Not-so-super Mario Brothers

No, I’m not talking about the game and the myriad video game sequels and spin offs it has spawned over the years. I’m talking about the movie … yeah, that 90s flick that flopped.

Special thanks to GeekSugar for shedding light on my dim recollections of Super Mario Brothers history. Here’s her take on the movie:

Despite the success of the Mario franchise, the movie was a total flop at the box office, only bringing in $20 million to cover its $48-million budget. A pretty big number for ’93. But who would have thought that a movie about two plumbing brothers who get sucked into an alternate universe via an interdimensional portal under the Brooklyn Bridge and end up fighting the evil King Koopa would be a flop?”

Have I ever seen this movie? Yes, several times, in fact. Am I disappointed with it as most fans of Super Mario Brothers are? Yes, I was and still am. Well, the effects were great for a 1993 film. The story needed a lot of work, however, and so did the acting—no offense to the main actors in the movie, Bob Hoskins (Mario) and John Leguizamo (Luigi), and the venerable Dennis Hopper (King Koopa).

I guess what I’m getting at is if the producers planned on making Super Mario Brothers movie a comedy/scifi/adventure flick, they should have tapped the original Mario and Luigi (by original, I mean those who played the plumbers in the cut scenes of the television animated series).

Frankly, I think Lou Albano makes a better Mario than Bob Hoskins.

Image downloaded from Minor Notes and modified by Joel.