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http://smbthecomic.com/

Well...sort of.

A webcomic has recently started that's a sequel to the first movie. Personally, I actually liked the original movie. It takes a LOT of liberties with the source material, but I think it's a lot more fun than people give it credit for.

The creators actually went as far as to speak with the screenwriters for the original film and talked to them about what the sequel might have looked like.

Interesting read on how the Super Mario Bros movie ended up becoming what it did.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9123782/the-strange-case-super-mario-bros-movie

Ravenpoe said:

Interesting read on how the Super Mario Bros movie ended up becoming what it did.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9123782/the-strange-case-super-mario-bros-movie

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Um ...

Jim Jennewein and Tom S. Parker (The Flintstones) wrote the first known draft in 1991, a Princess Bride–esque revisionist fairy tale fantasy that seems to have lost traction when director Greg Beeman (License to Drive) was either fired or quit. He was replaced by Morton and Jankel, who had followed up the sly is-it-subversive-or-is-it-sellout sensation Max Headroom with a failed remake of the film noir D.O.A. It was this husband-and-wife directing team's idea to set the Mario movie primarily in Dinohattan, an alternate-universe version of New York City. Though very, very loosely inspired by the Dinosaur Land of the game Super Mario World, Dinohattan would visually bear no resemblance to the mostly bright worlds of the Super Mario games; the Max Headroom team was going for a dark, hyperrealistic satire. Joffe cheerfully termed it "a wonderful parody of New York and heavy industry. We call it the New Brutalism."

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What the fuck? I'm trying to find the right insulting term for this two art geniuses who felt a film adaptation of a colorful kid-friendly video game was the right place to experiment with their bullshit, but I can't find it.

Quotemander Prime said:

Um ...



What the fuck? I'm trying to find the right insulting term for this two art geniuses who felt a film adaptation of a colorful kid-friendly video game was the right place to experiment with their bullshit, but I can't find it.

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It also became apparent that no one involved with the final version of the movie had any idea clue what the game even was.

Anti-virus no likey.

What's most hilarious about that read is that throughout the entire production, where almost no one wanted to even be a part of it, they all knew that it would make ridiculous amounts of money because of "stupid kids." Oh Hollywood. As much things change, as much things stay the same.

Though I don't see them trying to make such huge departures on franchises these days. Arguably Man of Steel, but at least the majority of the movie still resembled Superman.

I think one of the important factors to consider about Super Mario Bros the Movie was that at the time adults just didn't play video games. Well... of course they did. But not nearly as many as do today. The home console industry was only about a decade old, so most of the people behind the desks and in the director chairs probably never cared to play the thing. It was just a kids' toy to them. So when you get your hands on an IP that sounds like your drunk cousin just snorted cocaine and is now trying to tell you a story, you would likely consider it as good a time as any to experiment with new ideas.

I enjoyed the film as a kid, and I think I still do to a degree. To me, it's not really Super Mario Brothers: The Movie. It's something else entirely. And as something else entirely it works for what it is. The sets are cool. The creatures and effects are sweet. The action scenes are fun. I could totally handle a viewing of this every once in a while.

Also, even if you can't get past the fact that it's Super Mario Brothers and it's nothing like Super Mario Brothers, consider it a re-imagining. Kinda like a American McGee spin on a childhood favorite.

The comic, so far, is interesting. I'm not sure where they are going with it, but I like the writers interpretation of "Toad".

Shawnacy said:

It's something else entirely. And as something else entirely it works for what it is. The sets are cool. The creatures and effects are sweet. The action scenes are fun. I could totally handle a viewing of this every once in a while.

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No.

Ravenpoe said:

No.

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Says the guy who reveres an hour and a half Nintendo commercial.

Though you probably don't.
But it would be funny if you did.

Even divorced from the source material, the Mario Brothers movie failed on every single level of film making. The actors were obviously just there for a paycheck. The special effects were OK at best for the time it was produced. The script was a meandering clusterfuck. No, it was neither fun to watch nor entertaining on any level.

Shawnacy said:

It's something else entirely. And as something else entirely it works for what it is. The sets are cool. The creatures and effects are sweet. The action scenes are fun. I could totally handle a viewing of this every once in a while.

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I don't think so. Leguizamo's performance was terrible. The tone was all over the place. I think it had some neat ideas, but even separated from the source material, it's a slopped-together piece of movie. It doesn't hurt like some movies do, but anytime I tried watching it again, I got bored and shut it off.

Keep in mind that now that you have kids, your tolerance level for shitty children's movies is probably stronger than ours.

I remember looking forward to this as a little kid. What crushed it for me wasn't the bad reviews--I didn't even know about movie reviews at the time unless you count what my dad would mutter under his breath as we left the theater from another shitty children's movie my sister and I dragged him to. Jurassic Park came along. I didn't even know Super Mario Brothers came out at the same time, probably because once I became aware of Jurassic Park, no other movie mattered.

Quotemander Prime said:

Leguizamo's performance was terrible.

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He gives good ones?

Shawnacy said:

He gives good ones?

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I have no idea; I can't remember any other movies he's been in. But his lines were so badly delivered in Super Mario Brothers that I remember that wretched fake tone in his voice. Let's check IMDB ...

Gune from Titan AE? Sid from Ice Age?

He was the only enjoyable part of Spawn. For his best performance, see Too Wong Fu Thanks for Everything: Julie Newmar.

The sets of the movie look like someone salvaged a dump site that they buried Blade Runner's sets in and didn't bother to hose them off first.

Guilty pleasure of mine I guess.
Oh well.

I'm with you, Shawnacy. It's a guilty pleasure for me, too. It's by no means a great or even good movie, but it's certainly one of the better video game movie adaptations out there. That's not really saying much since 90% of them are crap, but I still like it.

Shawnacy said:

Guilty pleasure of mine I guess.
Oh well.

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I'd never begrudge anyone for enjoying a movie, unless it was like Birth of a Nation or Meet the Spartans.

Quotemander Prime said:

I'd never begrudge anyone for enjoying a movie, unless it was like Birth of a Nation or Meet the Spartans.

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Hey now... one of those is way worse than the other.

Ravenpoe said:

Hey now... one of those is way worse than the other.

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Here we have a perfectly good set-up and I'm confounded by whether I should go with the joke or subvert it like we're in an episode of 30 Rock.

Quotemander Prime said:

Here we have a perfectly good set-up and I'm confounded by whether I should go with the joke or subvert it like we're in an episode of 30 Rock.

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I could claim that one is vile and presents the awful ideas of a terrible generation. Would that help?

Ravenpoe said:

I could claim that one is vile and presents the awful ideas of a terrible generation. Would that help?

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Nope.

Honestly, I'm in the group that enjoys the Super Mario Bros. movie. Is it a godawful representation of Super Mario Bros.? Oh hell, yes. As it's known, imagining it is not related to the game franchise at all? It's alright. Not great, but enjoyable at least.

Now, a video game movie that is definitely enjoyable? Street Fighter (the one with Jean Claude Van Damme). That at least has some stuff that feels like the game. Besides, it is so much better than the awful piece of trash that Legend of Chun-Li film. That one was so bad, it was the first film to ever make me angry.

I like to pretend Street Fighter (JCVD version) is a GI Joe movie....because it's basically a GI Joe movie.

It also has wonderfully hammy Raul Julia being completely awesome.

It's just sad that the movie was so bad it killed him.

Cheesy1 said:

It's just sad that the movie was so bad it killed him.

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Ready for a sad bit of trivia?

Knowing that he was dying of cancer, Raul Julia let his grandchildren go through scripts sent to him to pick out his next project. They chose Street Fighter. That gloriously hammy performance was for them.

What a guy.

WE DANCE THE MAMUSHKA!

Addams Family was fucking brilliant.

filmfanatic said:

Ready for a sad bit of trivia?

Knowing that he was dying of cancer, Raul Julia let his grandchildren go through scripts sent to him to pick out his next project. They chose Street Fighter. That gloriously hammy performance was for them.

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I did not know that. I has sad now.

Cheesy1 said:

I did not know that. I has sad now.

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Don't be sad that he died. Be happy that he lived...to provide us performances like this!

ThatNickGuy said:

I'm with you, Shawnacy. It's a guilty pleasure for me, too. It's by no means a great or even good movie, but it's certainly one of the better video game movie adaptations out there. That's not really saying much since 90% of them are crap, but I still like it.

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One of the better ones? Really? Off the top of my head, here are movies that are ten times better, both as films and adaptations.

Tomb Raider
Mortal Kombat
Resident Evil
Max Payne
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Silent Hill
Hitman

Hell, I'd even put other complete stinkers above it such as DOA, Wing Commander, and Doom. While being bad movies they were at least somewhat competent in the actual craft of film making.

Guilty pleasure, sure, everyone loves one or two movies that are terrible, but to say it's one of the better video game adaptations is delusional.

Finally, someone else that thinks the first Silent Hill film was good!

Max Payne is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, it was one of those instances where someone paid my way and I felt like I lost

Most of those, I'll grant you, Bowie, are certainly better than Super Mario Bros. But DOA, Wing Commander, Max Payne, and Doom? No. No. Just no.

I will also say that, aside from maybe Silent Hill, I'd still enjoy watching Super Mario Bros over all of those. Also, keep in mind that you listed 10 movies there and I'd still put Mario Bros above many of them. So it's still in the Top 10 in terms of video game movies to me.

Imagine the joys Raul Julia would have brought cinema throughout the years as he aged. It would have been glorious.

ThatNickGuy said:

Most of those, I'll grant you, Bowie, are certainly better than Super Mario Bros. But DOA, Wing Commander, Max Payne, and Doom? No. No. Just no.

I will also say that, aside from maybe Silent Hill, I'd still enjoy watching Super Mario Bros over all of those. Also, keep in mind that you listed 10 movies there and I'd still put Mario Bros above many of them. So it's still in the Top 10 in terms of video game movies to me.

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They were certainly more competently made than SMB. Like I said, go ahead and love the movie. I love plenty of absolutely horrible movies, but don't try to pretend that it's some sort of underrated gem.

Silent Hill looks really great and chose some good pieces of the games' scores to use.

Those are the nice things I can say about it and I won't get into the other things because it's too many.

Gilgamesh said:

Imagine the joys Raul Julia would have brought cinema throughout the years as he aged. It would have been glorious.

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Amen to that, I always enjoy watching Tequila Sunrise just for his performance.
And of course Michelle Pfeiffer, but really mostly for Raul Julia!

I'm one of the writers of the comic, so I'm glad to see it shared here!

This project is something that fans of the film have long wanted, so we are happy to provide it. It's even better having such a talented team, including the film's original writer.

Anyways, we just updated today with two new pages, so we hope you all check it out and continue to read! Updates can be found on our Facebook page, HERE.

Awesome, I'll check it out. Thanks Steve. And do please stick around these here forums. We're generally a good bunch.

ThatNickGuy said:

Most of those, I'll grant you, Bowie, are certainly better than Super Mario Bros. But DOA, Wing Commander, Max Payne, and Doom? No. No. Just no.

I will also say that, aside from maybe Silent Hill, I'd still enjoy watching Super Mario Bros over all of those. Also, keep in mind that you listed 10 movies there and I'd still put Mario Bros above many of them. So it's still in the Top 10 in terms of video game movies to me.

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Have you seen DOA? Seriously. It's terrible, but man, no one making that movie looked like they were having a bad time. It was genuinely fun to watch.

Steven Applebaum said:

I'm one of the writers of the comic, so I'm glad to see it shared here!

This project is something that fans of the film have long wanted, so we are happy to provide it. It's even better having such a talented team, including the film's original writer.

Anyways, we just updated today with two new pages, so we hope you all check it out and continue to read! Updates can be found on our Facebook page, HERE.

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Question though. Did the writer actually play the game before he wrote it? Not being an ass or anything. I actually want to know for my own curiosity. I understand that a lot of changes went from the original script to the finished product.

Shawnacy said:

Question though. Did the writer actually play the game before he wrote it? Not being an ass or anything. I actually want to know for my own curiosity. I understand that a lot of changes went from the original script to the finished product.

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My partner and I actually interviewed writer Parker Bennett back in 2010, which can be seen on the site HERE.

He and his partner Terry Runté did in fact play the games in research for their writing, with SMB2 being the primary source of inspiration. Parker told us that they made it a point to insert as many references and homages as they could as few else on the production was making an effort to do so. Their script, which can be read HERE, owed a lot more to the games in terms of creatures, items, locations and general concepts. My personal favorite were the inclusion of coin box phone booths and "Donut Land" donut shop.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions. I can recall just about everything about the film offhand and provide references.

Steven Applebaum said:

My partner and I actually interviewed writer Parker Bennett back in 2010, which can be seen on the site HERE.

He and his partner Terry Runté did in fact play the games in research for their writing, with SMB2 being the primary source of inspiration. Parker told us that they made it a point to insert as many references and homages as they could as few else on the production was making an effort to do so. Their script, which can be read HERE, owed a lot more to the games in terms of creatures, items, locations and general concepts. My personal favorite were the inclusion of coin box phone booths and "Donut Land" donut shop.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions. I can recall just about everything about the film offhand and provide references.

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Which version should I check out?

Frank said:

Have you seen DOA? Seriously. It's terrible, but man, no one making that movie looked like they were having a bad time. It was genuinely fun to watch.

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Just rewatched it 2 days ago (it was on ad I wanted something brainless to watch ). While I personally prefer Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter (because I liked the games ), I do think the movie stays pretty close to the games interms of universe, tone, visuals, and so on. Up to and including the Beach Volley scene and the completely gratuitous wet bikini and ass shots and so on. It's most certainly not a good movie, but it's still fun to watch, which is something entirely different (Most Bond movies are crapyp movies but fun to watch. Skyfall is a much better movie, but feels "un-Bond" because of it, for example)

Shawnacy said:

Which version should I check out?

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The Bennett/Runté "Ghostbusters" script has the best opening and second act, especially in terms of game homage, but ultimately falls apart in the third act because they were replaced before they had time to revise the their work further.

The Clement/la Frenais "Mad Max" script is the best written with a cohesive structure, but also has the least to do with the games. It's still a good read if you'd like to see what version of the script brought Hoskins, Leguizamo, Shaw and others onto the project.

Finally, the original fantasy script is a fun read if you'd like to know how they would have approached a more faithful adaptation. It's essentially The Wizard of Oz meets classic '80s creature films like The Labyrinth.