Title- The great mission to save Princess Peach
Voices
Toru Furuya — Mario
Yuu Mizushima — Luigi
Mami Yamase — Peach
Yuuko Maruyama — The Great Toad
Hiroko Emori — Toad
Akiko Wada — King Bowser
Hiroko Maruyama — Goomba
Komiya Kazue — Goomba
Tetsuo Mizutori — Koopa Troopa
Masaharu Satō — Koopa Troopa
Reiko Nakano — Adult Paratroopa
Hiromi Ōnishi — Young Paratroopa
Chiemi Matsumoto — Young Paratroopa
Maki Itō — Young Paratroopa
Keaton Yamada — Hammer Brother
Junko Hori — Lakitu, Miss Endless
Kikuchi Masami — Prince Haru
Shigeru Chiba — Kibidango
Kohei Miyauchi — Mushroom Hermit
Jōji Yanami — Priest
This movie follows the storyline of the original game, and whilst there is a lot which doesn’t happen in the game, it still stays faithful to the games storyline. The film opens with Mario playing a game on the NES that I don’t believe exists, which involves various geometry equipment attacking a kid with a baseball bat (who coincidently resembles Ness and even possibly Ninten from the original Mother game which was only released in Japan… hmm…) Anyway, when suddenly, Captain N style, the tv goes strange, then shows him Princess Peach being chased by Koopa Troopers. Suddenly they burst into the room, with Mario trying to protect the Princess, and failing miserably when Bowser appears and beats him with one touch. Mario tells Luigi what happened and he laughs in his face. This is one of the strangest characterisations of Luigi seen yet (keep in mind this is actually Luigi’s animated debut, so he didn’t have any character in the games at this point). He’s portrayed as a greedy treasure hunter and provides the comic relief. This Luigi is the sort you’d imagine being Mario’s publicist, who doesn’t care if he doesn’t have fame, as long as he gets money.
Anyway, the Mario Bros now work in a grocery store as opposed to being plumbers, however they are often still referred to as plumbers. They also live on Earth (Where, it’s never stated) and travel to the Mushroom Kingdom through a pipe. Quite a coincidence. The rest of the film follows them in their travels through the Mushroom Kingdom, overcoming various challenges and having a final showdown with Bowser. Overall I like a lot of the characters in this film, Mario is the typical hero, but pines over the Princess more than he does in the American cartoons. Luigi I said about earlier. There’s a mushroom hermit who they first meet at the start of their adventure who reminds me of both Merlin (the archetypal wizard in the legend of King Arthur) and Merlon, the character obviously inspired by Merlin, in Paper Mario.
Then we have the villains starting with obviously Bowser. Bowser has a really strange whiny voice as opposed to his snarling giant booming game voice, or even the American cartoons snarling voice. It matches the OVA Mario films Bowser voice. His character actually matches today’s interpretation, that he wants to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, but also wants to marry Peach as well. The Koopa Troop all are great characters, including Lakitu, Paratroopers and Hammer Bros. Also there’s a priest who seems to have a similar role to Kamek which I found cool.
Finally there are the two characters who annoyed me. Peach had a slightly annoying voice (I’ll admit I’m not a Peach fan at the best of times) and the ending was really harsh on Mario, I mean she spends the whole film shouting about Mario, and it makes you think she has more feelings for him than simply wanting to save her own skin, but it turns out that this annoying dog who is added to the film is actually her fiancé and she never even cared about Mario. I know that being rescued doesn’t mean you should have to marry the guy who saved you, but it’s the way she’s always going on about Mario throughout the whole film that gets frustrating. Then this guy with zero personality appears and that’s supposed to be a satisfactory ending?
Anyway, quite a few strange things happen that will happen in later games, such as Mario stealing Lakitu’s cloud, and it having thunder powers (it even has the same look as the thunder powered Lakitu’s from Yoshi’s Island.) Also Mario beats Bowser in a way very similar to Mario 64. Then there's the flying pirate ship...
A final point I found humorous was the product placement, I read a review complaining about it, yet it’s so short and silly, it can’t possibly be taken seriously, I mean Mario passes up a Star to stuff his face with Mario brand pasta. How can that be taken seriously.
Overall a pretty cool movie, with some strange parts. Some of the logic jumps a bit, but it’s still understandable and a fun movie.
