When people criticize movies based on video games, they often point to 1993’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, with many calling it the worst adaptation ever made. However, it seems that the new Super Mario Bros. Movie’s premiere is sparking a resurgence for its 1993 predecessor — even if it’s widely disliked.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie from 1993 is currently sitting at the top of Amazon’s Best Sellers in Movies & TV list. Notably, the cult classic is ranked above the Blu-ray preorder for the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The 1993 live-action movie follows the iconic Mario and Luigi on a journey to rescue Princess Daisy from a parallel universe. Viewers criticized its plot and deviations from its source material, but for these same reasons, the movie later earned a cult following.
In our review of the movie’s 2021 extended cut, we gave it a 6/10 and said that it’s “too narratively disjointed and tonally dissonant to qualify as ‘good’,” but “it so proudly brandishes its bonkers, go-for-broke aesthetic.” Still, we deemed it one of the 12 worst video game movies ever. (Even the late Bob Hoskins, who starred in the movie, called it “the worst thing I ever did.”)
In comparison, we gave the new Super Mario Bros. Movie an 8 in our review, calling it “a Mario movie that anyone could enjoy, and that anyone with even a passing knowledge of the games could get lost in.”
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
