For April’s movie of the month I’ve chosen The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The movie is the coming of age story of the beloved video game characters Mario and Luigi. Originally announced in September of 2022, this film has been highly anticipated. When the movie was released into theaters on April 5th, 2023, fans didn’t hesitate to go and see the film. With an astonishing $377 million in global ticket sales, this film was definitely a hit among fans and others who went and saw the movie. This movie was an amazing and heart-felt way to pay homage to such a beloved franchise and beloved characters.

This movie is Mario and Luigi’s origin story. After all, how did two plumbers from Brooklyn, NY, manage to save the world and defeat monsters? When the movie starts you can see Mario and Luigi are trying to start a plumbing business, though it isn’t going very well. Then there is a flood in Brooklyn, and Mario decides to take this opportunity to show the world and the people who don’t believe in him that he can do something successful. Mario and Luigi somehow find themselves in the sewers of Brooklyn and find a weird area that they didn’t know was down there, and they get sucked through a tube and end up in the Mario Land that we’ve seen in the previous games.

When they’re sucked through the tube the two brothers get separated, and Mario ends up in The Mushroom Kingdom, whereas Luigi ends up Dark Land. Throughout the movie the brothers work to find each other again, and Mario meets the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom: Princess Peach. He also meets Toad, and these three work together to find Luigi and stop Bowser from taking over the kingdoms of this world. Later on their journey, they meet Donkey Kong. An epic journey takes place in this movie with many ups, downs, and turns you wouldn’t expect.

This movie had a very stacked cast, and they all did such a good job in this movie. You can tell that this movie had such heart to it. The cast of this movie includes: Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Keegan-Micheal Key as Toad, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Chris Pratt as Mario. There was one person in this cast that stuck out to me and deserves a special mention and that is Jack Black as Bowser. He gave an amazing vocal performance and really brought this movie to life.

Overall, I think that this movie was highly anticipated and had plenty chance to be a total let down, but this movie was the exact opposite. It was well written and the actors did an amazing job portraying these characters. I think that the original creators of the Mario Brothers would be proud of this movie and where the characters are now. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. Kids can enjoy a funny movie, while the adults will get the sentiments of these characters. I’m glad I watched this movie and I think you should too.