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Super Mario Bros.
Directed by	Rocky Morton Annabel Jankel Roland Joffé (uncredited)
Produced by	Jake Eberts Roland Joffé
Written by	Parker Bennett Terry Runte Ed Solomon
Narrated by	Dan Castellaneta
Starring	Bob Hoskins John Leguizamo Dennis Hopper Samantha Mathis Scott Burns Fisher Stevens Richard Edson Fiona Shaw Mojo Nixon Gianni Russo Lance Henriksen Don Lake
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Editing by	Mark Goldblatt
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures Cinergi Pictures Entertainment Film Distrbutors (UK)
Release date(s)	May 28, 1993 (USA)
Running time	104 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$42,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$20,915,465 (USA)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 film based loosely on the popular video game of the same name and Super Mario World. The film follows the exploits of Mario Mario (Bob Hoskins) and his brother Luigi Mario (John Leguizamo) in a comical dystopia ruled by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper).

It was the first major motion picture to be based on a video game. The film was not a huge critical or financial success despite boasting high-caliber actors, such as Hoskins, Leguizamo, and Hopper. However, despite this, the film did help John Leguizamo achieve some mainstream publicity. The movie is also considered a cult film.

Contents 1 Plot synopsis 2 Criticism and impact 3 Game references 4 Cast 5 Soundtrack 6 Notes 7 External links

The story concerns Mario and Luigi, 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 University student, Daisy, who is digging under the Brooklyn Bridge for dinosaur bones. After a date, she takes Luigi to the dig and witnesses Scapelli's men sabotage it by leaving the water-pipes open. Mario and Luigi stop the flooding but are knocked out by two strange characters, Iggy and Spike.

Mario and Luigi head deeper into the caves following Daisy's screaming and discover an interdimensional portal through which Mario and Luigi follow Daisy. They find themselves in a strange dystopian parallel world. Iggy and Spike turn out to be lackeys (and cousins) of the other world's evil and feared dictator, King Koopa. However, the two have failed to also bring Daisy's "rock," a meteorite fragment which Koopa is trying to get in order to merge his world with the real world that separated from Koopa's world during the "Big Bang". It turns out that Daisy is the princess of the other dimension but when Koopa overthrew Daisy's father (and turned him into fungus), Daisy's mom took her to New York using the interdimensional portal. The portal was then destroyed but when Scapelli was blasting at the cave, the portal was reopened. When 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 Koopa dictator of both worlds. Koopa thinks only Daisy could merge the worlds. It turns out Mario and Luigi were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lucky for Daisy, the plumbers were persistent in finding her.

During the big finale, the worlds merge but Luigi takes back the rock and the worlds separate. Mario fights Koopa and eventually wins when he and Luigi de-evolve him, making him a Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Pteranodon, Therizinosaurus, and then primeval slime. The brothers save the two worlds from a cruel dictator and Daisy's father reclaims control over the kingdom.

The film is widely considered to be a flop; it lost a large amount of money at the box office.^[1] Although it boasted several big stars, the film was denounced by critics as "cheesy" and lacking any sort of coherent plot. On the television show Siskel & Ebert, the film received two thumbs down.^[2]

Fans denounced the movie for having very little to do with the video game series and distorting many established facts about the fictional game world. For instance, in the movie King Koopa (Bowser) is a humanoid descendant of a dinosaur, whereas he is an actual reptilian being in the games and Toad is a reptilian being as well in this film instead of a mushroom. Other complaints about the film were the dark element, which deviated significantly from the family-friendly works of the hugely successful video games.

The less popular of the two princess characters from the video game series, Princess Daisy, was used for the film instead of the more prevalent "Princess Toadstool" (a.k.a. "Princess Peach"); Princess Daisy had in particular appeared in the 1989 Game Boy game Super Mario Land, whereas Princess Peach had been present in most other games of the series.

Despite the fact the film has not been overly successful, one aspect that has reoccurred (though never became official) is Mario and Luigi's last name is Mario (hence, the Mario Bros.), making them Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. In the three Mario cartoon series, which aired several years earlier, these full names are also used. Although Nintendo has publicly stated that Mario and Luigi do not have last names, ^[3] the surname of Mario was used in Nintendo Power, the American official Nintendo magazine.^{[citation needed]} Nintendo Power has also noted on several occasions that Nintendo (or at least the magazine staff) view the movie with a fair margin of disgust.^{[citation needed]} Every time the movie is mentioned by a subscriber or other source, the magazine staff remarks on the horrendous quality of the movie. In one issue, a reader wrote in entreating the staff to say something good about the movie, as the reader himself actually enjoyed watching it. Nintendo Power's reply was "Well, it's only 88 minutes long...that's a good thing!" (which is incorrect, as the film is 104 minutes long included credits).^{[citation needed]}

Also, 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."^[4]

Bob Hoskins was quite unhappy with the film and his experience working on it. In an August 2007 interview with The Guardian, he said: "The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers. It was a fuckin' nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! Fuckin' nightmare. Fuckin' idiots."^[5]

Though only indirectly connected to the video games, the movie includes numerous in-jokes relating to the Mario Bros. franchise. The parallel world is referred to by King Koopa as a Mushroom Kingdom, due to the de-evolved king growing himself all over the city.

Also references are made to various items and enemy-characters from the games. The Stomper boots were potentially inspired by the Kuribo's Shoe from Super Mario Bros. 3. The charges used for the boots resemble Bullet Bills. The flame throwers used end in petal-like extrusions of metal, evoking the Fire Flower. The police uniforms of the Mushroom Kingdom are somewhat reminiscent of the Hammer Bros. uniform and the Junkyard workers are referred to as Snifits. The gas masks they wear cause them to resemble Snifits as well. Though Goombas appear in the film, they are shown to be de-evolved citizens of the city who are essentially dumb and muscle-bound with either small (in relation to their body-size) goofy egg-shaped or more reptilian heads. A Bob-omb appears prominently near the end of the film. It is curious, though, to notice that, underneath its feet, a Reebok logo can be seen for a few seconds (as an act of product placement).

Many characters also reference elements of the games. Big Bertha is a big woman at the Boom Boom Bar, which, itself is named for an enemy. Big Bertha was the name used for the giant red fish in Super Mario Bros. 3, and likewise, this woman dresses in red. Furthermore, Boom-Boom was the name of the enemy boss at the end of every fortress in Super Mario Bros. 3. The character Iggy is named after one of Bowser's eight children while Spike is the name of a spiked ball-throwing enemy from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Several neon signs displayed in a wide shot of the city read names of Mario characters/enemies. These include Thwomp, Bullet Bills, Hammer Bros. tatoos, and Ostro (ostrich character from Super Mario Bros. 2). Additionally, when Mario and Luigi are seen fleeing the police station early on in the film, a brief shot shows a neon signs with the word "Rexx." This is very likely a reference to the enemy named "Rex" in Super Mario World for the SNES.

Yoshi appears in the film as an actual dinosaur, with the appearance of a diminutive T-Rex; there is one scene that shows his long tongue. Mojo Nixon also has a role in the film, playing a human folk singer named Toad in the dinosaur world.

The most obvious reference to the gameplay of the original games is the line said by Mario when the Mario Brothers started the police car: "Let's hit the bricks!". In the game, when Mario picks up a mushroom (some of them are seen some minutes before this line in the movie), he grows taller and can break bricks with his head.

The "Devo Gun" which is used by Koopa (and subsequently, Mario) near the end of the film is actually a modified version of the Nintendo Super Scope peripheral. When King Koopa is talking to one of the policemen about the Devo Guns, the sound effect of getting an extra life at the end of a level in the game can be heard in the background.

• Mario: Bob Hoskins
• Luigi: John Leguizamo
• King Koopa: Dennis Hopper
• Princess Daisy: Samantha Mathis
• Iggy: Fisher Stevens
• Spike: Richard Edson
• Lena: Fiona Shaw
• Daniella: Dana Kaminski
• Toad: Mojo Nixon
• Scapelli: Gianni Russo
• Bertha: Francesca Roberts
• King of Dinohattan: Lance Henriksen
• Old Woman: Sylvia Harman
• Narrator: Dan Castellaneta
• Angelica: Desiree Marie Velez
• TV Announcer: Robert D. Raiford
• Goomba: Scott Mactavish
• Creature Voices (including Yoshi): Frank Welker ^[6]
• James: Preston Lane

• Almost Unreal - Roxette
• Love Is the Drug - Divinyls
• Walk the Dinosaur - (credited as The Goombas), actual is Was (Not Was)
• I Would Stop the World - Charles and Eddie
• I Want You - Marky Mark
• Where Are You Going? - Extreme
• Speed of Light - Joe Satriani
• Breakpoint - Megadeth
• Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
• Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3
• Don't Slip Away - Tracie Spencer
• Cinnamon Street - Roxette

The soundtrack, released on Capitol Records, featured two songs from Roxette: "Almost Unreal" which was released as a single, and "2 Cinnamon Street," a new edit of Roxette's "Cinnamon Street." The music video for "Almost Unreal" was inspired by the movie, featuring scenes from the movie and a de-evolution theme. "Almost Unreal" was originally written for the film Hocus Pocus but was never used and ended up attached to the Mario movie instead. The change angered Per Gessle (liner notes to Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!).

The film's score was composed by Alan Silvestri. It has not been officially released, though bootleg copies do exist.

• Super Mario Bros. at FilmSpot.com
• Super Mario Bros. at the Internet Movie Database
• Super Mario Bros. at Rotten Tomatoes
• X-Entertainment's review of the movie
• Yahoo! SMB movie group
• The Making Of 'Super Mario Bros.': It Ain't No Game! (as published in Markee Magazine)
• Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive fansite

v • d • e Super Mario series
Early Mario games	Donkey Kong · Mario Bros.
Main series	Super Mario Bros. · The Lost Levels · Super Mario Bros. 2 · Super Mario Bros. 3 · Super Mario Land · Super Mario World · Super Mario Land 2 · Super Mario 64 · Super Mario Sunshine · New Super Mario Bros. · Super Mario Galaxy
Related articles	Characters · Mushroom Kingdom · Games by year / platform / genre