"Wahoo!"

As a product of the 80s, my life has been substantially affected by Nintendo and their ever-growing cast of characters. Throw in the fact that I am also a father to two wonderful children, this movie became a must see for the entire family. Going into this my expectations were low, Illumination has had some solid movies but more than a few have missed the mark. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I truly enjoyed this movie. My kids had a blast and my nostalgia went into overdrive, every second of this movie is packed with references that harken back to my childhood where, as we all know, was much simpler.

When looking at the technical side of things, this is a gorgeous movie, the visuals are crisp and vibrant and all of the score hits when it needs to. Now, were a few of the licensed songs a bit unnecessary, maybe, but did they work, oh yeah, they did. The minute Bonnie Tyler “Hold on for a Hero” hits you may want to roll your eyes due to the overuse this song has had over the years but let’s be honest this movie is about a hero that is born in the 80s and I would be supremely disappointed if every one of those songs didn’t take me back there. Now the music really shines when the actual score hits. Composer Brian Tyler, of the Fast and Furious franchise, takes the iconic originals composed Koji Kondo and turns in some of the finest Mario music I have ever heard. All of the themes were there and that inner child in me knew each of them as they played, Tyler truly knocked this out of the park. The voice acting was better than anticipated, short of Cranky Kong who felt more whiny than cranky, with Jack Black the highlight of the movie. Even after all the doubt placed on Chris Pratt he did pretty well, granted hearing Charles Martinet making a welcome appearance gave me chills.

Now I know a lot of critics are harping on the lack of story, let’s be honest did we need Mario to truly do anything besides rescue a Kingdom with his friends? The answer is no, we didn’t, what many of these critics need to do is take a look in the mirror and try to find a less serious side, this is a kids movie with a ton of little easter eggs for those of us who grew up with Nintendo, and the story of brotherhood had enough heart to keep it all together. This movie is highly recommend, it is quick, there is no filler and just hearing the Mario theme hit as Mario saves the day gets a chefs kiss from me. I give this an 8 out of 10.