A leaping plumber named Mario from a magical kingdom filled with mushroom people, rolling hills and floating blocks becomes human in modern-day Boston, gains a big belly. Along with his sidekicks, Toad, his brother Luigi, and a rather kick-ass Princess Peach, he goes on an adventure to save the universe.

In this special release by Nintendo America, Nintendo game designer, producer and game director Shigeru Miamoto introduces the trailer, along with Chris Meladandri, the film’s producer at Illumination, Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), and Seth Rogan (Donkey Kong).

We get a lot more of the traditional flavor of Mario and the world he comes from, and Princess Peach frankly steals every scene she’s in. Yes, it’s a film meant for kids, but hey, isn’t everybody a kid at heart?

Trailer park

Its heritage is a bit complex. According to the movie’s own IMDB page, it’s a “feature adaptation of the fan fiction of the 1992 unlicensed 2 season miniseries based on the licensed 3 season miniseries based on the popular video game series.”

This new trailer makes a whole lot more sense than the last one did, which would almost be a given considering how short the previous one was. We get to see Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy.

Struggling with his new body, he drags his friends Peach, Luigi and Toad into the real world as well. They have an adventure that consists of several smaller stories strung together — much like the video game —including one that pits them against an elderly, bearded old lizard with a dad bod, named Bowser.

It’s an old formula, and one aimed mainly at both kids and gamer fans, but it’s one proven to work in the games arena. Whether that will carry over into the territory of Mario’s first full length 3D animated feature film will be something we’ll all have to decide for ourselves.

Personally speaking, not every film has to be Ghandi or Gone with the Wind. The fact that The Super Mario Bros. Movie comes from one of the most beloved video game franchises in history carries a lot of weight, and I can forgive an awful lot if the movie can deliver on the promise of a good time.

The Super Mario Bros Movie is produced by Illumination, the same studio that brought us the Despicable Me and Minions movies. It stars Chris Pratt, Seth Rogan, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, and Jack Black, and is scheduled for releases April 7, 2023, in RealD, with Dolby sound, in IMAX where available.

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Gene Turnbow

President of Krypton Media Group, Inc., radio personality and station manager of SCIFI.radio. Part writer, part animator, part musician, part illustrator, part programmer, part entrepreneur - all geek.