---
title: The Super Mario Bros. Movie
type: Movie
date: 2023-04-24
year: 2023
director: Aaron Horvath
rating: 4
status: Finished
image: the-super-mario-movie.jpg
tags:
  - movie
colorSortKey: [0, 27, 0]
---
 Why does this movie exist? The answer is obvious: it is a commercial, not artistic enterprise, and by those standards it is a success. It is a 90-minute commercial for _Mario_, slickly delivered with rough voice acting but a pretty delightful score. There are many things that you point at and say "ah, I remember _that_!" and that is the point. It is a movie that exists to remind you of the fun you had playing _Mario_ games, and by the Ebert definition of a good movie (accomplishing what it sets out to do) it is a good movie.

But there is a hollowness at the core of this movie that slightly witty asides like the melancholy dark star cannot fix. Take, for instance, The Lego Movie.