No I haven't seen it yet, but I gotta post this here because it is too good a specific place to post it.
#Mario Movie Spoilers
ruby owl
visual beacon
Well I have seen it. Non spoiler stuff first
As a movie it is fine, looks decent, writing is mostly predictable. It's an illumination movie. Polished, profitable, and functional
As a MARIO movie, it rules out of its mind. Every scene has an easter egg, the score is quite good
Spoiler talk ||Again yeah it's a purely functional story, almost monomyth to a T. They use the dk rap (which they only credit as being from the game instead of crediting Grant which boo) and the other notable kongs get a cameo, but seth rogen doesn't do much in the role. Can't think of a better voice right now. Charles martinet gets two voices, one as the father of pratt mario which is cute but seriously he could have just done it.||
As for easter eggs I spotted ||There was an fzero and pokemon looking poster in the room I think. Their ringtone is the gamecube startup sound. Several background cameos from lesser known enemies. ||
visual beacon
They use a clip of gusty garden in the credits and I'm not sure if I caught it anywhere else.
untold path
They use a clip of gusty garden in the credits and I'm not sure if I caught it a...
Yes!!! Loved hearing that among the mashup of different themes!
limpid crow
Another uncredited song: ||Fury Bowser's theme during Bowser's speech to his minions near the start||
visual beacon
I didn't hear the 3d world bowser theme in there either. The circus one, which is a shame because it rules
So if they have the setup for a sequel I'd hope it would be galaxy themed. We get a ham fisted throwaway line but I want more.
Critic reviews are in and it doesn't surprise me that they are saying this movie sucks. On an objective level yeah, but it's everything I wanted from this kind of movie. They run into the adaptation problem and so decided to play it safe which is what illumination does. Do I want it to be weirder and swing for the real obscure references? Sure, but that won't sell. Again, if this funds them to get to be weird with it in a sequel I'm all for it.
untold path
visual beacon
Sad he ||didn't get to actually sing any rock ballad or proper disney villain big band song. I think he would have killed it.||
feral lagoon
so I saw it today and I was struck by how much it seemed to be more of a movie about Peach than it was about Mario
Peach usually has zero depth in the games, so I'm sure that was a conscious decision
visual beacon
Which I think is a good thing, in the movie mario has an arc shorter than a short hop but he has an arc. That's because he can't due to source material.
The paper mario peaches have some really interesting character though and I was glad to see it
Also minor spoiler ||the nihlist luma caught me off guard and got a couple laughs from me||
feral lagoon
Yeah, I was a little surprised at that
untold path
Setting up for a Mario Galaxy movie in the future?
Also the bit with Luigi in the dark and creepy castle. Thought they’d have a bit of a Luigi’s Mansion reference with some Boos that he fights off with his flashlight. Maybe another future movie idea?
feral lagoon
I think that was a reference even if it wasn’t explicitly stated
proper anvil
Mario movie was really delightful to look at, I enjoyed mmmmmost of the cast, and there were some good jokes and the score was lovely. The non-score soundtrack and a few other recurring damp-squib gags took me out of it but I was definitely entertained. If I'd seen this when I was ten it would have been my whole world
solemn atlas
Also minor spoiler ||the nihlist luma caught me off guard and got a couple laugh...
honestly the luma got the best reaction out of all the jokes in my theater
I think the crowd was mostly Gen-z, which checks out
visual beacon
What makes the joke is the contrast. 1 it's a luma, arguably the cutest thing in the series and 2 you don't expect lines that dark in the mario movie.
untold path
Nicolas Daoust, excellent guy. He's done other music analyses like for Xenoblade 3 and he's also done a lot for Crypt of the Necrodancer
feral lagoon
More impressive for a movie only in theatres though
main pelican
I mean, there's ways they could fairly easily get a version to analyze at home >_>
Which I would assume they did
untold path
The soundtrack is also public on Spotify and such
Added benefit of removing the dialogue to hear the music better.
feral lagoon
yeah, but I assume this video isn't just about the stuff that would be on that soundtrack (I didn't watch it)
visual beacon
Yeah. It's an illumination movie, it's not spiderverse. It's a functional film that kids will enjoy. It is however everything I could have wanted from a mario movie that treats the legacy with respect, but yes it's not objectively a great movie.
untold path
I would def be recommending the D&D movie over as a thing to see in theatre
I still need to go see dnd when I get the chance
ruby owl
Wait, did they change lore with the film?
Wasn't Cranky DK's ||grandfather, not father||?
main pelican
That lore has been convoluted for a while…in DK Country, Cranky is said to be DK’s grandfather, which would actually also make him canon as the first Donkey Kong from the original arcade game. The modern DK we know is actually Donkey Kong the 3rd, son of Donkey Kong Jr who is the son of the original DK Sr (Cranky).
But in DK64 they retconned Cranky into being the modern DK’s dad, and it’s been subtly suggested since that current DK is actually supposed to be the Donkey Kong from the original arcade game.
So the movie went with the simpler version of the lore which I can't really blame them for