I remembered one movie I begged my parents to take me to but never did. Back in the 1990s, there was the Super Mario Bros. movie which was loosely based on the Super Mario Bros. game. An interesting thing was that it was in 1993 was shown on May 28, 1993, when Haim Saban acquired the rights from Nintendo to make the Super Mario Bros. Show. 1993 was also the year when one of my disliked franchises Power Rangers showed up. I may have some dislike for Power Rangers. However, this is one film that I could bash a lot harder. I still fee that maybe the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie was at least ENJOYABLE. This one seems to be what I'd call a hideous licensed film. I guess I'm always going to have my dislike for MOST American adaptations based on Japanese franchises.
The movie tried to have a more mature approach. I don't know if it's really a good idea to do so. It took away the familiarity of the games. For example, Mario and Luigi are no longer twins like they were in the original. Another noteworthy thing is how King Koopa is known as President Koopa. Dinohattan is an obvious remake of the Mushroom Kingdom. The game still had a colorful atmosphere but this went to dark and depressing. I guess the movie wasn't aimed at children but at children who grew up playing it. It seem to be aimed at teenagers who grew up playing the games. Heck, even Yoshi was given a complete makeover from a cute dinosaur to a real dinosaur. I dunno how people who had Super Mario World back then even reacted.
There were some obvious changes that were probably done to differentiate it from the games. For example, Toad is no retainer but some punk. The characters of Peach and Daisy are merged into one. In the video games, Daisy is Luigi's love interest which is set in this movie. So where's Princess Peach in all this since she's Mario's love interest? Iggy and Spike are changed into what could be President Koopa's nephews. The Goombas are instead changed into brainless thug enforcers. Heck, Toad got turned into a Goomba for badmouthing President Koopa. Also, it introduces the sci-fi concept of evolution where one branch has humans evolving from monkeys and the other from dinosaurs.
I was a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action films which were more serious than the cartoons. I think the problem here is more of how it was written and implemented. I find the pacing boring. I still think a darker approach could've worked if done right. For example, Capcom was able to succeed with the darker Megaman X franchise - a contrast to the Classic Megaman franchise. Right now, I still feel this remains one of my Old Shames to talk about. I guess the Super Mario Bros. OVAs really are better or felt more comfortable either way.
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