5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Two Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi, must travel to another dimension to rescue Princess Daisy from the evil dictator King Koopa and stop him from taking over the world.
Starring: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis, Fisher StevensComedy | 100% |
Family | 52% |
Fantasy | 48% |
Sci-Fi | 32% |
Adventure | 11% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 0.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Poor Super Mario Bros. Trashed viciously from the get-go, the infamous 1993 crowd-pleaser freezer turned box office bomb, Buena
Vista mishap and Nintendo embarrassment is... actually not as bad as you remember? More than thirty-years past its not-so-prime, I was expecting
the god-awful misfire my memory insisted I had watched at fourteen when my friends and I rented a VHS copy specifically for a watch-party built
around mocking the film we had only heard about in hyperbolic rants from others. But now, all these years later... I mean, let's not go crazy. It's not a
great flick. I'd even be lying if I used the word "good". But Super Mario has its vintage charms and tasty '90s cheese. Whether they loved the
experience or hated it, the cast -- at least as they far as what they deliver on screen -- fully sell the best and worst of the sometimes gummy
dialogue, the FX and practical creature designs are delightfully retro, the dark dystopian spin on the Mario mythos half-works, the action feels less like
a videogame commercial today than when it was nearer to marketing then-new peripherals (three cheers for the SNES Super Scope) and, well, I
might wanna stop there before this starts to read like an apologist's love letter rather than a revisionist's shoulder shrug.
Umbrella delivers a relatively terrific native 4K presentation of Super Mario Bros. sure to leave any fan satisfied with
the results. First, though, a few nitty-gritty notes, the specifics of which have been helpfully outlined in the forum. On the 4K disc's lack of HDR: "The
rights holder did not make an HDR version available to Umbrella. Umbrella wanted it and enquired on it. Attempts to do it in house were also not an
option." On why the set's deleted scenes appear in HDR while the feature film does not: "The licensor was only able to provide a 4K SDR master for the
main feature. Our restorationist, however, was able to author and grade all the restored workprint VHS footage for the deleted scenes in HDR. So we
fought to have those included in HDR." Wait, what? On how such a thing works with VHS footage: "The [deleted scenes] restoration work was
performed natively in 4K and in the HDR color space. When combining four different VHS tapes as sources, additional color and gamma information is
able to be captured and balanced and when correcting brightness fluctuations HDR can be beneficial. Yes, there will be limited gains made, but they are
still noticeable. The restoration work on the deleted scenes was completed in HDR prior to the confirmation that the main feature could only be sourced
in SDR." Bottom line: no HDR, nor any reason to fault Umbrella for not including it.
On to business. How does it look? There are a few inconsistencies -- shifts in color-grading are a tad distracting when they (briefly) occur, soft shots
aren't entirely uncommon, and some scenes have a slight blue tinting -- but it all strikes me as issues with the original elements rather than the
remastering or subsequent transfer. Otherwise, Super Mario Bros. has never looked this good. Colors are often bright and punchy, with plenty
of lifelike skintones, vibrant primaries, inky blacks, and wonderfully delineated shadows to behold. Contrast is dialed in nicely as well, as are the tweaks
in color grading which make for a more pleasing appearance from scene to scene. FX sequences suffer the usual dip in contrast and clarity for a film of
the era, nothing too surprising there, and a handful of scenes are too dark to get very far peering into the shadows. Overall detail, though, is excellent,
with crisp, clean edges (no halos here!) and refined, revealing textures. A faint veneer of grain is present and unobtrusive, and I didn't detect any sign
of banding, artifacting or other unsightly nastiness from the encode. Long story short, the restorationists at Umbrella have done a fine job with what
they've been given and produced a strong presentation whose only problems are bound to the film's source elements.
Super Mario's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track sounds great, with little in the way of sloppiness or underwhelming sonics. Dialogue is
clear and intelligible throughout. Lines aren't lost in the Dinohattan chaos (even when a 'splosive third act rips open a box marked "action"), nor is
fidelity sacrificed for volume. The rear speakers offer a welcome array of directionally precise effects, hurling across the soundfield from one channel to
the next with the slick, smooth ease you've come to expect from proper 5.1 remasters of early '90s films. It would almost be easy to call it remarkably
immersive, if it weren't for a bit of spatial separation that the sharpest audiophiles among will notice in conversation-laden, front-heavy sequences. (I
suspect another product of the source rather than the mixing of the track on hand.) LFE output is all kinds of fun too, with Bob-omb booms, Super
Scope thooms and Koopa-quake roars aplenty. Some flatness does creep into the soundscape, but every instance seemed to me to be a product of
remaining true to the original sound design. Dynamics deliver and the mix is both playful and engaging.
Soapbox alert. While I'm sure there's more than a few people
who wish every movie sounded as if its audio elements were captured in 2024, a film's era is crucial to how it should look and sound. We should all
appreciate mixes in which '60s movies sound like '60s movies, '90s
flicks sound appropriate to the decade, and modern films are allowed to have their own distinct tone and tenor. That doesn't mean one sounds
objectively better than the
next; it means each one sounds renewed -- perhaps even re-contextualized should the restoration fates allow -- yet still remains faithful to its creators'
intentions and
its place in film history. If you strip away Super Mario's 1993 trappings and decidedly '90s personality, you lose some of what makes it special
to those who love it as the videogame-movie time capsule it is. Remastering and restoration are not arts that reinvent the wheel. They reveal the wheel
for what it originally was or, at most (when directors or cinematographers are available), what it would have been had its filmmakers had access to the
tools afforded us today.
The 4K edition of Super Mario Bros. is housed in a black Blu-ray case inside of a slipcase with front and rear art. It's nothing terribly exciting
or eye-catching, but it does have the "feel" of a more expensive collector's release. That said, the second disc -- a standard BD-50 -- only includes
special features and the rough workprint version of the film. The set doesn't offer a 1080p presentation of the theatrical cut (or a proper high
definition transfer of any cut for that matter). Bonus content breaks down as follows:
Super Mario Bros. is absolutely, 100% a product of its era. It's also a product of a disastrous production that has been all but chronicled by all who survived its making. But for a film cursed with such burdens, there's a surprising amount of fun to be had; a cult-y so-bad-it's-good enjoyment on tap that allows it to rise far above the station it was assigned by audiences and critics in 1993. I wouldn't say it was ahead of its time by any means, but there's perhaps more here to love than some of us realized. Umbrella's 4K Blu-ray release is a terrific 2-disc set regardless of how much love or hate-love the film. With a solid restoration, a strong video presentation, a blast of a lossless track, and a massive collection of special features, this is an easy one to recommend.
1993
30th Anniversary Edition Australian Import
1993
1993
2020
2007
2005
2010
2017
2001
Power Up Edition
2023
Single Disc
2003
2004
1997
1993
2016
10th Anniversary Edition
2005
2022
2006-2012
Lenticular Faceplate
2012
2008
2011
2009
2018