|
|
|
Super Mario Bros. AKA Super Mario Brothers: The Motion Picture
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Second Sight Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (30th October 2014). |
|
The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** This ain't no game! Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi get the shock of their lives when they discover a parallel world populated by the intelligent descendants of dinosaurs! It seems they weren’t destroyed by a meteor millions of years ago but hurled into another dimension and now have plans to rule our world. It’s up to our unlikely heroes to battle the evil King Koopa and his ‘Goomba’ guards, free the beautiful Princess Daisy and save mankind in this adventure of a lifetime.
Video
Independent British distributor Second Sight have released "Super Mario Bros." in the United Kingdom, in what is the movie's worldwide debut on the Blu-ray format. The transfer uses an AVC-MPEG-4 encode, and is in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. As per usual, when a release of a movie with a cult following is first announced as getting a Blu-ray release, fans are quick to ponder and query about how the transfer will be conducted, and whether it will be victim of over-zealous digital noise reduction. Well, the fanboys can relax, because the print here is a direct transfer from the original 35mm print, and hasn't undergone any sort of digital manipulation. Saying that, it hasn't received any restoration either, but don't worry, it looks pretty darn good, if a little soft at times! Colours are quite dark and grimy, in fitting with both New York and the parallel universe. Blacks are deep with minimal crush, and lighter colours are vivid. Details are surprisingly good during many close-ups, especially the dirty looking environments, and the dingy overalls worn by Mario and Luigi. Unfortunately though, shadow details can be quite disappointing. The settings are surprisingly dark (especially when you consider the video game franchise it is based on and the young age of the intended audience), and often shadow details are lost to a sea of darkness, even in items that at the forefront of the screen. Natural film grain is noticeable throughout, but level of grain does change slightly from scene to scene. There's the occasional little nick to the print here and there, but overall, this is a good clean transfer that is bound to please fans. The film is uncut and runs 104:51.
Audio
There are two audio options included on this release: - English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - English LPCM 2.0 Stereo For my viewing, I opted for the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, which was good, but not as great as it could have been. It's surprisingly focused towards the front of the sound field, with surrounds seemingly feeling as though they are being kept exclusively for the hyperactive and ill-fitting score by the usually reliable and excellent Alan Silvestri only. There are lots of action scenes within the film which could have been much more immersive and more effort to direct the effects in these scenes would have been welcomed with open arms. Despite the lack of depth though, there aren't any major issues with the track. Dialogue is clear and concise, and volumes levels are generally consistent. Overall, this is an efficient and serviceable effort. Subtitles are available in English for the hard-of-hearing. This deserves recognition during a time where many smaller studios are no longer including subtitles, ignoring a larger amount of people than I think they realise. Over ten million people in the UK suffer from hearing loss.
Extras
We start off the extras package with a retrospective documentary entitled "This Ain't No Video Game" (55:47). I have to admit, I was cautious going into this, because when the movie came out it was absolutely slated, and the production had more trouble than anyone involved cares to remember. Thankfully, the directors, writer, John Leguizamo et al are very straight forward here, and don't even try to pretend this was a successful venture, though of course they all have different opinions on why. The directors admit the film was hammered by the critics and "vehemently hated by fans" of Super Mario games. Unfortunately the problems started so early on with the film, it was an unstoppable disaster, and the interviews included here help us understand why. There's also positive parts of the documentary though, such as talking about the idea, and Roland Joffe gives some interesting sound bites into his meeting with Nintendo to secure the rights. Bob Hoskins died the day before some of the interviews which is sad, but it was great to see his quotes to the Guardian (which I will mention in the overall) read out loud here by Richard Edson (who played Spike), who even has to apologise for letting a giggle slip out. Next up, we have the original "Making Of" featurette, which clocks in at 17:31. This is your standard made-for-television promotional piece that has some behind the scenes footage, and some interview snippets with various cast and crew members. Rather interesting to see the enthusiasm here - as the featurette was obviously made before the movie was released. We do get some good information about the special effects here, as well as the usual tidbits about characters and the story. Next, the "EPK" original electronic press kit (30:04): - Featurette - Soundbites - B-roll - Movie Clips - Trailer To be honest, whilst this is great to have, most of it is made up of clips from the making of featurette, and interview snippets are repeated. The B-Roll footage is the highlight here if you've watched all the other extras though, with some good raw footage from behind the scenes. The rest of the extras are self-explanatory. Galleries: - Storyboards; Original Climax (2:53) - Storyboards; Extended Devo Sequence (0:53) - Storyboards; Koopa's Devolution (0:14) - Storyboards; Koopa's Demise (0:10) - Rob Burman Koopa Effects (1:20) - David Nelson Yoshi Photos (0:14) - Dino Human Make-up Effects (1:02) - Walter P. Martishius Set Design (0:58) - Mel Goomba Prototype (0:32) - Joseph Porro Costume Design (1:52) - David L. Snyder Production Photos (3:49) - Patrick Tatopoulos Koopa Concepts (0:22) Theatrical Trailer (1:35)
Overall
"Super Mario Bros." is a bad film. I've certainly seen worse, but this is as bad as 10-year old me remembers. Let's look at what the cast themselves had to say: Bob Hoskins - "The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers. It was a f****** nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! F****** nightmare. F****** idiots." John Leguizamo - (i) "It's eight-year-olds who play the game and that's where the movie needed to be aimed. But [the directors] kept trying to insert new material. They shot scenes with strippers and with other sexually-explicit content, which all got edited out anyway." (ii) "The shoot seemed to take forever. But at least there was Samantha [referring to Samantha Mathis, the actress who plays the romantic interest in the film whom John Leguizamo was dating off the set]. And Bob [Bob Hoskins, who played Mario]. And Bob's scotch." (iii) "Oh man that movie sucks. And I suck in it." Dennis Hopper - "It was a nightmare, very honestly, that movie. It was a husband-and-wife directing team who were both control freaks and wouldn't talk before they made decisions. Anyway, I was supposed to go down there for five weeks, and I was there for 17." There you have it. A film marred with problems, that had four rewrites before even the first scene was shot. It's a film with a lot of "what could have beens" with Danny Devito, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Keaton all turning down roles. The makers did secure Tom Hanks, but eventually decided against having him. Harold Ramis declined the opportunity to direct too. Despite all these problems, it's an intriguing film, and the technical presentation is quite good. The retrospective documentary is essential viewing for anyone with even passing interest in the production problems that came about.
|
|||||
|