The Super Mario Bros. Movie

This movie was one of my most anticipated movies of the year and it did not disappoint. I love almost everything about this movie from the animations, cast, and world in general. This movie was nostalgia overload in all the best ways and was able to bring the Mario universe to life on screen. Initially, when this movie was announced I was a little worried because of the recent track record of video game adaptations and in combination with the cast having a lot of star power. Then I saw the trailer and all of those worries went away because Nintendo and Illumination did not come to play.

The trailer-to-movie ratio was pretty good and the pacing was pretty much perfect for the run-time of the movie. What made this movie even more impressive was how they were able to seamlessly fit almost 40 years of lore into an hour-and-a-half movie. Surprisingly I never really lost interest in the story because the plot was never really in question. They consistently raised the stakes instead of telling us everything we need to know when it comes to things like how magic works or even the different worlds in general.

This movie took 2D elements from the games and brought them into a 3D-animated world that didn’t feel small. The story was simple but impactful and got the job done. The musicality of this film was elite because they innovated classic songs and sounds we all know and love. Now some may that this movie is safe but when I think about these legacy franchises I'm okay with that when it's the first movie because I would rather them get it right and then take some more chances for the sequels to come.