Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
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The Super Mario Bros Movie is the kind of film that can make you feel eight years old again and also make you ask, “Wait, is that all it wanted to be?” We jump into our full review with the stuff that matters to longtime Nintendo fans: the decision to start Mario and Luigi in Brooklyn, the joy of seeing the Mushroom Kingdom in crisp modern animation, and the constant stream of references that try to trigger that old-school Mario magic.
We get specific about what works and what doesn’t. Jack Black’s Bowser is an easy highlight, especially once “Peaches” enters the chat, and we talk about why that moment feels more memorable than a lot of the movie’s dialogue. We also dig into voice casting and character choices, from Charlie Day’s Luigi energy to the debate around Chris Pratt’s Mario and whether Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong pulls you out of the world. Along the way, we nerd out about Luigi’s Mansion potential, the Mario Kart sequence, and the film’s funniest curveball character.
Then we go bigger: what should a great video game adaptation aim for in 2026 and beyond? We compare Illumination’s kid-forward style to the DreamWorks approach, with Shrek as the measuring stick for an animated movie that truly serves adults and kids at the same time. If you’ve been searching for a clear Super Mario Bros Movie podcast review, a take on Nintendo lore, or a thoughtful debate about nostalgia versus storytelling, you’ll fit right in.
Subscribe for more geek culture deep dives, share this with the friend who still knows every Mario sound effect, and leave us a five-star review if you want to support the show. What did you rate The Super Mario Bros Movie?
Welcome And Movie Setup
SPEAKER_01Guys, welcome to Project Geekology, episode 159. Today we are going through green tunnels. We are jumping on mushrooms.
SPEAKER_02Busting our heads on blocks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, getting barrels thrown at us by uh giant gorillas. We are covering the first uh Super Mario Bros movie. Not the first Super Mario Bros movie, but the not whatever uh whatever companies making these. I think it's Illumination, the first Illumination uh Super Mario Bros. movie. We are covering that one. We are not covering the second one. Some spoilers or comments might be made of the second one because a couple of us have seen the second one at this point. But yeah, I am one fourth of your host. My name is Dakota, and I'm joined as always with Anthony.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, I'll try to I'll try to keep the Super Mario Galaxy uh spoilers kind of out of this. You know, maybe it might be a mention or two, but I'll I'll try not to mention it because I'm I'm pretty sure that at some point we'd like to cover that one as a whole. But yes, I and I am going to shoot this one on over to one of the other two.
SPEAKER_03Rich, uh nice to be here with you guys. Uh by the way, when Dakota said there might be slight spoilers because somebody's watching, somebody had watched Mario Galaxy. That's called the Rich Rule on this podcast. It's that when Rich is left unfettered, he watches everything around the movie and sometimes bleeds into them. I apologize in advance. And we are also joined, as always, by Hi, I'm Jen.
SPEAKER_00Hi, she's Jen. Hi, I'm Paul.
SPEAKER_01Uh, yes, this is Jen. Uh, our resident uh Super Mario expert and Camp Rock alum.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Never seen it. Still haven't seen Camp Rock.
Camp Rock Pins And Life Updates
SPEAKER_01All right, we're gonna have to explain the whole Camp Rock thing. But you know, before we jump into our discussion of Super Mario Bros., let's talk a little bit about what we've been up to. The it's been a couple weeks now since we recorded last. I'll I'll go ahead and jump into it. Disney released a uh a set of six like Camp Rock limited edition pins a couple weeks ago, and we were watching some stupid video of someone unboxing them, and I was just like, I have no idea what Camp Rock is. And Jen, you know, was confused because how how could I have possibly missed Camp Rock? But I didn't really watch the Disney Channel at that age. Uh I think it was after high school for me, so like it completely missed me. And she she had never seen it either, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I it's not like I I was like, oh my gosh, it's so amazing, I can't believe you've never seen this. I've just seen so many like cringe compilations of Camp Rock online, and it seems like one of the worst things to happen ever. Like one of the worst things to be recorded on film. And so I I tried to show Dakota some some like I was like, you have to watch some of these cringe videos, it's just it's awful. It's the worst thing I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01And I said no, no, no, no, no. I would like to just go blind into Camp Rock, watch the entire thing. I have yet to do so, folks. Um, so this is just this is just a conversation we've had, but like it's something that keeps coming back up. So I feel like maybe in the next coming weeks you I will have seen Camp Rock and I will let you know what my thoughts are. Uh but other than that, what have we been up to? We we've been doing a lot of little stuff. We uh Rich, we went to a Mets game with you last weekend.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm. It turned a double header.
SPEAKER_03It turned into two Mets games. Well, no, I said I said let's go Mets, but not that game because they uh lost two. I when I treat guys, when I treat film someone to a baseball game, all right, I don't just treat them to one, I treat them to two in one day. All right, and two losses, you know. So uh what a guy.
SPEAKER_01It was beautiful. Yeah, no, they they had to play a double header the second uh on Sunday because it rained on Saturday. Um and New York is incapable of creating stadiums that can you know withstand rain. You know, there's no cover in in any New York stadiums. They they don't believe in that here.
SPEAKER_00Um we have some of the most unpredictable weather.
SPEAKER_01Like anyway. Let's uh what what else have we been up to?
SPEAKER_00Oh, we've been rewatching Sopranos, one of the greatest shows of all time, if not the greatest show of all time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, some good stuff in there, some good stuff. I finished my re-listen to the Harry Potter series. Um I ended up they're still coming out with the full cast audio dramas or audiobook uh narrations. Uh and those are great, but they only have six out of the seven released so far, so I kind of just I I jumped into the the Jim Dale uh narration for the last book, and um I'm I'm happy I did. So I now have a complete timeline of all the possible like dates that I can place onto a calendar for the entire series. Um, and I'm I'm very proud of this. Uh I was able to find 234 dates between all seven books. Now, they don't say all of these dates out loud, but it'll be like September 1st, and then the the next day would be Monday, so that would be September 2nd. And then they would say, and on Friday, so that would be September 6th. So I would work it like that throughout the entire book, and you can reconstruct a timeline that way. Um and I'm I'm really happy with it. Uh, I there wasn't I wasn't able to get every single like big event that occurs uh in in all of it, but like there's a couple events that I I just simply could not date, which really frustrated me. Like um at the end of Sorcerer's Stone, I know it's in June that uh Harry confronts Quirl, who's trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, um, and then he sees Voldemort's face it like under the turban. I cannot date that. Like, not with with certainty. I can't, like, I can probably place that early June. Yeah, sure, maybe. Another big one in uh book six that I really wanted to date was um Draco and and uh Draco and Harry dueling in the bathroom. When when Harry finds him crying in the bathroom and like they he uses a sectum sempra on him. Cannot date that one. Uh, could not figure out any way to reconstruct that one. So there was there's a couple like gaps in my timeline that is frustrating, but I'm really happy with the 234 dates that I was able to plot for the seven books. So yay me. Um and I will do we have anything else to say?
Magic The Gathering And Comfort Games
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01Sopranos, Potter. I'm gonna throw it over to Antonio. Oh, I I want I want to ask Anthony. Um, you said that you went to uh Magic the Gathering pre-release. How'd that go?
SPEAKER_02It's pretty good. Um I've I've gone to a couple pre-releases, but um this one was uh Strixhaven. Um I did end up getting one of the the pre-cons for uh the commander deck. They said um I was talking to my buddy and a couple of others that have played with it, and they said that it's like pretty pretty crazy. I have yet to to play it. Um the last time uh the last pod that I I played with, they they were using that same uh pre-con, and then somebody else was using another one, and I was like, uh, I don't know if I want to run like the same like deck, you know, two two of the same deck in one pod. So I ended up just using my um my Titus one from Final Fantasy X. And yeah, yeah, no, no, like yeah, Fridays. That that's why usually um Fridays are are like a tougher record for me because I'm I'm out for Friday Night Magic.
SPEAKER_01I had no idea you had a regular Magic the Gathering thing. This is complete we are learning Anthony lore uh in real time.
SPEAKER_02I think I've mentioned it to Rich before. I'm pretty sure Rich knew that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I oh I didn't I I knew that.
SPEAKER_02So so there was that. I did do I did drop a like a mini episode. It's like a like a really, really like mini one that kind of just goes over it's almost like a psychology thing where we like why do we replay the same games over and over? And I mean there's like many reasons, but for me, I you know, I I kind of I thought about it for me from a personal experience. Obviously, nostalgia is a big reason why um you get to a point to where you kind of master the game. You also want to be able to kind of branch like through the different you know, some sometimes when you play through a story, you can kind of change things up with different choices, and then you know, some games kind of become like comfort games. You know how some people watch The Office like every year? They it's the same thing with video games, people play the same game every year because you know they just they know it, they know it in and out, they don't really have to think about it, they can turn their brain off and just play it. But I know there's like many other reasons. I also today, well, today as of recording, I started playing a a new gotcha game called um that perked uh the cut is ears. Um it's called Neverness to Everness. And it's it's one of those like those like anime uh gotcha games, kind of like Genshin Impact, but this one I'm actually like very impressed. The optimization on this game is insane. Like it looks great, and you can play it at some like pretty good um like graphical like graphic level like on your phone and it looks great and it runs great. I'm like, oh my gosh, like this is like one of those games that could run smooth on a on a potato and a watch battery. Like the optimization is that good, and and the story's pretty cool, like it there's like this kind of anomaly that happens and and um I'm still like I'm still new to it. It literally just dropped today and I haven't been able to play much. But there's I guess like I don't know if it's like a different dimension. I think it is. You do go to some like different dimensions, but I was watching some videos like before it released, and there's dude, there is a level in here that literally looks like the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. I'm like, what? I'm like Alright, so I'm I'm gonna be downloading this after the podcast.
SPEAKER_01I hope you're gonna be able to do it. What's the name of it? I'm gonna look this up.
SPEAKER_02Neverness to Everness. Uh oh or NTE for short. Now Dakota's like gotcha game?
SPEAKER_01Yo, I love gotcha game. I started playing another one recently. What was it? Um sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, no, no, you're good. Um it's called Resonance Solstice, Resonance Solstice, and it was really good. It's kind of like uh you you build a train crew in a dystopian like world that uh you like get you you you uh go town to town, like trying to make profit off of like rare goods from each town or whatever while you're fighting whatever you know entities that come up or whatever. It's a cool game, way too much talking, and I I just the story is just not as interesting as as the actual gameplay is, and that's what's frustrating. Like I want to play the game, and the story is not that interesting to me. So I I I I dropped it a little bit, but I'll check out Neverness Tavernus. That sounds right up my alley.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. It it it's it's pretty cool. The the combat was pretty smooth, but uh I I was just like really impressed with uh like the optimization. But so far from what I've played, it it's been pretty good. I I I enjoy it. I'll uh toss this one over to to Rich.
SPEAKER_03Alright, well 50% of this podcast is gonna wanna stab me. Uh so my apologies ahead of time. It's been a lot of baseball. Uh I had to go to uh Charlie's playing Little League now, so that's been exciting trying to uh you know watch him and uh hope that he does well. And uh recently he ended up uh playing, he's in the same league as one of the Mets' sons. So that guy's son was playing against him and he uh he actually hit Charlie and Charlie ran to first base and with the ball. Yeah, hit he hit him with the ball on the hand when Charlie was batting and he was the pitcher. And uh Charlie got to go to first base, they won the game, Charlie got to meet the dad afterwards, and you know, Charlie actually got to go on the field the night before and actually high-fived the players as they were coming out of the dugout as they took the field. Because uh essentially I have maximized the matrix for Mets attendance, and I have figured out how to make sure that I move up in tiers so I my we get more uh we basically get more like sweet. You get more perks. Yeah, we get more perks. It's uh it's been pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01So I uh Anthony, Anthony, I just want to tell you we went to a game with Rich and his family, and they pulled out uh the scorecard, and they were ticking away the scorecards for each each player. I I was I've never seen anyone do that, like unironically, but like um how old is your son?
SPEAKER_03He is 11.
SPEAKER_0111-year-old Charlie's just sitting there with a scorecard, just like looking up and down, uh jotting away. I'm a device in sight. I was I was very impressed. Meanwhile, the the plebs sitting next to the the Laconey family um were playing Pokemon Go, me and Jen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, I won't lie.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Dakota and I were like looked at looking at our phones constantly. Charlie was like, I mean we're having the game. Yeah, no, we were having a blast. It's just that there were so many pokey stops we couldn't resist.
SPEAKER_03Our seats are like right behind home plate, Anthony. Like like right, like right behind home plate.
SPEAKER_00So I went last but like you know, some tears uh yeah, okay, all right. You're making it sound like I mean right behind the phone.
SPEAKER_02So when they broadcasted the game, that they when they like pan up that you just see Dakota and Jen just like on their phones.
SPEAKER_01No, and I don't think they would pan that far off. Yeah, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00I I I'm sorry. We're like we're like when the Weaslies went to the uh controlled cup.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay, all right. So here's the thing. When I say right behind home plate, I mean in line with it, but about 500 feet in the air. All right. So but I I love the view. I I've got I, you know, and I I've always done the score book, and I uh now you can listen to the radio basically, like the play-by-play on your headphones, so on your phone. So I just set it up and I went one day and I just like scored. So it's uh it's relaxing, it's pretty cool. Uh the gaming, uh, I haven't really been delving into anything new because I'm surprised unsurprisingly playing baseball. I haven't packed anything exciting. You know, I did hear a little bit about the PS and like their the network now. They're they're requiring a 30-day every 30 days you have to connect online or any game that you've purchased, basically for a license renewal, will not be uh like you won't be able to access it anymore. So uh there's been a lot of chatter about that online, and I was kind of paying attention to that. It doesn't seem to be that serious, it's really more I mean obviously if you lose internet connection or anything, it's a problem, but it's that uh you know it it does it does make me rethink what I'm what I want to buy on disk uh and as opposed to having it digitally. Like like Anthony, you were talking about you know your comfort uh games, right? Like listen, I will flip out if I can't play Red Dead Redemption 2. Like like like that, like that's that's not that's not a thing. Like I gotta be able to play it, you know? And uh so that's that's something that's uh kind of annoyed me uh a little bit with the gaming industry, uh just because I like the idea of digital stuff, you know, with the baseball game, it's it's a high turnover. Like I don't I don't keep the game, like once the game is the game cycle is over or once the season is over, I don't want to play it anymore. You know, it's not fun to hey the Mets just lost, let me go make believe on the Mets. Like I'm just I'm done with that that fantasy until the next game comes out. So I'm I'm fine with those, but when it comes to like some of the heavy hitter games that I really like, it annoys me that I I went with a digital option because now this I I'm just you know picturing uh I have a two setup, I do have a two system setup. So Charlie has a PS5 upstairs and we basically he's under he's like under my account, you know. But the problem with that is a lot of the games are kind of saved to his device, but then they they're like I play them, but then once the internet goes down, he only has access to the games and I can't play them anymore.
SPEAKER_00That's thanks.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you probably um usually the reason for that is because you probably have his PlayStation set up as like the main one. Yeah, yeah, I kinda I kind of did that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I did it to hook him up. So like if the internet ever goes down, I'm kind of like, where are my disc games? You know, I need my disc games. But uh enough of the rambling.
SPEAKER_02That's why uh with the Switch, it's the same thing. Yeah. Like you can't play any you can't play some like digital games offline on like a non-main switch on the account.
Baseball Scorecards And Digital Ownership
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I learned that the hard way because I've I've got the uh the junior switch. Charlie's is the the parent switch. Yeah, but enough of me gaming uh enough of me complaining about the gaming system. I mean that the gaming industry. I think we should uh talk about probably one of the greatest movies of our generation. Uh how do we want to get started about this? I mean, this is you know what? I I'll get I I'm gonna do a little preamble here. All right, here we go. Please, please. I back when I was in fifth grade, all right, I uh I I did play Mario Mario on Nintendo, and I played Mario 2, which I I love, and I'll I'll talk about that later. But you know, one of the few ways uh I don't know, my family didn't bring us to bookstores. So at school we would get this troll book order little pamphlet, and it was basically like all these young, you know, books for little kids. And one time, like and my grandparents never let me order anything, they were like, no way, because they didn't want me to read, apparently. And um, every time when the book Troll Order came in, the box the teacher would come with the box and she'd go, Alright, kids, here are your books. And I would sit there and go, Maybe, maybe they surprised order behind my back and got me a gift. And they never did. But one time I begged them for the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. And this this is how I think what got me. Alright, I start watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. It's a live action TV show, but basically, it's like the brothers in Brooklyn, and they're in like, you know, their their shop, and they have like some skits and some guest celebrities show up. I think Cindy Lauper's on one episode, and then they cut to a cartoon of Mario and and you know the the Mushroom Kingdom, and then sometimes on Fridays, you would get a special Legend of the Zelda uh cartoon, and it just so happens that Mario was played by pro wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano. So when I put this on, I'm like, that's Captain Lou! And you know, you know how I am about people and the character, so I just loved it, you know, right away. So that was kind of like this, these movies coming out, and then you know, the terrible 1993 movie that maybe we'll talk about one day. But this movie, this movie coming out was what everyone in my generation was waiting for. Like a really awesome, highly digitized, like you know, I I think the graphics are phenomenal. And I'll I'll kick it to one of you guys because I could gush about this probably for three hours by myself, but I have three other people who well, you know what?
SPEAKER_01I want to touch on something that you said, actually. Um you mentioned a little piece of lore in that you called it the super show.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01They they were from Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Is that is that game lore? Is that is that come from the games or does that come from that show?
SPEAKER_03I think it comes from the show. If I if I have to be honest, I don't I unless it unless it it was like I don't I don't see where what game they would have like actually like unless it was like you know, the the games used to have like the manuals in the front that kind of sometimes gave you a little bit of a backstory. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I wonder if I wonder if that's actually probably what it's from, like like Mario and Luigi are from our our two Brooklyn plumbers.
SPEAKER_02I I I I really like how like some of the media has them like really Italian, and then some media has them like really like Italian American. And it it's just it's so insane because like I think maybe canonically they're Italian American, but I don't think that they really lean into it until like I you can't really tell in the old games. It's it's literally just a sprite of like a little short guy in red over you know, the well, like he's in overalls, and he like you know, you get all the little power-ups in the game. Like, so you don't really like know. And then like even less so in the the game that he came out in, which was uh Donkey Kong, you know, and he wasn't even called Mario back then, he was called Jump Man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. No, but it it is interesting, and I this is probably my favorite part about this movie is is the exploring of the lore and end origin of these two characters. I thought that that was really well done because it's a fairly contemporary Brooklyn atmosphere.
SPEAKER_03Um I got a little bit of uh I got a little bit of of back if you wanted to hear how they got to Brooklyn. So it was actually the the creator, Miyamoto, uh he changed Mario's profession to a plumber and explicitly set it in the sewers of New York. And then in the mid eighties and eighty three, they started emphasizing Italian American Brooklyn culture in uh a book called uh Trapped in the Perilous Pit, uh, that named Brooklyn as their Starting point. And then as you said, the TV show basically 1000% cemented that.
SPEAKER_01That's very cool. And now the uh Illumination films are following suit. And I I think that that's really cool. I think exploring a almost real-looking world, you know, with these cartoon characters, and then uh like sending them off into essentially what what I would consider to be a multiverse that you can travel through tunnels to to get to different worlds with. I think that that's such a cool way to um start this movie. You know, it's not that Mar like Mario's already in the Mushroom Kingdom, he's already trying to save Peach, whatever. This is someone who's been thrust into this story from a real setting or you know, a real-ish setting. So yeah, I I really liked the Brooklyn stuff. I I liked his family dynamics too. I kind of the the idea of Mario and Luigi being struggling uh or entrepreneurs like struggling entrepreneurs because they're they've just started their own business, they just made a really terrible commercial, and they're they're itching for their first actual gig. Um and I I love that I I love the enthusiasm that they have for their job when they when they start because that's I'm not that enthusiastic when I get to my job.
SPEAKER_03Ah that's what I picked you get to think with you're putting your work belt on and like wahoo!
SPEAKER_01It's a me, it's a cool. I put my work belt on in the dead of uh in the dark at like 4 30 in the morning. Uh I'm like trying to like creak like uh move slowly and silently so I don't wake up Jen.
SPEAKER_00Sounds more like Luigi's haunted mansion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a little bit.
SPEAKER_02That um it's funny that you mentioned that. Did did you like that nod in the movie?
SPEAKER_01I wish that was the movie we got, honestly.
SPEAKER_00Uh I want I want a Luigi's Mansion. That was my game, like as a kid. That was like my main like Mario game was Luigi's Mansion.
SPEAKER_02I feel like we could get that, you know? I really do. Because like, I mean, they really like I'm like, oh my gosh, they they're they're nodding Luigi's Mansion right here. It's so it's so crazy.
SPEAKER_00Uh Dakota and I were like kind of talking about the logistics of that. I just don't know if there's a market for a kid's horror film. You know, like it would have to have like a lot of jump scares. I mean, it there, I mean, the market was there when we were kids, like we loved it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. We liked Courage, the Cowardly Dog. Um, we really liked creepy things.
SPEAKER_00We were desensitized. I don't know if uh Regal Mobster.
SPEAKER_02Uh Recon Most.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but there was that. What's that show? What's that movie? Like the the kids movie where it's like those um animatronics are trying to get out of here. Oh, you know what you're right.
SPEAKER_02Five nights at Freddy's. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Did that did that do well?
Why Mario Starts In Brooklyn
SPEAKER_02Yeah, actually, you know what? No, it it could work, yeah. Kid kids do actually kids do like creepy things. They like they like uh uh Slender Man and and um Siren Head and all these like weird uh creepy pasta things. The back rooms, they they they love all that. So yeah, no, it could work. It could work.
SPEAKER_03Go ahead, Rich. What do you want to do? I mean, keep it safe, keep it secret, but you know, if you watch the next one, you you know you might be interested in it. That's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02There is multiverse potential with the second one, yeah. For sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it took on I haven't seen the second one yet, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Wait, multiverse potential or or um Luigi's Mansion potential? What what what are you trying to say? Rich.
SPEAKER_03There are hints of Luigi's Mansion in in the movie, I would say.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah. I I I was I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of Luigi's Mansion nods uh that we get because he Luigi's immediately dropped off into like a dark forest at night, like near a graveyard. He goes into a a mansion type setting with with you know nothing but uh a flashlight.
SPEAKER_00But he drops everything. I know before he even gets in the mansion. Well, there you go. He drops all his equipment, and I was like, oh no, he needs his flashlight.
SPEAKER_02He didn't have his vacuum cleaner.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, well he doesn't get that, he doesn't get that until he meets that that mad scientist. I forget the guy's name.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true. That'd be so sick to replay.
SPEAKER_01I would love a Luigi's Mansion movie. I think uh I'll just you know throw that into the uh into the cosmos because I think that that would that would kill. And they can find a way to make that story compelling, like you know, just like you can make a haunted mansion type of movie compelling where you just create a narrative around a couple characters, they can do that for the ghosts in haunted in Luigi's Mansion, you know.
SPEAKER_02I think it's really cool though that that Mario has a really successful game and then Luigi does too. Like he has so he has a successful series.
SPEAKER_00I mean they made three, so they did good for him.
SPEAKER_01Rich, did you ever play Luigi's Mansion? That's a I don't think I did. I think you would remember. You would remember the music was five.
SPEAKER_03It's very odd.
SPEAKER_00I don't what system was it on?
SPEAKER_03GameCube. Yeah, okay. So GameCube was a very yeah, I didn't have a lot of So that would be PS2 era, yeah. Yeah, I I think I had GameCube so that I could play Resident Evil 4 or maybe I played Mario Sunshine? Is that I can't remember.
SPEAKER_00You probably played Zelda Wind Waker on that too.
SPEAKER_01Mario Sunshine was uh was GameCube.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's Twilight Princess 2.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I probably see you're naming all the games that I got the system for, and then I think like I quickly, after playing all those, may have traded it in.
SPEAKER_00Dang. Well there you have it. I was like, I feel like my my purple one is still in the attic.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but it was a Dakota, you you, your brothers, and I, we would like go, you, your brothers and I, we would go crazy on uh Smash Bros Melee.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, Smash Bros. Yeah, we played a lot. That was the best. Kirby was my main. I was pretty terrible at that game, but I loved Kirby, so I'd keep playing. Getting destroyed by my brother.
SPEAKER_01Even if you're bad at Smash Bros, it's still really fun. You know, like you're still having a good time. Maybe not as good of a time as the one winning, but you know, you're still having a good time.
SPEAKER_00Um my brother would always play as Ness, and I would just get wrecked like over and over again. EK fire!
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that that's the meta character, you know.
Luigi's Mansion Hopes And Sequel Teases
SPEAKER_01So there's there's a leak. You know, it's a pretty sizable leak within Brooklyn. Um a juicy leak. Yeah, yeah, that was definitely a leak. Actually, we we didn't even mention that we watched the Avatar movie.
SPEAKER_00I think we're trying not to out ourselves as uh criminals.
SPEAKER_01That's a good point.
SPEAKER_02You're not trying to out yourselves as uh as one part of the Straw Hat crew.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, what's the matter? You're not you're not the Prince of Tortuga.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for legal reasons, this is all a joke. Yeah, we didn't do that, we didn't watch that. Um I I haven't yet.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I was seeing I'm I'm on Avatar Twitter. So like I if I open up the app, it's just people talking about the movies, sharing screenshots and clips of the movie. So for those of you who don't know, the we'll talk about this briefly. Avatar the Last Airbender has a movie following the the main cast of characters that are just a little bit aged up, I think in their early 20s. And the Avatar Studios had yet to release even a poster, they hadn't released a teaser, they hadn't even released uh a true concept picture for this film, but it leaked in its entirety. In HD, like Blu-ray quality.
SPEAKER_02So it was completely done.
SPEAKER_01It was completely done. It was a completely finished film. It it leaked in its entirety online, it's on all the torrent websites. Uh it was like the most downloaded thing and shared thing on Twitter for like a whole week. And um, yeah, we we I I did choose to just watch it. I will support the film in any way that you know it it will be released in eventually. Hopefully it gets to come to theaters because it was it's meant to be in theaters for sure.
SPEAKER_00Am I like I'm actually scared like you're admitting to a crime on it on a no, no it's it's okay.
SPEAKER_01Like pretty much every i it's okay to leg you can legally download something and there's there's no repercussions. But um yeah, I can try to find us.
SPEAKER_02I think I I I think it's when you share it. Yes. It's only so the people that are hosting it, yeah. The the ones that are hosting it to like share it, they're the ones that are doing the bad thing.
SPEAKER_03But those on the grand line, they're just we're just just going along, minding our own business, manning our ships, collecting.
SPEAKER_02We're just we're just pirates for the plunder, that's all.
SPEAKER_03Stuff is a drift, stuff is a drift, it's not even steal, it's just there, you know. You're just grabbing your net. You pick it up, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You don't want to see it drowned.
SPEAKER_00Um we'll we'll support it if it goes. I wish that they would release it in theaters. I would watch it in theaters, and what we're also gonna support it when it hits streaming. We just have uh impulse control issues, and I needed to watch it like now. That was like my main show when I was a kid. Um, so I I needed that right now.
SPEAKER_01It turned out really good. Um watch it when it's legally released.
SPEAKER_02I think that I think that that's why that's why I haven't seen it. Is because like I'm just like, man, I I I would really I really want to see it like for the first time, hopefully in theaters on a big screen, because I didn't get to witness Avatar on the big screen, you know? Like it was all you know, it was a TV show, so just watched it on whatever TV I had in front of me that when it was on.
Pipes Lore And Bowser's Big Plan
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So anyway, back to the the program at hand. Um what what is the catalyst to like this big leak in Brooklyn? It's just like a pipe that's like there there's too much pressure or not enough pressure. It just happens all the time.
SPEAKER_03I mean, there's always too much pressure in a pipe somewhere in New York. Like there's something about to blow all the time. The city's not designed to handle you know what, I'll give you a little bit of uh climate stuff, right? Actually, this is I this is an actual fact. New York City's uh sewer system is not designed to take a certain amount of water in. So like there have been some deluges that have happened in recent years because of climate change a bit. That basically some people are saying like the like downtown New York was like completely flooded. The the subways were completely flooded, and it's because the sewers are crazy actually can't handle the amount of water that's being dumped on it. So uh maybe uh that's where they got their inspiration. I don't know, maybe it's like really science-based.
SPEAKER_02Is that is that why you have um alligators in the sewers? Yes.
SPEAKER_03Leatherface. Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say I liked the explanation of like, because when they were in that couple's like really nice um gentrified house in Brooklyn, I I liked the I liked the gentrification like aspect as well of Brooklyn. And when they were in the couple's house, like when when when Mario breaks the sink, um, Dakota was like, where did that where'd all that pressure come from? And then later you do get the explanation that there is clearly some kind of I don't know, plumbing issue going on in the area. I don't know. Because when he like first breaks the sink, like like that much water shouldn't be coming out, like it's an insane, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But that was I realize it's a cartoon, but you know, my my logical brain, you know, they're they're doing construction-ish things, and I work on a construction site occasionally, and that was um a little too much for me.
SPEAKER_00But then we got the explanation to explain it, and it was like the f the first warning that there was some kind of like disaster about to occur.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. In so fixing or trying to fix this uh major flood, they find a mysterious uh room that also has large green loop loop loop pipes. I want to know the lore behind that. Who placed those there? Like, there there must have been someone at some point, you know, during the construction of the sewer system that said, just in case anyone needs to get to Mushroom Kingdom or whatever, let's put one of these in here. I know, like, did that did that appear magically?
SPEAKER_02I think that was a repercussion of um you know the um the the post-thano snap.
SPEAKER_03I think that it just rearranged the I I I think I think there's gonna I okay, this is I I believe this is a trilogy, and I think we might actually find the answer to that in the third movie.
SPEAKER_01Really? Okay. I could definitely see this. I mean, and I'm these movies making Bucku Bucks, so I I can absolutely see them making it in some ways.
SPEAKER_03I I I see this this going as like this is the movie about Mario and Luigi and their relationship. The sec the next movie is about another relationship, and then we're gonna get the cap off.
SPEAKER_01Uh Bowser and Peaches relationship.
SPEAKER_03I mean, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches. I mean, that's uh, you know, hilarious part about that, that that little interlude, that song, uh, is that if you're a Spanish speaker, uh that definitely sounds different. It does sound like Peaches. Uh I remember looking at Spanish Twitter when this came out, and uh, can I say the word that I mean like they like beaches, like beaches, beaches, beaches, beaches, like you know, like like more like that. I see, I see, I see and like I had at least one student in my school tell me that their parent thought they were like cursing. They're like, what are they saying? And it's like, no, it's saying peaches, like and they had to say like the word in Spanish. So uh just the fact that that actually happened to somebody in my real life is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02After that movie, they were singing that song like all over the place. It's the best. They were they were singing, don't don't you like it? And and like you you can track this down to like pretty much I would say just about every movie that Jack Black is in. There's all he always has a song in it, and it's like very much so a song that you could imagine like him singing like in his way. And this is like very much so, like one of those songs. Like, oh, it's like like when you hear it, it's like, oh yeah, this is a Jack Black song.
SPEAKER_01Did he have any songs in Tenacious D? What? When are you saying? Dude, in Tenacious D. That's kind of a song. I'm like, you're talking about the Rocky Tenacious D movie movie?
SPEAKER_02The whole movie, the movie like where they're playing music. What about School of Rock?
SPEAKER_00Do you have any songs in that one? I have a similar story to Rich, or uh when the first movie came out, I was actually doing a unit in which students wrote speeches. Um, and like all of the class at one point was going, speeches, speeches, speech, speeches, speeches. Yes. It was very cute. It was a good time to be us. Wholesome.
SPEAKER_03So I mean, I you guys want to talk about the casting? Because I I thought the casting is is uh pretty well done here. I love I love Charlie Charlie. Sure. Let's talk about the casting. Charlie Day as uh Luigi, uh I thought was fantastic. I uh I love Jack Black as uh as Bowser. I think he's just excellent. And uh it's uh Scarlett Johansson, right, as as Peach?
SPEAKER_00No, it was Anga Tiller Joy.
SPEAKER_01It's Anya Tiller Joy, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Am I confusing Oh, alright.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's Anga Tiller Joy.
SPEAKER_01Oh, look at that. And Bree Larson plays um Daisy in the next movie.
SPEAKER_02No, Rosalina.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sorry, Rosalina.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then you have Chris Pratt that actually he does Mario's voice.
SPEAKER_01Do we like Mario's voice? I I've seen a lot of people hate on it. Um I I think there's not enough of it's a me, Mario. You know, like there's not enough of that going on in his inflection.
SPEAKER_03And uh in Queens, New York, you guys were there in Queens, New York, during the seventh inning stretch at a baseball game. All right, they play as always in every ballpark. They play Take the Us of the Ballgame, and then the Mets always play Chella Luna. Alright. And everyone in the Dominic the Donkey? No, no, it's not it's not Dominic the Donkey. It's uh it's a different it's a different it's got the same beat almost. And then everyone in the stadium.
SPEAKER_00Wait, that's a different song than Dominic the Stadium.
SPEAKER_01I was I was thinking it's a different song, yeah. Because they were talking about the moon in that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And they uh and they go around the crowd, and the crowd is just doing like stereotypical Italian hand sh uh gestures, and the the and the camera does not shy away from these people. Like everyone's like, hey, I'm Italian.
SPEAKER_01It actively looks it actively looks for the gestures.
SPEAKER_03I'm Italian, I'm Italian, right? So like if the city if New York has a tradition where basically everyone can be Italian for two and a half minutes, I'm pretty sure we could have gotten a little bit more of an And, you know, we got it from Jump Man, right? That's that that was the kind of here, here you guys go. We we're not gonna give it to you as the main Mario, but Jump Man's gonna be like, ah, woohoo, it's a main.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, yeah. He he does it. Jump man.
SPEAKER_00That's in the second movie, because I don't know which year you're saying her to.
SPEAKER_01Oh, he's talking about um his role in the Donkey Kong game.
SPEAKER_00Um, like you were talking about in the movie. Am I crazy?
SPEAKER_03Am I confusing movies? Sorry, I'm gonna be. No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02No, no, you're you're you're right. It they have um I think his name is like Giuseppe, but like he is jump man. Giuseppe. Yeah, he's just like there.
SPEAKER_03Like he's playing the game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like but I think that like that that is actually like supposed to be like jump man himself. I like that Charlie Day is like literally just like it's so hard. Like when I hear him, I'm like getting him from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, just Luigi. Like his character, like his it's like almost the same. It's just not as you know, dirtbag like as the show. But uh like that that's what I was picturing whenever like I would hear him as Luigi. But I liked it though.
SPEAKER_00The one the one like casting that Dakota and I actually were talking about that we weren't super into was Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Actually, that's it. I feel like Seth Rogan's voice is super distinguished too.
SPEAKER_02Why they give him like allow him to do that laugh? Like it's like that's his like regular laugh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Seth Rogan also played Wreck and Ralph, right? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03No, that's um that's Carl Naughton from uh Ricky Bobby. Uh I only oh yeah, he's the magic man. Uh I can't remember.
SPEAKER_01You're right. Okay. Um John C. Ryan.
SPEAKER_03Uh, or Cal Naughton Jr., whatever, whatever you want to call him. I call him Cal. I call him Kyle Naughton Jr. I like uh Jesus as a mischievous badger, so that's that's my story. The stepbrother and stepbrothers. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. Sorry, so I I confused those two. But Seth Rogan's voice is so uh unique, and you hear it and you don't think big gorilla uh from a popular Japanese Nintendo game. Um, but I I not that I didn't enjoy the performance, I just would have liked someone who brought more gravity to the role, like a deeper intonation. They kind of made all the the monkeys kind of sound Jewish.
SPEAKER_02Um, they cranky cranky definitely did cranky Kong definitely did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they they gave him they they definitely gave him a heavy Jewish accent. And then with Seth Rogan, uh it was just like what's going on here? Why are we doing all like what why are these the voices that they're using for anyway? I don't know. I I don't know if that's offensive to anyone.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna try to be, I was just no, that's like that's like identifying that George Lucas gave a lot of the aliens very specific accents that sound like countries or you know nations in in our world, right? Like the Trade Federation is unmistakably well one culture, and I think that the Gungans are unmistakably another. So, you know, that's just I I I how wooed. Yeah, if anything, it's maybe a little laziness. It's getting altered. It's a little laziness, if anything, right? But I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Sure. I I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02No, I I I agree with you with uh Donkey Kong. I really felt like he I mean for his character, it was almost like he just walked into the booth and just like talked as himself. I feel like us here probably would have like tried to like do something, you know, add add something to the role, you know, maybe try to sound like a gorilla a little bit, but yeah, no, I I I agree. I agree. It's it his his performance definitely like left it left me wanting like more from that character performance-wise.
SPEAKER_00Would we like prefer if it was somebody's with a voice like Dave Batista?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's exactly who I was thinking of.
SPEAKER_00That's who I was thinking of.
SPEAKER_03It'd be so fun. Yeah, it'd be so fun.
SPEAKER_01He uh keys Yeah, actually that's that's a really good point, actually.
SPEAKER_00I I really wouldn't hire me as a cast.
SPEAKER_01The issue is Dave Batista's in everything these days.
SPEAKER_00His voice is very recognizable now.
SPEAKER_01He was in the the new avatar movie.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and as soon as he started talking, I was like, Oh, that's Dave Batista.
SPEAKER_01But sounds a lot more like Donkey Kong than you know, some some random ancient airbender. Anyway, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Did you hear his voice? You won't get that weird high laugh that uh Seth Rogan does.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Did you guys when you guys hear Dave Batista's voice, do you think, oh my goodness, that's former WWF champion Dave Batista?
SPEAKER_00Or No.
SPEAKER_01I think of tracks. I don't think I've watched a wrestling thing since I was like eight. So uh I don't think I would know anything about that world.
SPEAKER_03You saying a wrestling thing might be the most hurtful way anyone has ever described a wrestling event in my entire life. As somebody who's flown across this country to call shows. The fact that you called it a wrestling thing, like my grandmother would have said, uh, is uh the hurts, but we can move on. We can move on. Uh, you know, I don't know about you, Anthony, and I I kind of I did want to speak to this a little bit. They named the movies what they named them, whatever. Like the next one's called Galaxy, right? Uh but I think that it's kind of confusing. If you've played the game, and Anthony, did you play Galaxy?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a long time ago.
SPEAKER_03Because I I don't know if you guys remember, I recently played Galaxy, right? Most of the plot for this movie, or a lot of it, is actually Galaxy. Is the plot for Galaxy, and then Oh, you mean like this first? Yeah, like this move, like in the game, you you Mario is basically like Bowser's kidnapped the princess, and he's going to different places to find items for the wedding, and you have to like go to those areas and you know defeat his underlords to then be able to finally you know confront him. And like in this movie, he's trying to do everything to to get married to her and like kind of get ready for that, you know. And I think that because that happened here, then the next movie can't do that plot, so now like it's almost a misnomer. It's like they're just using the names of this the game is in the series, but the plots are different. So I know there's a lot of backlash for the second one, and I'm just I think that it was in some ways like if they had come out and said we're doing a trilogy, but they didn't, and I think that was problematic, and now the misnaming of it, so people are expecting certain aspects. Like there's a whole flying hat spaceship in the galaxy game that's like really integral to the to the game, and there's a character that's got a hat and he's uh uh anthropomorphic.
SPEAKER_00I actually feel like I remember that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we play galaxy, you know.
Nostalgia Versus Storytelling Expectations
SPEAKER_03So I think that the fact that it's not I think it it it they muddled the series a little bit in some ways because they wanted to kind of include everything in this first one, and I think that because of that, the second one it uh suffers a little bit. I don't know. Because this one is jammed with like so much, you know. I mean, I love I don't know about you guys, the the member berries for me strike hard during this movie. Uh just the anything, any little cameo of somebody just gets me excited, you know. Whether any like the smallest character, the big character. I I kind of I I just love seeing all of these things in such high resolution, you know, like that's what it is, man. Like I saw in such low res to see how cool it could be. I mean, Mario 64 was like eye-opening, and this felt like Mario 64, like it felt like the first time I fired that game up.
SPEAKER_01There are some really cool sequences, um uh both in the beginning and at the end, where they almost flatten the image to a 2D screen so that it's just a side scroller and Mario, you know, is able to jump up on blocks, or in the beginning, when he's in Brooklyn, there's even a you know a whole section where he's like in a construction site jumping over stuff, and then he jumps over a fence and like um goes down a pole. Like that's so classic. That's the Mario that I grew up with uh on like game Game Boy and stuff. So I love that kind of stuff. I thought that that was really fun and really well done visually. I thought that that it it it checked um something in my head, like uh checked a box in my head that was just like, oh, I didn't know I wanted to see that. And it it looked really cool. Um I I think most of the movie did not hit that for me. But I I I can't say that I am like a Mario fan. Um besides you know, growing up around it. It's always been a thing in my life, it's just never been like a favorite thing or something that I need to see adapted. So a lot of like the the Mushroom Kingdom bits, the Toads, Princess Peach, uh Bowser, the Koopas. I like Bowser, but I I didn't really feel anything for most of it. What I did feel was that star that like was super um nihilistic. That nihilistic star was my favorite thing in the movie. Um I know that's not like in the games at all, but like I I loved whatever that was.
SPEAKER_00Icon. That was me at work today, quite frankly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean he's uh yeah, I look, I I I get I think that the reason I'm so forgiving of this series is that there was no story for most of the games, right? Almost absolutely no plot, very little. And a lot of it was just like it was what you made of it, you know, it was it was kind of like the the the motivation that I gave myself when I was playing this game. Just to see them kind of free flowing without me controlling them is kind of fun, you know. I I I find so much little joy in so many little things in this movie, uh, that it's just uh it's kind of a delight because it's my imagination kind of being driven by somebody else. And uh I have no judgment because there was nothing there. Like in Mario, there's nothing in Mario 1, you know, like it was you were just this little guy, and and and it was kind of ridiculous. And and and part two You were going through levels, yeah. You know, part two didn't even Mario 2 wasn't even a Mario game, it was it was meant to be something else, and the it was the aesthetics and everything were so different, but it was so fun, you know? And I and that's all you needed. Like you just knew the characters' names, you didn't have any backstory. Uh having Toad have like a little attitude and be like, like, man, I love Toad like in this movie, he's just awesome, you know. Uh and uh he was nothing uh before, but now he's got like this little kind of sass to him. I don't know. Uh for me, uh all of that makes this uh a really enjoyable I don't have the I guess I don't have the emotional highs and lows that I would from another thing. Like I I didn't, you know, question that Mario was gonna come out on top and I I didn't think that Bowser was gonna win, but uh yeah, I don't know. I guess I I almost it's almost standardless. It's almost like I just wanted to see it on screen and I got what I wanted.
SPEAKER_01You're just you're just happy to appreciate that it exists. I can't.
SPEAKER_00Can I give like an opposite take?
SPEAKER_01Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So Dakota and I watched this like a couple of days after watching Shrek, and I have to say, like, Shrek was everything that I would want in an animated movie. Like, even like obviously with the nostalgia, I'm like saying my favorite lines and all of that, but I I just it's beautiful, you know, and it's you know, the graphics aren't great, but it's just a fantastic film, and I loved it so much. And I think that made my experience watching this movie less enjoyable, which I know we're not so like it's kind of it's a bad take to just compare it to another movie. But I think like with Shrek, it came out so long ago and it was kind of a a movie that nobody was like putting stock or hope in as being a success, and it just proved everybody wrong. But then with something it like to me, watching Shrek showed me like what Mario could have been.
SPEAKER_01Do you think you know what I'm saying? I mean it is it is a movie.
SPEAKER_00Is this like is this a bad take?
SPEAKER_01No, it's not a bad take because uh Shrek is a compelling movie about saving a princess, and Mario is a story centered around saving a princess. So you can definitely make a Shrek-esque movie in a Mario setting.
SPEAKER_00You can make a a a Mario movie um that has Shrek level comedy or like even the lineup, like you have like Shrek, this kind of unlikely hero, or not Shrek, Mario, this like unlikely hero that's kind of struggling in life, and he's he teams up with the princess, and the princess is super capable on her own, and you know, doesn't like she she can use his help, but she doesn't like need him because she's still kind of an independent woman. Then you have their annoying little friend sidekick, which could be like Donkey or Toad. But like I can't recall any of Toad's lines. Like I can't remember, like with you watch Eddie Murphy's performance of Donkey one time, and you leave the theater saying, and in the morning, I'm making waffles, or you leave that boulder. I like that boulder. Like, I feel like, but I don't maybe it's just because I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01It might be. I think that's it's hard, it's hard to make the comparison as an adult who has like been like ingrained with a certain movie for your entire life. Yeah. Versus a film that's like.
SPEAKER_00That's why I think this could be a bad take, but then I was watching it and I'm like, man, I feel like when my parents saw Shrek for the first time, they left like that was that was amazing. And also there was like some like lack of continuity that irritated me. Well, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02I feel like Shrek was made for both adults and children.
SPEAKER_00Was this movie not trying to do that? I don't know if it was.
SPEAKER_01I think Illumination is is strictly a children's yeah um a children's thing.
SPEAKER_02Because it's kind of like like they gave you enough to like maybe enjoy it as as an adult, but they didn't really want to push too much. But like when you like when you watch Shrek, you're like, wow, that was a very adult joke. There's definitely some adult jokes. Like like there's like that that uh that moment where like he saves Donkey and like somebody uh was I think the princess gives him flack for it, and he's like, What? I'm just trying to save my ass. Like that's yeah, that's true. That's true. Right, you know, and and like you know, it's uh that you know that that that that would be. You know, it it's a joke that like you can enjoy, like kind of like you know, as a kid and as an adult, because as a kid you hear it and you and you know like it's like a bad word, but it's kind of funny, and then as adults it's obviously very funny. So I feel like with Shrek, yeah, like it's it's one of those things that like you can enjoy it's like timeless. You can enjoy it as a kid, enjoy it as an adult. It was made for both. Yeah, this one was is a little bit more made for children. I will say, like, out of illumination, I really like Despicable Me. Despicable Me is like pretty good, and they're pretty funny also. I don't know if you've seen Despicable Me, Rich, yeah, like with your kids.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I'm not with Charlie. No, I've seen it uh wait, actually, I think we've watched it. Yeah, I think we've watched it. He he likes it, yeah. I mean, those are definitely but if I have to be if I'm gonna be like a defender almost of the fra I will say that like I think that the companies are gonna uh they approach this from very different like the the adult part of this movie is not the adult writing, it's the oh my goodness, this is all the stuff that I remember as a little kid. Like that that's yeah, I see what you're saying. Okay, I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00But I guess that's what bothers me though, is like like shouldn't we have kind of been the target audience?
Favorite Scenes Final Ratings And CTA
SPEAKER_01So here's the way I see the the three major um companies making children's movies, not not including the Walt Disney Animation Company that is now creating 3D uh movies. But like Pixar, DreamWorks, and Illumination are the I would say the big three outside of Disney and all that. Pixar takes uh simple concepts and creates masterpieces out of it. Like it's it's they're they're in their own league. But DreamWorks approaches things where um they try to appeal to both child and adult. And I think that that has worked really well for them. I don't know enough about illumination, but from what I've gathered, it's geared towards children, you know, and it's it's uh more more childish jokes, um, more like stupid characters, kind of like in the Despicable Me with the minions. Um there's just a lot of or or like in this one with like the uh the the the penguin army. Um they were mad cute though. They were cute. Um surrender or face out wrath. Um but anyway, I I I appreciate what this was doing. It didn't land for me. Um at sorry, Jen is on a uh bouncy ball, Rich is in his corner of the screen just like pretending he's in a bouncy ball, and Anthony is just looking at us stunned in silence. But let's let's wrap this up. Um, unless you guys had anything else to say uh about anything in particular in this video. Oh, wait, I have one other thing to say. Please please do.
SPEAKER_00Because I've been waiting to mention this. So one thing that kind of I don't know if it bothered me or if it's funny. Like I couldn't tell if this was a joke or a plot hole. And maybe you guys could help me understand. So when Peach and Mario are leaving, right, she says something like, He's not important. And so all the toads are like, Okay, cool, whatever. Like they they don't know who Mario is. I don't think they even know his name. And then when Peach returns, she's like, she she says something along the lines of like, and Mario's missing, or Mario is gone, and they all get like upset. Yes, that is that is a continuity error, but or is it just that they like they like love Peach so much that they're willing to listen to her and just be upset for whatever she's upset about? Because if that's the joke, then that's kind of funny. If it's like it would be like if I just walked in and I was like, and Giuseppe died, and you were like, Oh man, like you're you're upset that I'm upset.
SPEAKER_03That would be really funny, but I couldn't tell if it was like a I don't think it's it could have I think it's I don't think any of the kids I wouldn't be surprised if something got if they cut out a scene. I I I don't know this in the fact that it's but I feel like yeah, I think this might be a continuity error because maybe a scene was cut out and you know, like uh they yeah, that sounds now that I'm looking thinking back on that, that is a little weird.
SPEAKER_02Uh was it a couple things that I wanted to add? I did like the Mario Kart scene, that was really cool. That was cool, they did that really well. The kind of like Yoshi's Island, like when they're like kind of passing by. And then when Mario and when I first saw this movie uh like a while back, when Mario was fighting Donkey Kong, the way that the stage was set gave me some like Super Smash Bros. vibes. And I so badly wanted them to like cue that music, the like Super Smash Bros. music while they're fighting.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like also if you if you pull back that scene with it where they're fighting, it's it's it's the original Donkey Kong uh set. Oh yeah, like the 2D it. It's it you know, there's there's ladders and there's barrels and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, that that so that I I figured, but like the way that they like the way that it was fought and the way that it was kind of staged, it just gave me that vibe, you know.
SPEAKER_00It actually reminded me of in like um Super Smash Bros. what was that like area called where those like twin Eskimos were from? Do you remember that one? And you would have to like jump up.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you're talking about the uh the ice climbers?
SPEAKER_00Um I remember it reminded like it didn't look like it, but the like the the dynamics of the fight where they were like moving a lot and jumping around. It reminded me of like that fighting style that you have to have in that level of the game. Not the aesthetic though.
SPEAKER_02The uh the the world of the Kongs where it was pretty cool, like when when they when we when we got there and you know we kind of got uh a little bit of like the music and stuff.
SPEAKER_00I want to see Linky Kong.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they they actually they did do the the DK Donkey Kong bit for a little bit, which I enjoyed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they did. I I I kind of I like I I kind of wanted like the the classic like that doom doom doom doom doom doom like the dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun like that's what I wanted for that that m that moment. But the Donkey Kong uh like rap was okay.
SPEAKER_01Well, I what I wanted was when Luigi was in the mansion the gosh, the music. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, I want to see, and I don't know if he's in the second movie. What's the deal with Dr. Mario? I only know him from Super Smash Bros. Is he from like a game?
SPEAKER_03It was like uh it was like a Tetris type game, basically. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like a like a block breaker type game called Dr. Mario.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_00It would be funny if like him and Peach, like if I don't know if Mario and Peach get together by the end of the uh second movie, but if they're like in a relationship and then she meets Dr.
SPEAKER_02Mario and it's like oh that that was back when we had to play for games like Candy Crush, you know, in the N64.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay. Interesting. That one missed me.
SPEAKER_01Alright, while we're on uh while we're still talking to you, Jen, final thoughts on Super Mario Bros.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was fun. I felt like it could like I felt like the potential like it didn't meet its potential. But I thought it was like I enjoyed it while I was watching it. Um but I think I I I wish that the target audience was a bit broader and maybe that there was more I don't know, mature humor. Not like not like rated R or anything, obviously. Like I still want it to be appropriate for kids, but I think if they would have done something more like Shrek, um it would have I dunno been a little bit more iconic.
SPEAKER_02Anthony? Yeah, I I would say that that I do agree. Like I I I I I mean I do enjoy this. I I like I feel like for what we for what we got, they did a like solid job. I mean it it it it is it is like a a a good movie and I could see like how it was successful. It could have you know they could have done better. There was definitely some misses with um, you know, maybe like well what what Rich was saying a little bit with some of the mixed story beats between uh this and then like Galaxy and then definitely some of the casting. But overall, I I think that it yeah, it w it it's a fun movie. It it's definitely it's definitely not in nowhere anywhere near like the worst thing I've ever seen. Like, you know, I would like I I I didn't mind watching it again because I knew like it was a fun movie. Like I I wouldn't mind watching Super Mario Galaxy also. Like I just like I had a good time with it.
SPEAKER_03Rich? Y'all know how I feel. No expectations, just animation. Uh very little plot needed for me. I uh I didn't need a lot of plot when I played it when I first picked it up when I was like eight. And I didn't really need a plot at 43. I um I enjoyed it. I I liked I laughed a lot. I just um I don't know. I I had I kind of went into it with low expectations because you know, I mean the other media before it had been weird. You know, the the the show that I spoke about at the at the open was uh was a bit odd. And uh even even the car I will leave you guys with this. One of my favorite gems from the original show. There was a cartoon, the cartoon of Zelda was there, and one time Zelda is in her room and Link walks in and he goes, Oh, princess, it's smoochin time, and he just jumps at her in her bed. And that was a children's cartoon, so like that's how far we have come from the world of Nintendo and Mario and what they've given us, right? And so uh, yeah, I won't lie to you. You know, look, do I recommend this? If you know, and uh I will call it my age. I'm 43, so for me, this was just a dream to see. Uh, I actually think that the comparison to Shrek Shrek is it pales in comparison to Shrek. It's not it's it's it's not as good as Shrek.
SPEAKER_00Shrek is But it could have been. That's what bothers me. It could have been. I feel like with a franchise like this, you were handed one of the most iconic franchises of all time. We all love these characters. You had the buy-in from the adults, and the kids will go to see any animated movie that their parents take them to. It could have been Shrek levels of good.
SPEAKER_03I could have gotten an A in your class. I think, but I can get a B plus without trying hard. And uh I kind of feel like that's what they did here. You know, look, is it an A movie? No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00It's not the Well, I guess I'm questioning the franchise as a whole because I've seen their reviews for the second one. And I'm like, so that was like another thing.
SPEAKER_01I think that's uh Okay, I'm sorry. That's a little premature because we we haven't experienced so we have no idea what what to expect with that. But um, what I will say is it's probably a bottom five MCU film for me.
SPEAKER_03Um it's a juicy review.
SPEAKER_01I I liked it. It was fun. Um, but it's it's right up there with like endgame and kind of. Captain America Winter Soldier, you know, some some of the worst, you know.
SPEAKER_00Listen, if Rock Shrick should be like, that's my favorite Marvel movie.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, it's most people's favorite Marvel movie. This is absurd.
SPEAKER_03I mean, honestly, like, I don't understand how anyone can crack open a delicious sponsored of the show Juice Force, all right? And and and not in the show, you know, it's it's uh voodoo rain juice force.
SPEAKER_01What I will say is there is especially in the Brooklyn scenes, there there's a lot of juice. There's a lot of a lot of juice flowing through mushroom juice? Uh no, no, no. Uh straight up water juice. H2 H2O juice. Um, it's it's it's flowing through the pipes, it's all over Brooklyn. Um, and it made me happy because it gave me a reason to, you know, say what I'm gonna say next. And that is, folks, I want you to review this with a five-star juicy review. You know, I I think that that is uh that should be your goal moving forward today, listener, is to give us a five-star juicy review. After that, go about your day, go to work, go to sleep. I don't know what you're doing. But your next goal, listener, should be what? A five-star juicy review on whatever podcast application you listen to. Folks, thank you so much for listening to us here for our 159th episode. Not entirely sure what we're covering next week, but we will be covering something next week. That is that is for sure. Adios Wolverine.
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