“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” follows the titular brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) as they try to make a name for themselves as the best plumbers in Brooklyn. Their enthusiasm is deflated by their family and their competitor, Spike (Sebastian Maniscalco). Things get worse when they mess up on a job and end up causing more harm than good. When they see a massive flood happening in their city, they think it’s the perfect opportunity to prove everyone wrong. But the sewers lead them to a secret green Warp Pipe, which is essentially a portal to a fantastical world with various kingdoms. While falling through it, Mario is transported to the Mushroom Kingdom, which is being ruled by Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Luigi goes to the Dark Lands, which is Bowser’s (Jack Black) domain. So, Mario needs to find a way to rescue Luigi, and Peach needs to stop Bowser, who wants to marry Peach, before he takes over the world.
Major Spoilers Ahead
Princess Peach Is Taken Away
Given how Peach’s kingdom is full of innocent Toads, who aren’t the greatest fighters, she decides to join hands with the Jungle Kingdom and lead their army into the battle against the tyrant Bowser. King Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen), the ruler of the aforementioned kingdom, says that he’ll agree to Peach’s terms if they can defeat his son, Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen). Peach says that it’s a bad idea, but since Mario is desperate to get Luigi back, he agrees to get in a ring with Donkey Kong. And, as expected, Mario gets pulverized by the mighty Donkey Kong. Peach reminds Mario that Cranky Kong has littered the floating colosseum with power-up boxes (boxes that produce items like mushrooms or flowers that give their user special powers), and he can use them to defeat Donkey Kong. Initially, even that doesn’t go well. However, as soon as Mario gets the Cat Suit (which gives him super agility and sharp claws), he manages to defeat Donkey Kong. Hence, Cranky Kong is left with no other option but to stand beside Princess Peach.
News of this union reaches Donkey Kong, and he ambushes Peach, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), Mario, King Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong, and their troops on the Rainbow Road with his Koopa army. The heroes put up a great fight, but the Koopa General and his massive war machine prove to be too much for them to handle, especially when he sacrifices himself to destroy part of the Rainbow Road. This causes Mario and Donkey Kong to plummet into the ocean, while King Cranky Kong and his troops are arrested and taken to Bowser’s floating kingdom. Peach and Toad escape the onslaught and reach the mushroom kingdom to evacuate it. Bowser reaches Peach’s palace and asks for her hand in marriage by showing off the Super Star that he has acquired from the Penguin King (Khary Payton). Peach obviously refuses, and Bowser threatens to not only crush Toad but also use the Super Star to destroy everything. Hence, Peach is left with no other option but to satisfy Bowser’s whims.
Mario And Donkey Kong Find Common Ground And Fight Back Against Bowser In The End
Mario and Donkey Kong are consumed by a Maw-Ray in a very Pinocchio-esque manner. That’s where they have a heart-to-heart about how their respective fathers discredit them every time or how they are told that they can never be more than what they were born to do. And that’s when they notice Donkey Kong’s cart, with one of the rocket boosters still intact, lying in Maw-Ray’s tummy. So, they use it to escape and reach Bowser’s castle. Instead, they land in the Mushroom Kingdom and find the Koopas stacking a bunch of power-up boxes. This leads to yet another amazing platforming section, through which Mario acquires a Tanooki Suit (which gives him the power to fly extremely fast), and he and Donkey finally get to Bowser and Peach’s wedding ceremony. Peach manages to stall Bowser by using the Ice Flower (which has the power to freeze things) that Toad had hidden in her bouquet. In the meantime, Donkey Kong stops the lever that’s lowering all the prisoners into molten lava as a ritualistic sacrifice, and Mario saves Luigi from falling in after his cage has been partly melted.
Seeing Peach’s closeness with Mario, Bowser bursts out of his icey confinements and unleashes a Banzai Bill, which is a massive, sentient, bullet-looking bomb, on the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario flies after it in an attempt to reason with it, which is simply hilarious. But as he realizes that it’s not going to stop, he hits it in the eye so that it goes after him. That works, and he leads the Banzai Bill into a Warp Pipe. It kind of explodes, but it also increases the gravitational pull of the Warp Pipe, thereby causing Bowser’s entire kingdom to be transported to Brooklyn. Angered out of his mind, Bowser starts to beat up Mario. His friends push back while Mario takes a breather at a restaurant. Upon seeing the plumbing advertisement he made with Luigi, he decides to join the fight again. So does Luigi, and the two of them get a hold of the Super Star and become invincible. This allows them to defeat not only Bowser but his entire Koopa army. Peach stuffs a Mini Mushroom (which reduces the eater’s size) in Bowser’s mouth and imprisons him in a jar. While King Cranky Kong acknowledged Donkey Kong’s worth when he was saved by his son, Mario and Luigi’s father does the same after he sees his sons in action. At the end of the film, we see that Mario and Luigi are living together in the Mushroom Kingdom and working as plumbers because the place is full of pipes.
What Is Mini Bowser Doing In The Mid-Credits? Does The Post-Credits Scene Tease A Sequel With Yoshi?
Technically, there are two bonus scenes, but I’ll count the fourth-wall-breaking Lumalee (Juliet Jelenic) talking about whether the movie has ended or if we are stuck in a dark void of despair and existential crisis as a third one. In the mid-credits scene, we see Bowser singing yet another song dedicated to Peach in his normal voice as he laments about how he and Peach could’ve been together. And, for a brief second, it does seem that he has regained his original size and is planning to attack the Mushroom Kingdom again. But when one of the Toad soldiers interrupts Bowser’s singing sessions and tells him to keep it down, it becomes apparent that he’s still in his miniature form and in a birdcage. Well, at least someone has been kind enough to give him a mini piano so that he doesn’t get bored. The mid-credits scene ends with Bowser almost starting a rant. Before he can do that, the soldier shuts the door, thereby plunging him into darkness. Does this mean he’s always going to stay this way? I don’t think so. I’m sure his loyal advisor, informant, and sorcerer, Kamel (Kevin Michael Richardson), is going to find a way to get him out of there and help him script his revenge arc.
If you are patient enough to stay all the way to the end of the credits, you are gifted with yet another scene. This one takes place in the underground of Brooklyn, which is apparently an endless and deep maze of pipes. The virtual camera focuses on an egg with green spots on it. Almost like an homage to “Alien” or “Godzilla” (yes, the 1998 movie), the egg begins to crack open. And before we can see what’s in it, the film cuts to black, and we hear someone exclaim the name “Yoshi.” It’s not clear if the egg was always there underneath Brooklyn or if the confluence of the fantastical world and the world of humans has brought it here. We do see a bunch of dinosaurs in the Mushroom Kingdom. So, it’s possible that that’s where Yoshi has come from. That said, it is clear that future movies set in the Mario Bros. cinematic universe are going to bring in Mario’s most recognizable sidekick, Yoshi. The character apparently has a massive appetite. It can eat enemies with its super-elastic tongue. And it has the ability to lay eggs, which it can use as a weapon as well. Now, it remains to be seen if we’re going to get a Yoshi spin-off or if it’s going to be a supporting character in a sequel to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” because both of those things have happened in the game series. Either way, I’ll be there to watch more Mario movies if they are as good as this one.
