Summary
It used to be that video game movies were something to be dreaded instead of looked forward to, but in the last decade or so it seems like studios have finally worked out how to make an entertaining video game movie adaptation that is still loyal to the source material.
We’re lucky that two of the biggest gaming giants now have fantastic movie adaptations with the Super Mario Bros. Movie and A Minecraft Movie. Both of these take a very different approach to adapting their source material, but which does it the best?
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
While the overarching narrative of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is nothing revolutionary, it feels like the perfect way to add depth to a series that’s not known for its stories. Mario and Luigi being pulled from Brooklyn into the Mushroom Kingdom means that any exposition doesn’t feel forced, since they’re as new to the world as we are. Even though the plotline is relatively predictable, that doesn’t make it bad by any means.
A Minecraft Movie is an undeniably strange story, but it had an even tougher job of adapting its source material, since while Mario had at least the basic structure of a narrative to lend from, Minecraft is a game that’s all about making your own stories. However, the narrative threads of A Minecraft Movie don’t all get a satisfying conclusion or enough attention, making it feel like some of its more creative ideas could’ve been given more time to breathe.
7Characters
A Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft Movie chooses to focus on an almostwholly original castwith the only pre-existing character being Steve, and even then he’s a pretty blank slate to build off. While the core cast are all serviceable, they win this category by a landslide, thanks mostly to Jennifer Coolidge’s Vice Principal Marlene and her Villager love interest Nitwit, who perfectly capture the absurdity of the movie as a whole.
While most of the characters in The Super Mario Bros. Movie feel like an accurate depiction of their video game counterparts, there is one notable exception. It’s slightly distracting that Peach’s personality seems to be more based on Daisy than the actual Peach herself. This version of Peach is still a fun character to watch, but it sometimes feels like she should be wearing orange, instead of pink.
Whenadapting Mario into a movie, a clear lesson has already been learned to avoid live action (see Super Mario Bros. 1993), and it’s a good thing too, since Illumination’s adaptation of the Mushroom Kingdom is consistently stunning.
A Minecraft Movie takes the more divisive approach of mixing live-action real-world sections with CGI Minecraft overworld scenes, and for the most part, this works well to capture the feel of Minecraft. After a while, you will get accustomed A Minecraft Movie’s distinct visual style, but it does leave us wondering if there was a better way to bring this franchise to the silver screen.
5References
Mario has a massive history, so when adapting the series into a movie, there was a wealth of references that Illumination had to choose from, and it’s clear that they didn’t hold back. You won’t go 30 seconds in The Super Mario Bros. Movie without seeing a wink or nod to a specific reference from the series' history, and for the most part, this just makes the world feel more real.
After a few trailers were released, it felt like Jack Black’s Steve was just listing off the names of different things in Minecraft. It became a bit of a joke, but unfortunately, this is truly representative of how some scenes in the movie feel. There are multiple sequences where Steve just walks around the Overworld naming and explaining Minecraft references, and while it’s occasionally charming, it mostly comes across as thoughtless, lest we forget Chicken Jockey.
4Adaptation
Adapting a game as open-ended to Minecraft into a movie is no easy task given just how much the game encapsulates, but A Minecraft Movie manages to create a microcosm of what it feels like to play the game. While the references often aren’t the most subtle, the creation of a world based off the game is done surprisingly well.
While Super Mario Bros. Movie feels like it has an easier job adapting the Mario franchise, since there’s more of a standard series-wide narrative to lend from, it sometimes feels like Illumination might have been a bit too ambitious with what it chose to include. By referencing mainline Mario, Mario Kart, and even the Donkey Kong subseries, it makes the overall package feel a bit disjointed from any one Mario game.
3Casting
With a mostly live-action cast, A Minecraft Movie could’ve fumbled by making a new set of characters who feel out of place, but for the most part they all feel well-suited. While choices like Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge feel like the perfect absurd picks, some of Jack Black’s lines read a bit too much like he’s talking to the camera rather than other characters.
Much has already been said about the choice for Hollywood everyman Chris Pratt to voice Mario, and while in the finished product it’s pretty easy to ignore, it does feel like an alternate choice could’ve added more personality to the plucky plumber. However, Charlie Day captures Luigi perfectly, and Jack Black’s Bowser is definitely his better video-game-movie role.
2Sequel Potential
With how successful both The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and A Minecraft Movie have been, it feels inevitable that they’ll both receive follow-ups. While there is definitely room for both of these, it feels like Super Mario Bros. Movie will be better suited to this. Thanks to just how much there is left untouched in the Mario universe, with characters like Rosalina, Daisy, or Wario being perfect sequel characters, it feels like a potential movie series has limitless potential.
Even though there could hypothetically be a follow-up to A Minecraft Movie (journey to The End perhaps), the movie itself seems to not really be too invested in this aspect. Ending on a montage of how every character is living their happily ever after, it feels like if there was a sequel, we’d likely be following a whole new cast.
1Winner
While Super Mario Bros. Movie definitely feels like the more refined and ‘watchable’ of the pair, it does occasionally feel like it’s playing it safe with its approach to adapting the gaming icon onto the big screen. However, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, and this aspect is what makes it such a successful family movie.
A Minecraft Movie is not bad by any means, and its undeniably stranger approach sometimes makes it more genuinely entertaining, even if it occasionally feels like you’re laughing at the movie, not with it.
