The Big Picture: Mr. Mario Goes To Hollywood

[Slegiar Dryke]

I've thought a lot about it too and stuff like Zelda and Metroid would certainly translate well to live-action, but that's because their universe - subject matter, physics, general mood and plotlines - are somewhat grounded. Mario is pure (good) nonsense with no real structure or gravity.

This exactly. When Bob was naming off the lists of things that have gotten the live action movie coat of paint, be it book, comic, or whatever, I couldn't help but think "Bob.........every single one of those is believably alterable to that format" Lord of the rings, huge amounts of story, environment, characters, etc. Harry potter, same thing. you can very easily visualize how that stuff would look in live action. but Mario is a series that has forever been very malleable in what you can do with it, and yet all of that doesn't translate well to live action. Personally I loved the movie. It's cheesy, it's got some funny moments, neat effects for the time I guess (I was young then ^^;; ), but if they could come up with a decent story to mold around Mario that would make a good movie, heck I'd love to see it animated.

Also will agree with previous comments, I've dreamed for YEARS now of a good Metroid movie being made....for heavens sake, the Prime games provided a PERFECT MODEL for how to do it! Step one, introduction, our key players, etc etc, reveal the mysterious mcguffin that is evil and stuff. 2, show more of what evil mcguffin can do, some backstory of acquaintances, clue in to source of mcguffin maybe. 3, mcguffin source found, terrible things happening, rescues performed, assault team built, heroine seperated, take out rival that has been created by mcguffin..........SOMEONE MAKE THAT MOVIE!!!!!

 

[kreekgod]

So i think it would be awesome to see a live action zelda

but im not sure i really want another live action mario

also, personally i kinda like the the mario movie, sure it had nothing to do with the games, but i thought it was alright

 

[Kyrian007]

Someone mentioned that the prior SMB movie "poisoned the well." Wow, that's listing all the selling points. Surely some studio is thinking "the bar isn't very high, people couldn't hate it THAT much... even fanboys."

Oh and...

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBC84A55C38AEFDC4
if a bunch of random people on youtube can do a live action Brawl series,
then some studio can do a SMB Movie

That show was hosted here on the Escapist. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/there-will-be-brawl

And I could really give or take the "big hollywood" live action SMB or Zelda or Whichever Videogame Property movie. But I would be really psyched if I heard about progress on the TWBB prequel. Frankly; Machinima, youtube, Geek & Sundry, ect, ect, have done better with videogame properties than traditional movie studios. I care more about "Mortal Kombat Legacy" than whatever Hollywood might be doing with the property at the moment. A Fallout movie franchise, neat... cool I guess? Unless some big studio handed the project to the guys at Wayside Creations... then AWESOME, Nuka Break: The Movie!

Until Hollywood figures out how to swallow its pride and hand videogame movie rights to the folks who ALREADY know how to handle the franchises... I'd just as soon they not bother at all.

 

[fractal_butterfly]

The Mario and generally most Nintendo games have been focused purely on mechanics and art style. Trying to make a movie out of those strengths is a poor allocation of resources.

Yes, games and movies are both electronic media but that doesn't mean what works for games will work for movies. The plot and/or setting of Mario is ridiculously shallow. There's no enough there to make a movie with without doing a new origin or establishing something new with the setting - then it won't be Mario anymore, will it?

Mario doesn't need a movie. It's always been about the mechanics, not the story.

Exactly this. Anyone trying to create a Mario movie that "makes sense" (i.e. has a coherent story), will end up with some kind of fan fiction. It will not please anyone, especially not the fans of the franchise.
Oh and by the way: MY face of gaming has a crowbar and a PhD

 

[Monsterfurby]

The Mario and generally most Nintendo games have been focused purely on mechanics and art style. Trying to make a movie out of those strengths is a poor allocation of resources.

Yes, games and movies are both electronic media but that doesn't mean what works for games will work for movies. The plot and/or setting of Mario is ridiculously shallow. There's no enough there to make a movie with without doing a new origin or establishing something new with the setting - then it won't be Mario anymore, will it?

Mario doesn't need a movie. It's always been about the mechanics, not the story.

Exactly this. Anyone trying to create a Mario movie that "makes sense" (i.e. has a coherent story), will end up with some kind of fan fiction. It will not please anyone, especially not the fans of the franchise.
Oh and by the way: MY face of gaming has a crowbar and a PhD

Agreed. 80s video game characters are impossible to compare to comic book or literary characters - the latter exist PURELY in shape of their storylines and personalities. The former exist just as purely through their gameplay.

Yes, you could do a Zelda feature film, but let's be honest: if Link speaks in it, it's torches and pitchforks. If Link doesn't speak, it's going to be a miserable slog of a movie with very limited character interaction and development. It would also have to go the Hyrule Warriors or Hyrule Total War route of making the Zelda setting make sense in a flesh-and-blood, three-dimensional context, which is much harder than it sounds if (unlike the aforementioned couple of games) are also concerned with keeping the integrity of the IP intact.

Not even Marvel/Disney could pull this off.

 

[Ih8makingUsernames]

Zelda and Mario just don't feel like they would be right for a movie at all. And I'll make that point by glarign at Metroid: Other M and saying "that."

Most Nintendo franchises have silent protagonists for a bevy of reasons. Originally, it was because of technical limitations - they weren't trying to tell an epic story with dialogue - they just wanted you to have fun. As technology progressed, they were largely left the same - with A Link to the Past, Link was only spoken towards, and never spoke at anyone. It was kind of an immersion thing where instead of stepping into the shoes of another person, you were them. You never had a moment where you would say "What? I wouldn't say that."

Mario was like this as well - even in his more recent games, he's a borderline mute. He doesn't really have any dialogue. Samus was the furthest developed pre-Other M, with a small narration of the events of Metroid 2 in Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion.

Other M shows what happens though when you ascribe a face to a character that had no personality prior. Say what you want about the story or the mechanics, but there were points in the game weren't faithful to the heroine people had expected - like the infamous "I'm not gonna save my life with this suit because I haven't been told I could yet." And that's damaging for a character. Especially when you let outsiders muddy the waters. And that's what happened with the original Mario movie, and the animated series of most Nintendo franchises.

Can a good Mario movie be made? Probably. But what's the point of seeing a Mario movie? Nothing about the character translates to anything worth while on the big screen. They aren't going to build their brand, or move Mario forward as a franchise. They would either be giving the rights to other people to do that stuff, or they'd be taking time and focus away from what really matters - their games.

 

[Vausch]

Well, if we need a good Mario movie, why not just adapt the comics from Nintendo Power?

Seriously, you ever read those? They're fantastic. Mario and Luigi do their jobs, Peach actually saves THEM once and is able to take care of herself (seriously, best rendition of her ever) and it's a really fun romp.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

Yeah really not appreciating the live-action snobbery coming off of Moviebob. Most of what Pixar create is way better than what the rest of Hollywood is coming up with and there are many other very good CGI animated movies from other studios out nowadays as well. Then you have the likes of Studio Ghibli basically at the forefront of mature family entertainment, live-action or no, and I begin to wonder why something needs to be live-action to have 'circumstance and weight'. Mononoke-hime is my third favourite movie of all time and it does not lack 'circumstance and weight' I can tell you that.

Then you just consider Mario and his world themselves: they're already inherently cartoonish to begin with, and whilst I'm not saying all animation is strictly 'cartoonish' there is definitely a stylistic element to them that makes translating something like Mario (very stylistic as well) into animation just make more sense aesthetically. I'm not saying it couldn't be done in live action, I just think if I were to choose what would suit Mario best, animation would be my choice.

 

[Starik20X6]

Mario movie? No thanks. Just... Don't. Narrative has never been the strong point of the Mario series, and that's something I've always been grateful for. Let's be honest, the wafer thin plots of most Mario games exists almost solely to give a flimsy story justification to why you're running and jumping beyond "just because it's fun". The appeal has always been exploring the amazing worlds and that rush of accomplishment you get from grabbing the flagpole/star at the end of the level.

As for a Zelda movie? If you insist we have one of those, fine, but meet me half way and make it Toon Link; he's a lot more expressive than regular Link, which is something you're going to need when the protagonist of your movie is mostly mute (because fuck anyone who says he should talk). Toon Link slapstick bumbling his way through an epic adventure could make for a good time. And make Zelda go with him, either regularly, as Tetra or as a ghost like in Spirit Tracks, whatever.

 

[Verlander]

I've got a massive soft spot for the Super Mario Bros 90's film. Was exactly the right age when it came out. Cracking film.

 

[circularlogic88]

I rather like the idea of a Luigi`s Mansion movie more than a strictly Mario-focused adventure. Luigi has been the only one who's ever really gotten a consistent personality over the years, and I find his struggles vastly more interesting than Mario once again attempting to save Peach by way of Reptilian Regicide.

 

[lord.jeff]

I think Mario has to be a cartoon for one simple reason so Mario can jump, in a live action movie you can break the laws of nature but you have to say how or why it happened in cartoons we'd easily accept a talking dinosaur or a Italian plumber jumping 5 times his height. The same is not true of live action and you would end up with some kind of stupid jump boot just to give Mario his iconic jump. Plus it'd look weird as hell to have a live action man floating up ten feet in the air every time he jumped.

You just described a scene from the Super Mario Bros. Movie: jump boots that made him practically float in the air. However I disagree with the obligation from the movies of explaining the how or why of everything. No one explained what the Force was in the original Star Wars movies, and everyone was OK with it.

I made the reference to the first Mario movie on purpose and the force is an explanation, it's that simple crappy explanation like magic is. To say it another way would be that everything in Mario is so outlandish and cartoony that only way someone would except it is as a cartoon or being an Airplane movie.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Have the lego guys do it.

You know, that's actually not a bad idea. Give it the Lego Movie treatment.

Make it kind of a self aware universe targeted toward audiences who are familiar with Mario, which is more or less everyone anyway. DON'T make it some origins bullshit, just dive headlong into the Mushroom Kingdom with Mario and Luigi already doing their thing on a regular basis. Play around with the lunacy of the setting, the character roles, and of videogames in general.

 

[Lightknight]

The Mario Bros movie is glorious. Deal with it.

It certainly stood out.

@MovieBob, maybe Mario Bros itself doesn't translate well into live action. I think CGI is probably the best means for it to come to light. Any attempt at a live action would be a significant rewrite turning it into a standard "nobody saves the life of someone special" storylines without any of the Mario spirit. An animated world is the best place to help suspend disbelief enough to enjoy.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I STILL can't see what's so bad about the Super Mario Bros movie other than "waah it's different I don't like change!"

Bad acting, ugly designs, constant shifts in tone, terrible jokes, an extremely stupid story, and a feeling no one attached to the film really wanted to do it.

 

[D.Strormer]

All the nerds and fanboys will look up and shout "Give it to Whedon"... and I'll look down and whisper "No."

In all seriousness, though, I would love to see Mario in the hands of someone new. Someone from the new generation of filmmakers. I love my greats, don't get me wrong, but a good Mario movie would have to take the best aspects of the games without being beholden to the points that don't make any sense outside the media of "game" and who knows how to make a fun flick besides. I can't honestly think of a director who's equal to the task at this point. Can you?

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

A Legend of Zelda live action I would love to see, also. It's fair more doable than Super MArio Bros ... and given the success of The Lego Movie, LoZ could totally work as a movie. I mean it, LoZ has traps, amazing devices (can you imagine a scene of Link running from a firey dragon using only clawshots and acrobatics?), light romance, swordplay martial arts, acrobatics, exploration, the works.

Zelda works as a hack and slash action movie, hands down.

Not only that but it has all the elements to be well paced, incorporating multiple elements, and yet still be truthful to the franchise. A bit of riddle/puzzle solving. A whole lot of environmental implementation action sequences ala Jackie Chan. Swordplay and reserved sorcery ala Lord of the Rings, an established mythology. And despite all these things, there's plenty that can be elabourated on to give artistic creativity to the producers. The powers of the triforce (mystical as they are), monsters, ancient technologies, etc ...

I mean they made THREE Mortal Kombat movies ... Mortal Kombat is BIG but it's not Zelda big.

Given an impetus on exploration and one on one combat, it would be far cheaper than any 'mass battle' sequences in other hack and slash movies.

 

[daxterx2005]

I heard Genndy Tartakovsky was going to be making the film.
If that's true, I'm very hopeful.

 

[Disthron]

Mario would be better of as a cartoon, Legend of Zelda could be turned into live action but it would probably be better of as a cartoon also. At least Hyrule has some semblance of internal logic. The Mushroom Kingdom has nun. Although.... they did make some recent Alice and OZ movies, but then again I didn't bother seeing OZ after Alice was kind of meh.

Aside from Tim Curry as the devil Legend was horrible and all the other worlds had internal logic. A seance that locations had sale and were connected to one and other. Mario has random pipes, animate mushrooms that walk blindly into death pits, a dragon monster that dresses kidnapped(?) toadstool people as a princess which the hero is somehow fooled by.....every.... single.... time! XD

I remember when they made movies out of Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers. I was like, those games don't have stories to tell. And they didn't, I mean there is a bare bones premise that contextualize the action but that's it. Now, to be fair, I haven't played any of the games past the SNES, and I didn't even play all of those, so I don't know if it's developed much since then.

 

[ANTIcarrot]

To which my answer is: How much would it have cost to make (say) Spirited Away or How To Tame Your Dragon in live action? We could start by comparing the budget of a live action and low SFX film like Fellowship Of The Ring with a 90% CGI film like Avatar. And the answer is... $93M vs $280M

Because humans are cheap, but anything else is horribly expensive. Hence in addition to the inevitable white-washing of the actors, you get human-washing of the story, concept, or world. Or worse, you get safe-washing, where any 'risky' interesting ideas get sergically removed for the script so as to not offend, chalenge, or educate any one who might be watching. And that really sucks if you enjoy a story because of the exotic elements.

Compare any DC movie to the DCAU, and tell me which is richer, with better, more fully realised and neuanced characters. It is not the live action films and it is certainly not the latest 'gritty and realistic' batman and superman films.

I'm with the joker on this. The best thing about CGI and anime? They're cheap. So you can have people places and things that are more than just walk on roles, or cut-scenes to break up the humans only grind sections.