Print

Author Topic: Shigeru's thoughts on the Mario movie...  (Read 13351 times)

Mario Maniac

  • Loose buttons
« on: January 10, 2008, 03:25:40 PM »
I read an article at next-gen.biz (TMK linked to the interview) that discussed how Miyamoto was involved with the production of the Super Mario Bros. movie.

What are your thoughts on the Disney Super Mario Bros. movie?
Well, when we first initiated talks about a Super Mario Bros, movie, I tried to emphasize the point that the Mario Bros. games are fun as videogames and if we were going to make a Mario Bros. movie, that movie should be entertaining as a movie, and not a translation of the videogame. I think that they tried very hard and in the end it was a very fun project  that they put a lot of effort into. The one thing that I still have some regrets about is that the movie may have tried to get a little too close to what the Mario Bros. videogames were. And in that sense, it became a movie that was about a videogame, rather than being an entertaining movie in and of its self.

Did you collaborate a lot with Disney to create this movie?
I didn’t collaborate with them a whole lot. Obviously, I was involved in the initial pitch about them wanting to make a movie. After they had started production and had filmed some scenes, there was a step there where we were a little bit involved.


If Miyamoto thinks the movie follows the game very closely, he needs to watch it again. The SMB movie is NOTHING like the games. The movie made too many changes to the series. Things that the movie did differently from the games:

- Luigi is a whiny teenager
- Bowser/Koopa became a sort of humanoid dictator (not the fire-breathing dinosaur/turtle from the games)
- Yoshi is a baby tyrannosaurus rex
- Mario and Luigi's costumes are completely different (no shirt/overalls outfit)
- Princess Toadstool's name was changed to Daisy (presumably a reference to Super Mario Land)
- Toad is a punk humanoid (not a mushroom person from the games)
- Goombas are giant reptile creatures
- Big Bertha is a fat lady instead of a fish
- All of the residents of Koopas nation are humanoid dinos (instead of being Mushroom people like in the games)
- The entire concept of seperate evolutionary paths for dinos and mammals has nothing to do with the games.

Why Nintendo even allowed this movie to be made is beyond me.
People who like video games should also like Nintendo. People who don't like Nintendo obviously don't like video games.

Shyguy92

  • Ridicules
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2008, 03:44:56 PM »
I thought he was talking about a different one in that interview. I don't think the Super Mario Bros. Movie was/is being made by Disney. I could be wrong though.
"it's always the present"

Mario Maniac

  • Loose buttons
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2008, 03:53:51 PM »
Disney owns the production company, Buena Vista Distribution, the company which produced the Mario movie.
People who like video games should also like Nintendo. People who don't like Nintendo obviously don't like video games.

Shyguy92

  • Ridicules
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2008, 03:55:20 PM »
Oh. When I first read it I thought it was about the anime movie or something...
"it's always the present"

Mario Maniac

  • Loose buttons
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2008, 03:57:04 PM »
Anime movie?
People who like video games should also like Nintendo. People who don't like Nintendo obviously don't like video games.

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2008, 04:19:08 PM »
Yes, that is correct. The anime movie.
That was a joke.

Mario Maniac

  • Loose buttons
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2008, 04:41:19 PM »
What Mario anime? When did that come out?
People who like video games should also like Nintendo. People who don't like Nintendo obviously don't like video games.

« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2008, 05:02:20 PM »
That was also talked about on the main site. Go look for it, Maniac.

(And I liked the real life Mario movie. Not GREAT, but if it's on and there's nothing else on, I'll give it a watch. I also never assumed Daisy was supposed to be Peach at all, given Mario's uninterest in her in the movie and Luigi's love for her.)
"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

N64 Chick

  • one ticked chick
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2008, 05:11:19 PM »
What Mario anime? When did that come out?

The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach was an animated movie that was released only in Japan sometime in the 80's. It is quite obscure and supposedly hard to track down even in Japan. I was lucky enough to download the entire thing from YouTube although it lacks subtitles. Still, I can tell you that it's truer to the games than the live action movie.
Fangirling over Luigi since 1999.

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2008, 07:20:18 PM »
1986, I believe.
That was a joke.

« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2008, 07:41:13 PM »
I remember Mario's g/f being way hotter than Daisy--which is utterly absurd.
Today's actually... nobody's birthday!  Quick, hurry up and make a baby!

« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2008, 10:55:32 PM »
Why Nintendo even allowed this movie to be made is beyond me.

Making a Mario movie was a no-brainer from a financial point of view.  What I can't fathom is why they chose to make it live-action.  Once you figure in actors' fees and special effects, the movie must have been more expensive than even high-end animated films of the time.  And since it costs no more to animate a magical fantasy world than it does to animate real-life locations, the plot could have been closer to the Mario story the audience knew and loved.  Plus the obvious target market was children.  My best guess is that they were inspired to go live-action by the high profitability of recent live-action films like Batman Returns and Jurassic Park (neither of which were aimed solely at kids, but both of which made astronomical sums through action figures and other kid-oriented merchandise).  Still, they were fools.  Even a bad animated film would have had a higher profit margin than the film they made, simply because there would have been less overhead.

Yeah, that movie utterly failed to meet my expectations when I was a kid, and I'm still not letting it go.
Mega 2
Cybernetic Abiogenesis Project

« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2008, 01:40:17 PM »
See now if you don't constantly try to connect it with the Mario games, I feel it isn't as bad a movie as so many people here are making it out to be.
"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

MEGAߥTE

  • In flames
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2008, 01:56:19 PM »
I remember Mario's g/f being way hotter than Daisy--which is utterly absurd.
Maybe if you like sluts.

« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2008, 03:54:45 PM »
Haha, I don't remember.  Maybe the 8-year-old me was really into sluts.

Anyway, the fact that Mario even had a girlfriend put a great deal of distance between the movie and the games.  Daisy not being the prettiest girl, when put on top of that, made me say, "Well, this is obviously fake."
Today's actually... nobody's birthday!  Quick, hurry up and make a baby!

Print