just gotta believe!" Belittlingly, Mario retorted that he did believe: he believed their rent was three months overdue.

Having pulled away from their business in their van, Mario instructed Luigi to turn left. Luigi began turning right into an ally to his brother's protests, claiming his instincts told him that route would be faster as he plowed through garbage bags on the curb. Continuing the argument, he claimed that sea turtles travel thousands of miles on instinct, but Mario protested that they did not navigate New York traffic as they pulled into the café parking lot. Luigi stopped his gloating at the sight of a Scapelli Construction plumbing van: the brothers had lost another job to their rivals.

Meanwhile, a newscaster discussed the closing of one of New York's largest construction projects, located near the Brooklyn Bridge, as New York University students continued to excavate dinosaur bones in the area. Head construction contractor Anthony Scapelli arrived in a black limousine, waving to the construction workers protesting the dig as he emerged. Noticing their arrival, a blonde, female student named Daisy approached them and declared that continue as long as their quarterly lasted. Unshaken, Scapelli threatened Daisy, reminding her of the young women who had gone missing all over town. With a face of disbelief, Daisy left, declaring her intention to contact the university.

Elsewhere, an oddly dressed man, Spike looks disbelievingly at a pair of hot dogs in his hand and gets into his car, where another oddly dressed man, Iggy is sitting in the passenger seat. Spike handed one of the hot dogs to Iggy, telling him it was dog meat as they throw the hot dog buns out the window. Noticing Daisy, they declare that she matches the description given to them by Koopa, and they prepared to kidnap her. Mario and Luigi drove down the street, their van stalling. The older brother scolded Luigi for not checking the radiator, but Luigi insisted that everything was fine: the van had been making those noises all week. Pulling over and opening the hood, steam flowed into the brothers' faces. Mario instructed Luigi to check their messages for work while he fixed the engine. Daisy continued to walk down the street, oblivious to the approaching Spike and Iggy. Just as Spike was about to move in, several men carrying a pane of glass walked between him and Daisy and he hit his face against the glass. Defeated, the pair returned to their car.

As Luigi dialed the nearby pay phone, Mario passed, telling him that he was going into their nearby deli for some water. Daisy approached the pay phone, pacing anxiously and oblivious that Luigi was staring at her. Alf Brodsky from Alf Brodsky’s Department Stores called panicking: he had a huge plumbing problem, but Luigi was not paying attention. Instead, he wordlessly handed off the phone to Daisy, who thanked him. Mario emerged from the deli with a bottle of Evian water in hand, yelling back inside that everyone had tap water. Passing Luigi, he asked him if they had any work, but Luigi said no, still watching Daisy as she fumbled in her pockets for change. Noticing, Luigi gave her a quarter, and she thanked him again, smiling. Daisy made her call to the university, but the organization refused to add more security to the site. At Mario's side, Luigi commented that Daisy was beautiful. Mario encouraged Luigi to go talk to her, but he protested. As she looked up, she noticed the Spike, who hastily pulled a copy of the Daily News over his face, pretending to read. The front page read, "Missing Misses Still a Mystery." Daisy walked over to the van and thanked Luigi for his kindness. As latter began an awkward conversation including an offer to give her a ride, Mario stepped in, ending the conversation and repeating Luigi's offer for a ride. With a glance at Spike, Daisy agreed. When they arrived at the site, Mario politely offered his hand to help Daisy out of the van. Daisy, obviously amused, took his hand and stepped down as Luigi scrambled over to them. As Daisy prepared to leave, Luigi, at the mumbled advice of Mario, awkwardly asked her out for dinner that night. Smiling, Daisy accepted. As the brothers left, Mario asked Luigi what he would do without him, and Luigi grumbled about not having the chance to find out and questioning why Mario had told Daisy about Luigi's thumb-sucking habit.

Overall Plot


The story concerns Mario and Luigi Mario, two Italian American brothers living in Brooklyn, New York who are being driven out of business by the Scapelli Construction Company. Luigi falls in love with an orphaned college student, Daisy, who is digging for dinosaur bones under the Brooklyn Bridge. After a date, Daisy brings Luigi to the dig site, where she sees some of Scapelli’s men sabotage it by opening the water-pipes. Mario and Luigi manage to stop the flooding but are knocked out by two strange characters, Iggy and Spike. Mario and Luigi go deeper into the cavern, following Daisy’s screaming and eventually discover an interdimensional portal, in which Mario and Luigi follow Daisy. They then find themselves in a dystopian world where a human-like race evolved from Tyrannosauridae. It is said that they are descended from a T. Rex population that escaped through the interdimensional gate. Iggy and Spike turn out to be lackeys (and, surprisingly, cousins) of the world’s evil dictator, King Koopa (who does not look anything like the one in the game). However, Mario and Luigi failed to bring Daisy’s “rock,” a meteorite fragment that King Koopa needs in order to merge his world with the real world that was separated from King Koopa’s during the Big Bang. It turns out, though, that Daisy is the princess of the other dimension, but when King Koopa overthrew it and turned her father into fungus, Daisy’s mother took her to New York via the interdimensional portal. The portal was then destroyed, but when Scapelli was blasting at the cave, it was reopened. When King Koopa hears about the re-opening of the portal, he sends Spike and Iggy to find Daisy and the rock in order to merge the dimensions and make King Koopa dictator of both. King Koopa thinks only Daisy can merge the worlds, although as for Mario and Luigi, the plumbers were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily for Daisy, the plumbers were persistent in finding her. During the finale, the worlds merge, but Luigi takes back the rock and the worlds separate. Mario fight King Koopa, and eventually wins, and he and Luigi de-evole King Koopa, making him a Tyrannosaurus, and then finally primeval slime. The brothers save the two worlds from the cruel dictator, and Daisy’s father reclaims control over the kingdom.

Cast

 * Bob Hoskins &mdash; Mario
 * John Leguizamo &mdash; Luigi
 * Dennis Hopper &mdash; King Koopa
 * Samantha Mathis &mdash; Princess Daisy
 * Fisher Stevens &mdash; Iggy
 * Richard Edson &mdash; Spike
 * Fiona Shaw &mdash; Lena
 * Dana Kaminksi &mdash; Daniella
 * Mojo Nixon &mdash; Toad
 * Francesca Roberts &mdash; Big Bertha
 * Gianni Russo &mdash; Anthony Scapelli
 * Lance Henriksen &mdash; King Toadstool

The special effects were coordinated by Paul J. Lombardi, who Shigeru Miyamoto later named Falco Lombardi after in thanks. (watch movie via: "http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/super_mario_bros/")

Quotes
For a full list of quotes, see here.

Critical Reception
The movie is generally considered poor. In a Nintendo Power article about New Super Mario Bros., a timeline of Mario's history could be seen at the bottom of the page. The Super Mario Bros. movie was mentioned, only with the words, "Yes, it happened. Let us speak no more of it." Other critics have complained that the movie doesn't accurately represent the Mario series and throws the whole continuity off, leaving a "horrible mess." The actor of Mario, Bob Hoskins, called the film the worst thing he ever did, while Luigi's portrayer, John Leguizamo, states that he practically could not bear working on the film.

Shigeru Miyamoto actually liked the movie, mentioning that his only real dislike of it was that he found it to be too true to the games, in stark contrast to most other comments.