April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. But it is also, if I check the clock, Mario Time.
香蕉视频直播淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie,香蕉视频直播� with its vistas of primary colors, is here to brighten our dreary springs, T.S. Eliot be damned. That there is a swell of enthusiasm for a Mario Bros. movie is a once-unthinkable development. The last time Mario hit the big screen was in the little-remembered 1993 live-action film with Bob Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi and Dennis Hopper(!) as Bowser. Hoskins called the experience 香蕉视频直播渁 f香蕉视频直播斺赌斺赌� nightmare.香蕉视频直播�
But a lot has changed in the three decades since 香蕉视频直播淪uper Mario Bros,香蕉视频直播� the very first video-game adaptation. A once widely derided genre is now a cash cow. 香蕉视频直播淭he Last of Us香蕉视频直播� is a massive success on HBO. Pokemon and 香蕉视频直播淯ncharted香蕉视频直播� are box-office hits. With Sonic the Hedgehog already two movies in, Mario is playing catch up.
And 香蕉视频直播淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie,香蕉视频直播� which opens in theaters Wednesday, is a spirited and sprightly attempt to race to the front of the pack. A collaboration between legendary video-game designer and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (both producers), it香蕉视频直播檚 a drastically more sincere effort to capture the fun and spirit of the Nintendo game.
And visually, it香蕉视频直播檚 a dream. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and their animators have rendered the Mario universe with cartoony splendor, matching the game香蕉视频直播檚 ingenious simplicity with a more robust and equally delightful day-glo palate. If part of the appeal of playing 香蕉视频直播淪uper Mario Bros.香蕉视频直播� and its many offshoots has always been to be immersed in such a sunny imaginary world 香蕉视频直播� plus the bouncy earworm compositions of composer Koji Kondo 香蕉视频直播� the movie has successfully mirrored that mushroom-stomping pleasure. It makes you 香蕉视频直播� want to play Mario.
That香蕉视频直播檚 because as nice as it is to look at 香蕉视频直播淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie,香蕉视频直播� it香蕉视频直播檚 not anywhere near as fun as it would be to play it. It香蕉视频直播檚 a-him, Mario, but it香蕉视频直播檚 no a-masterpiece. The storyline is only a touch above the interstitial bits of plot you usually get between gameplay. With the exception of Jack Black香蕉视频直播檚 grandly lovesick Bowser (he香蕉视频直播檚 part Phantom of the Opera, part Meatloaf-styled balladeer), there香蕉视频直播檚 nothing here that deepens these characters beyond their usual 2-D adventures. Mario may be a modern-day Mickey Mouse but his kingdom is on the console.
香蕉视频直播淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie香蕉视频直播� begins much like Spike Lee香蕉视频直播檚 香蕉视频直播淒o the Right Thing香蕉视频直播�: in a Brooklyn pizza parlor. There Mario (Chris Pratt, passable despite the outcry) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are struggling to get their plumbing business off the ground. There are a few moments of stereotypical Italian life 香蕉视频直播� pasta and a big family dinner 香蕉视频直播� before the brothers香蕉视频直播� attempt to fix a water main break drops them through a portal and into the fantasy realm of the game. (In future Brooklyn-set sequels, Mario will presumably combat waves of strollers and hipsters.)
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None of this is likely to be enough for anyone to exclaim 香蕉视频直播淥h, yeah!香蕉视频直播� while hopping up and down and doffing their cap. But it is an hour and a half香蕉视频直播檚 worth of superlative marketing that will whet your appetite for more Mario back home on the couch. If anything, the 香蕉视频直播� as Mario would say 香蕉视频直播� 香蕉视频直播渙key dokey香蕉视频直播� 香蕉视频直播淪uper Mario Bros. Movie香蕉视频直播� only reinforces the distance between two wholly different mediums. It may be game-on for video-game adaptations but the Mario main event is still back on Nintendo.
香蕉视频直播淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie,香蕉视频直播� a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for action and mild violence. Running time: 92 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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By Jake Coyle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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