The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2017 film)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2017 American computer-animated road romantic action-adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Nintendo, and The K Entertainment Company. The 56th Disney animated feature film, loosely based on the video games series by Nintendo, it was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, produced by Jordan Kerner, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Roy Conli, for a screenplay written by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick, David Ronn. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jack Black. Mario is on the quest with Princess Peach from another world to stop Bowser's evil plan before it's too late.

After 5 years of negotiations, Jordan Kerner bought the rights in 2002. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing the first film during the development of the Virtual Console service. Development for a Mario film began in the 1990s, Walt Disney Pictures acquired it in 2011. Through Nintendo's work with Walt Disney World to create Super Mario Parks, he met with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios CEO John Lasseter. By 2013, they were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2014, Nintendo announced that it would produce it with Walt Disney Animation Studios. Production was underway by 2014, and the cast was announced in September 2015.

A Sequel, titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 released on April 5, 2023.

Plot
Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi have recently started a plumbing business in Brooklyn, to the disdain of their ex-employer Spike and their father’s disapproval, unaware the pair are to relocate to San Francisco.

In the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, and in the Dark Lands, ruled by the evil Koopa king Bowser. Bowser seeks to marry Peach and will destroy the Mushroom Kingdom using a Super Star if she refuses. Peach got the vision to plan to ally with someone to help repel Bowser. But, Peach and Toad are sucked into a Warp Pipe and separated.

Peach land in Brooklyn, while Toad landed in nowhere. She reluctantly plans to go to the Mushroom Kingdom, before Bowser will capture her. However, Mario discovers Peach in his shed. He tranquillizes him, causing Peach to accidentally drop his bag of rings through a portal to the Transamerica Pyramid's tower roof, upon reading the writing on Mario's shirt, before passing out. Mario hesitantly agrees to help Peach. The two slowly bond, with Mario relating to Peach's desire for friends. His attempt to save Peach in a public restroom is thwarted by Koopa, who arrives to force Mario. While Toad escape a pack of wolves that fall in love with the baby, and reach civilization. Mario and Peach found Toad in a bar and he created a bucket list Mario helped her complete several entries along their journey. She also tells Mario that she ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom as a baby, where the Toads took her in and eventually made her their leader.

Meanwhile, Bowser, discovers that Mario and Peach are going to San Francisco. As he tracks them down, Mario, Peach and Toad manage to fight off several armies sent by Bowser and the wolfs chasing, arriving to the boat and no one injured in the battle.

Arriving in San Francisco, Peach brings Mario to Luigi, who treats him at his brother Nigel's home. Peach receives a new pair of pink high heels to replace his ruined ones after the car chase. The group heads to the roof of the tower and recovers the rings as Bowser arrives Bowser arrives aboard his flying castle and proposes to Peach, who reluctantly accepts after Bowser's advisor Kamek tortures Toad, tortures Luigi, and throw Mario away. The one escape, with the help of wolves and Wayne, they sucked into a Warp Pipe and hurry to the Mushroom Kingdom.

At the wedding reception, Bowser intends to execute all of his prisoners in lava. Toad smuggles an Ice Flower into Peach's bouquet, which she uses to freeze Bowser. Mario uses a Tanooki Suit and the wolves to free the prisoners, and Luigi. At the same time, one of the Koopas tries to kill Bowser and Kamek instead, causing him to drop him through a trapdoor. An enraged Bowser frees himself and summons a nuclear Bomber Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom with his warp rings. Still, Mario knocks it off course and disparate Warp Rings and directs it into the Warp Pipe where it detonates, creating a vacuum that causes everyone and Bowser's hovercraft to be transported to Brooklyn.

As they fight Bowser, Mario and Luigi grab the Super Star, become invincible, and defeat Bowser and Koopas by banishing him into a warp ring portal to the mushroom planet.

Following the incident, Mario and Luigi decide to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom and let Peach, Toad and others live with them. Mario and Luigi are hailed as heroes by Brooklyn's populace, including their parents and Spike. Afterwards, the brothers move to a house in the Mushroom Kingdom and begin a day of plumbing work together. Three months later, Bowser is still in possession of Mario and Peach's power and usable equipment salvaged from the remains of his castle, planning his return and revenge against Mario, Peach, and Luigi.

Voice Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Mario, a struggling Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, New York.
 * Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Mario's love interest, who entered the world of the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant and was raised by the Toads.
 * Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario's timid younger brother and fellow plumber.
 * Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas, who rules the Dark Lands, steals a powerful Super Star, and plots to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by marrying Peach.
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, a Mushroom Kingdom resident whose species is also named Toad, who aspires to go on his first real adventure.
 * Tyrese Gibson as Wayne Whipple
 * Jemaine Clement as Nigel, Luigi's best friend.
 * Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Mario and Luigi's antagonistic former boss from a company called Wrecking Crew.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, a Koopa sorcerer and Bowser's advisor and informant.

Additionally, Charles Martinet, who voices Mario and Luigi in the Mario games, voices the brothers' father and Giuseppe, a Brooklyn citizen who resembles Mario's original appearance in Donkey Kong and speaks in his in-game voice. Jessica DiCicco voices the brothers' mother, the plumbing commercial woman, a yellow Toad, and Luigi's bully. Rino Romano and John DiMaggio voice the brothers' uncles, Tony and Arthur, respectively. Paul Briggs voices the Penguin King, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom descended upon by Bowser's army, while Eric Bauza voices the Toad General. Della Sabha, voices Lumalee, a nihilistic blue Luma held prisoner by Bowser and baby Peach, and Scott Menville voices the Koopa General, the winged, blue-shelled leader of Bowser's army, as well as a red Toad.

Development
The suggestion for a film based on Super Mario Bros. was first put forward by Jordan Kerner during a script meeting. Kerner met Shigeru Miyamoto, founder of Nintendo. Nintendo of America president and Hiroshi Yamauchi's son-in law, Minoru Arakawa. He presented Arakawa with an initial draft of the script. One month after their meeting, Kerner went to Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto to meet Hiroshi Yamauchi. He pitched to Yamauchi the storyline which led to Nintendo receiving interest in the project. Kerner left with a $2 million contract giving the temporary control of the character of Mario over to Kerner. Nintendo retained merchandising rights for the film through a "creative partnership" with Walt Disney Animation Studios. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, the idea for a new Mario film came from bringing their older games to the Virtual Console and other services. Such transitions took time for the company, and Miyamoto recognized that "our content business would be able to develop even further if we were able to combine our long-beloved software with that of video assets, and utilize them together for extended periods". Miyamoto knew that the process of making a film was far different from that of making a video game, and wanted a film expert to lead the effort.

Through Nintendo's work with Walt Disney World to create Mario-based attractions, later resulting in Super Mario Parks, Miyamoto met John Lasseter, founder of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios animation division. Miyamoto found Lasseter's creative process similar to his own and felt he would be the proper lead for a Mario film. They had started more earnest discussions by 2011, knowing that if they felt it would not work that they could easily walk away. In January 2012, Nintendo announced that the film would progress with Miyamoto, Roy Conli and Kerner co-producing. Lasseter said the film was a "priority" for Walt Disney Animation Studios and that it would most likely come out in 2017. He added that Miyamoto would be "front and center" during production. In January 2013, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the film was "moving along smoothly" with an expected 2017 release date. Furukawa also said Nintendo would own the rights to the film, and both Nintendo and Disney would fund the production. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was first officially announced on August 10, 2013, at the D23 Expo, with a February 2017 release date.

In August 2015, it emerged that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after previously co-directly The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street (2014). Following the full casting announcement, Lord and Miller were confirmed to be directing, Shrek 2 writers, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss wrote the screenplay along with with Zookeeper writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn; Stem and Weiss also wrote the story attached as the screenwriter. In September 2016, it was announced by New York Comic Con that the film's teaser trailer would be released on October 6, 2016. Shortly thereafter, Ed Skudder, who previously also doing Disney's The Smurfs (2016), confirmed that he worked as head of story on the film, along with Paul Briggs (who also voices King Penguin in the film), in addition to Don Hall, Rich Moore and Chris Williams as a co-director.

Writing
Lord and Miller wanted their work on the film to be the opposite of the "irreverent" The LEGO Movie, aiming to develop a faithful adaptation of the games, which they both felt had not been done before, as well as something "more cinematic" and "more emotional" than The LEGO Movie. "When people probably first heard our names attached to the movie, they expected we'd do the The LEGO Movie treatment to Mario", said Miller. "But every project we come to, we make new choices depending on who the audience is and what we're going for". Lord asserted that Nintendo involved themselves with every aspect of the production, "from story to visual development to the animation".

The duo wanted the film to serve as an "origin story" for Mario and Luigi, opting to portray them as "blue-collar guys" by focusing on their previous backgrounds as Italian-American plumbers from New York City in early games (specifically Brooklyn, as in older American media). They also wanted to reflect how gamers win in the games by not giving up in spite of making mistakes, turning that into a character trait for the film's portrayal of Mario. For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of the story, but then in November 2015, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed Princess Peach and  Luigi's roles from the games, with Peach helping Mario for saving the world from Bowser, because they felt having them in their original roles was "too straightforward".

Casting
In February 2015, Mario voice actor Charles Martinet said the possibility of reprising his role in the film would be a "marvelous thing" and that if he were asked to voice Mario he would "go in and play with great joy and happiness". In June 2015, Sebastian Maniscalco revealed he was voicing Spike, Mario and Luigi's boss from the game Wrecking Crew (1985).

During a July 2015 Nintendo Direct presentation, Shigeru Miyamoto announced that Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Maniscalco would headline the voice cast and that Martinet and Tyrese Gibson would be featured in "surprise cameos". The announcement was met with a mixed reaction from fans; while some welcomed the idea of celebrity actors voicing the characters, others questioned and criticized the choices, in particular Pratt as Mario instead of Martinet (who had voiced the character since 1991) or an Italian actor. Martinet voices the brothers' father as well as a citizen of Brooklyn named Giuseppe, the latter using Mario's game voice. Additionally, voice acting veterans Rino Romano, John DiMaggio, and Bonnie Hunt voiced Mario and Luigi's Uncles Tony and Arthur, and mother respectively, as the intention was to cast actors of Italian ancestry for the brothers' family. Lasseter said Pratt would not be voicing Mario in a thick Italian accent as Martinet had traditionally done. Paul Briggs described Pratt's original voice during production as a "New York, Italian guy" and a "cousin to the Sopranos", but the accent was scrapped for sounding too similar to the character Tony Soprano. Voice actress Tara Strong criticized Pratt's casting and expressed a preference for Martinet to voice Mario instead, bemoaning what she described to be Hollywood's disregard for professional voice actors. In response to criticism of Pratt's casting, Horvath stated, "For us, it made total sense. He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he's perfect for it." For his part, Pratt acknowledged the character's "passionate fanbase" and that Mario's traditional voice was "the soundtrack to [fans'] youth. You don't want someone to come along and cynically kind of destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen." Regarding his own vocal performance, he encouraged audiences to "come watch the movie. Go watch the movie [...] and then we can talk."

Charlie Day originally voiced Luigi with a New York accent similar to the film Goodfellas (1990) during production. The accent was scrapped when directors told him it sounded too similar to the gangster film, to which Day responded to the change with, "Alright! I think you're wrong, but fine!". Plot details were kept secret from the actors during recording, according to Day, who noted he had to record his dialogue in many different ways, after which the directors selected the version they believed would be best suited for the film.

Upon the trailer's release, both Payton and Eric Bauza confirmed their parts in the film; Payton voices the Penguin King and Bauza voices the Toad General.

Animation
The film was animated by Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California. Production was underway by September 2014, with animation ending in August 2016. Post-production work wrapped by January 2017. Miller said that Disney updated their lighting and rendering technology for the film, with Lasseter claiming that it "pushed the technical and artistic capabilities of [the] studio to new heights". Lord and Miller wanted the animation to juggle stylized animation with realism, with Lord claiming that "there are moments of cartoony fun, but [...] we wanted it to feel like a big adventure film and that there are stakes and maybe you believe that these characters can die, so they revealed that the film would be using an animation style similar to The Smurfs (2016), and we used consistent volume on the characters to make them feel a little more grounded".

In an interview with GameSpot, Lord said that he and Miller took a "blockbuster approach" when making The Super Mario Bros. Movie: "To me, this is a movie that's been like 40 years in the making, you know, and I've always considered Mario more of an action game. The characters look comedic, but the story is always high stakes, you gotta save the princess or save the world or whatever in the game. So we wanted to reflect that action sensibility." The two brought in artists they knew from television and worked closely with them to craft the film's action sequences. Skudder in particular was crucial in making the action.

Music
During an September 2016 Nintendo Direct presentation, Lasseter confirmed that Heitor Pereira was set to compose the film's score. Pereira worked closely with longtime Mario composer Koji Kondo to incorporate themes from the games. The film's music references leitmotifs from Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D Land, among other Mario games. Songs from Jack Black and Keegan-Michael Key were improvised for the film. "Speed Me Up" by American musicians Wiz Khalifa, Lil Yachty, Ty Dolla $ign, and Sueco The Child received 15 million streams, along with 1.8 billion views for the "Speed Me Up" TikTok challenge. Jack Black co-wrote the song "Peaches", wherein Bowser professes his love for Princess Peach, alongside the directors, editor Eric Osmond, and song producer John Spiker. Having Bowser perform a love song was Black's idea. "Peaches" was released on Febraury 19, 2017 with a music video directed by Cole Bennett. According to Black, it was filmed in a few hours. On its release, "Peaches" was #61 on the iTunes streaming chart. It later appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #83 and peaking at #56.

Pedal Pump

 * Mario (1 time Gas Pedal: Plumbing)