Super Mario Bros the movie

[Ecks]

Everything but that last one sounds like it would suck.

But fuck me, I'd love me some jetjump shoes.

[BitVyper]

like the Bob-Omb and King Toadstool's constant interventions were pure Deus Ex Machina

That's not deus ex machina. For one thing, they don't actually resolve any aspects of the plot, they only help. For another, while you could almost make an argument for the Bobomb coming out of nowhere (you would be wrong, but you could potentially make the argument), that's definitely not true of King Toadstool. His influence is made clear throughout the entire movie. Deus ex machina folds the entire plot up into a neat little package from pretty much out of nowhere. There's room to stretch the definition a bit, but not that much. King Toadstool is literally everywhere, and people comment on the fungus repeatedly - it's even given a bit of character before it does anything, like how it retreats into itself when Koopa enters the room. The hero getting some help and guidance from an external force is pretty normal. King Toadstool mostly acts as a guide - the fungus doesn't just throw a bobomb at Koopa; it makes one apparent to the brothers. The contrast between how they respond to the situation is a moment of character development for both of them.

Like this stuff with the king and what he's doing is a pretty central aspect of the plot throughout the movie, so I'm not sure how you call it deus ex machina

[Magus]

Well, perhaps it is more of a Chekhov's gun, but used quite unsubtly to "solve" several situations (for example, they are about to fall down the elevator shaft, and the fungus provides a trampoline, or they are about to fall off the cliff in the police car, and the fungus provides a safety net, etc.). The Bob-omb was not the only instance of its use I could criticize. That said, there were plenty of situations not solved in this way.

[ZARAK]

Being high can make this movie surprisingly watchable, it seems.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Magus

Well, perhaps it is more of a Chekhov's gun, but used quite unsubtly to "solve" several situations (for example, they are about to fall down the elevator shaft, and the fungus provides a trampoline, or they are about to fall off the cliff in the police car, and the fungus provides a safety net, etc.). The Bob-omb was not the only instance of its use I could criticize. That said, there were plenty of situations not solved in this way.

The ways you listed are all ways that the film establishes that Chekhov's gun is in fact a gun. There are plenty of other "pure luck" ways they could have survived each scenario. The car could have rolled and our suspension of disbelief would have allowed us to believe them crawling out of the wreckage mostly okay. They could have caught onto something while falling down the elevator shaft and used that to get away. Etc. The reasons the fungus saves them in those specific instances is to establish that the fungus 1. May be intelligent. 2. Has an active role in the story. It also helps, as Bit pointed out, to characterize Luigi and Mario via their reactions.

[PyrosNine]

Oh, how I loved this movie! Even as a hyperactiveintelligent youngling, I could tell that it had little or nothing to do with the actual game, but I was still thrilled by it, it was one of those times where the concept met with the technical limitations of reality, and it made a perfectly good movie in spite of the fact that a movie made about two italian plumbers who defeat turtles and evil fungi by crushing them with their body mass to save a humanoid princess and her good fungus people in a magical land where everything has eyes-is a really hard thing to make a film about. Especially at the time: it was the 90's!

Everyone thinks they could have made a better movie, but that's usually with an unlimited budget and with all the amenities we have today for making movies. And if you say, well they should have just made an animated Mario Bros movie...

Well they did! Only it was in Japan, because sure as hell Disney wasn't going to make a movie based on a acid trip premised video game. Wiki!

And I think the quote from shigeru about a movie may have been about this one, though I could be wrong.

The childhood of the 90's was defined by your parents going over to blockbuster and renting some obscure childrens film to go with their chick flicks and oscar winners so you don't whine at them, and then finding yourself sitting through 'unique' experiences.

Much of my tastes as a cinephile come from the stark difference between those early movies, and the gems that I have seen as an adult (see Midnight in Paris, it's great!) and though I have seen some sheer, utter, horrifyingly bad crap from both a technical and a writing standpoint (LAST AIRBENDER....) and I have seen films based on paper/electronic media that when they deviated from the source the result actually made less sense storywise (Most recently, watched D.O.A., and while D.O.A.s plot was kinda stupid to begin with, at least the Ninja quartet didn't sneak into a guarded facility by running in the front door and beating up the security guards...without at least making a bloody mess!) I can say that I think that Super Mario Bros was a fun movie, and it's unique "reimagining" let it go places other kids films at the time didn't.

There was social commentary, dystopian fiction, parallel universes, and a bit of cynicism/skepticism, and scenes that were hiliarious no matter your inclination. Dennis Hopper's "Slimy, Egg sucking, son of a snake" was pretty good. And Yoshi was adorable, and to be honest, OP for any movie. And because of the seemingly extreme translations, most concepts and images were understandable at first glance to even people who didn't know either Mario or science fiction, but still had bits and details that would have immediately caught the attention of either.

Unlike "There will be Brawl" which requires understanding of every nintendo game ever, and "The Brothers Mario" which is too hardcore for anyone with a weak heart.

[walkertexasdruid]

It was pretty bad, and I like some questionable stuff.

[Magus]

By the way, did anyone ever suss out why Daisy is the princess of the mushroom people and the daughter of the king who is evolved from the fungus, but for some reason was born from an egg like the dinosaur evolved people would be? Was her mother a dinosaur woman, thus showing how under the king and queen's rule the kingdom's two peoples were united in peace and harmony, thrown into chaos by Bowser's usurpation?

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Magus

By the way, did anyone ever suss out why Daisy is the princess of the mushroom people and the daughter of the king who is evolved from the fungus, but for some reason was born from an egg like the dinosaur evolved people would be? Was her mother a dinosaur woman, thus showing how under the king and queen's rule the kingdom's two peoples were united in peace and harmony, thrown into chaos by Bowser's usurpation?

I think the implication is that the king was super, super de-evolved. Like, they devolved him all the way back to dinosaur, and then they devolved him even further back to fungus.

[Magus]

Wha, really? I thought there were two distinct lineages going on there...like Toad becomes the one type of Goomba, whereas there are also lizard/dinosaur Goombas. Just the two types. So I thought it was a whole mushroom people v. dinosaur people thing going on.