Fridge / The Super Mario Bros. Movie

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Fridge examples for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

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Fridge Brilliance

• In the Bros.' personal life in Brooklyn, their family is finally seen — a rather extensive one, and seeming all to live under one roof. Given the Bros. and their family have a distinct Italian edge to their Brooklyn accents, they may be a several-generation immigrated family, which would make cohabitation in a single housing in a city as expensive as New York plenty common.
  • In addition to this is how Mario can be seen playing Kid Icarus on a classic NES in his and Luigi's room, despite Luigi's mobile phone showing this is in a modern setting which, coupled with the incredibly cheap commercial that even all their savings could only just afford, implicates the household, in general, is fairly low-income.
• The Bros.’s father believes that Mario is “dragging down” Luigi with him with their struggling plumbing business. Luigi doesn’t hide the fact that he greatly admires his older brother, and he tends to follow Mario’s lead even if he thinks something is a bad idea. It’s likely the father believes that Luigi blindly followed Mario into quitting Spike’s business to start their own.
  • Another reason why Mario gets upset with his father? He calls the jobs the Bros. had with Spike “steady”, despite him being a Bad Boss and an overall jerk. Mario naturally feels insulted for his father treating him as in the wrong for leaving a toxic job, especially when his little brother was also in that toxic job and the Bros started their own plumbing business to get out of that situation and prevent being potentially employed by another Bad Boss.
• Why is Mario so clumsy at first? Because this is his first adventure, he doesn't know what to expect or how the world works. Every hero in their first adventure is a klutz because this is way outside of what they know, outside of their comfort zone.
  • Another thing to note is that Mario didn't have prior experience from an adventure involving chasing a giant ape that captured his friend, as here, Mario meets Donkey Kong (and also Cranky Kong who was the original Donkey Kong) after discovering the Mushroom Kingdom.
  • For as long as he has existed, Mario's vaguely developed personality has allowed him to serve as the alter ego of whatever player controls him. The genius of characterizing him as clumsy at first, therefore, could be interpreted as an allegory for a rookie player learning to control Mario for the first time, especially when he trains in an obstacle course resembling a classic 2D level. And he makes a number of mistakes while learning how to beat this course because, in general, video gaming's early history, games were shorter but took many tries to win, creating the illusion of a long experience. In this sense, Mario is learning to control himself.
    • The above also makes a lot of sense in Mario representing a newer player as the movie introduces a new audience the series who have very little experience in playing the games. Not only that but Mario has rarely been depicted with complete autonomy before, usually only acting on his own for the sake of tutorials or demonstration; while the player may be experienced in guiding Mario, Mario himself has yet to complete an entire adventure without player input.
• It might seem strange that Peach is so much more proactive here, considering that she has never been like this, even when she does take the fight to Bowser in the games she's playable in. Then you remember that Mario and Luigi are new to the Mushroom Kingdom, while Peach lived her whole life there. Chances are, she had to learn to defend herself and her people since she likely had no one to protect her and the Toads acknowledge that they're too soft and weak to defend themselves ("Look at us; we're adorable!").
  • As a matter of fact, she freely admits as much to Mario when he feels deflated on learning that she beat the obstacle course on her first try. She didn't struggle with it because she's been navigating the Mushroom Kingdom's Bizarrchitecture since she was a toddler.
  • Also, she aced the obstacle course on her first try not because "she's just that good" but because, dollars to doughnuts, she's the one who commissioned the course and had it built in the first place, so she'd already know the layout — it doesn't look like something the [nearly legless] Toads would've made for themselves.
  • Luigi being captured in Peach's place gives Mario more of an incentive to take on Bowser. Mario isn't saving a princess he barely knows, he's saving his brother. It's a journey to rescue family, making the adventure much more personal.
  • Plus, with Peach joining him on his journey, Mario will have more time to get to know Peach as a person as well, making this a win-win scenario.
  • Why did Bowser originally kidnap Princess Peach? Because she was the only person who can undo the evil curse Bowser inflicted upon her kingdom. If a sequel was ever made, Bowser's main reason for kidnapping Peach would be to try to prevent her from saving and defending her own kingdom.
• The movie has taken flak for failing to explore the romantic relationship between Mario and Peach. However, as noted above, Mario's driving motivation for most of the movie is rescuing his brother, who's been captured by an evil warlord. Under such circumstances, romancing a girl he's just met is literally going to be the last thing on his mind. Not to mention, at Peach's end, although Mario has certainly impressed her, and they've developed some rapport, she's far too concerned about saving her kingdom to be thinking about romance with a guy she's just met.
  • It also shows how Bowser is really his own worst enemy. Mario is not a love rival threatening to steal Peach away from him. He's just a platonic friend to her (for now) and is only accompanying her because Bowser has captured his brother and is threatening to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom that Peach loves. If Bowser had any sense, he would have given Luigi back to Mario, thereby sapping Mario's motivation and making a better impression on Peach, especially if he stopped his own campaign of conquest. But instead, Bowser constantly antagonizes Mario out of paranoia and envy, and not only did he unwittingly turn the once normal Mario Brothers into the Super Mario Brothers, but he might have also deepened the bond between Mario and Peach which is soon destined to blossom into romance.
  • It also provides a good contrast between Mario and Bowser. While Bowser is more upfront about his crush on Peach and willingly commits heinous actions just to woo her, repulsing her, Mario does not try to (intentionally) woo Peach and focuss more on rescuing his brother and saving the Mushroom Kingdom, all of which impresses Peach, who simply likes Mario for the kind, humble, and heroic man he is.
    • Another contrast between them is how their allies react to their interactions with Peach. The Koopas show reservations on Bowser wanting to marry Peach, with one of them reminding him that she hates him, and another one asking him what if she says no to his marriage proposal, plus Kamek blatantly lies that Bowser's doing great, despite Bowser doing otherwise. Mario's allies on the other hand show full support of him and Peach getting together in different ways, despite both Mario and Peach being unaware of their eventual feelings for each other; Toad sets the mood for Mario and Peach as they share a Held Gaze under the starry sky in the Fire Flower field, and says that a princess will go out with Mario, while Luigi shows his Big Brother Worship by answering Bowser's question on princesses finding Mario attractive with "They do if they have good taste!", while Donkey Kong seems to playfully tease Mario for flirting with Peach, and later smiles at them when they hold hands after reuniting.
• Something to note in relation to the love triangle above, Peach uses a power-up two times in the movie, and the power-ups that she uses are flower themed, and they are used when she is with the two characters who have feelings for her, Bowser and Mario. When she is with Bowser, she uses an Ice Flower to freeze him and to show him that she will never marry a monster like him. But when she is with Mario, she uses a Fire Flower while opening up to Mario about herself and her backstory, while subtly developing feelings for him. It’s like she’s giving Bowser the cold shoulder while being warm towards Mario. On a side note, she also force-feeds them mushroom power-ups for different reasons. With Bowser, she force-feeds him a Blue Mushroom, which shrinks him, so she can punish him for all the crimes he has done. But with Mario, she force-feeds him a Super Mushroom so she can help him overcome his shortcomings to rescue his brother.
• Relating to the above, there's the narrative balance struck between Mario, Bowser and Donkey Kong as the Hero, Villain, and Rival roles respectively. It is a common virtue of good writing that a foil and antagonist should reflect the protagonist in some way, otherwise there's no meaningful connective tissue in their conflict with each other. The film manages to stick the landing with this balance, and do so from a seemingly base, yet deeper to explore singular character trait:
  • As the default from which the other two play off of, Mario's most regarded character trait is his plucky can-do attitude, which when put under stress becomes an ironclad Determinator streak. Whether he's bullied, badgered, battered or beaten, Mario refuses to give up — not because of trying to obtain anything, but in the face of his values and what he most believes in. He has to succeed, he has to come out on top, giving up isn't an option even considered, but it's born from a place of love for what's most important in his life and a refusal to let it be taken away.
  • This leads to the Stock Shōnen Rival, Donkey Kong. When he and Mario fight, there's an Ironic Echo of one asking the other if they've had enough, with the other responding "not even close". Aside from being a direct lampshade, when Mario refuses to give up, it's because he still has fight in him and reason to fight. When he repeats this to Donkey Kong, DK is soundly beaten but refuses to admit it. This brings in the original meaning of Donkey Kong's name: Mario is driven by Heroic Willpower, but Donkey Kong is simply stubborn. They're both equally unwilling to give up, but whereas one has reason to win, the other is just too proud to lose. This creates precedent for DK to be antagonistic without being villainous, still a fundamentally good-natured individual. This also creates the most sense of narrative symbolism as to why he's the last one still fighting Bowser, but fails: he's just as dogged as Mario, but he lacks the drive the other two have, thus he just falls short of the film's leading men.
  • This brings us to Bowser, our Big Bad. Unlike Donkey Kong, his source of determination has an affirmative precedent to win, just as Mario does, thus he must take a counteractive position towards Mario's. Much the same as Mario, Bowser seeks out to achieve what he strives for, and will never back down in the face of opposition. Both demonstrate they won't so much as consider relenting, surrender, or compromise, they have to prevail. However, whereas Mario wants to hold onto what he already has and cherishes, Bowser seeks to claim what he desires from others. This brings them in direct collision with each other in an organic fashion. Mario and Bowser being largely an Unknown Rival from the other's perspective makes little difference, as what they both seek fundamentally oppose one another: Mario won't quit until he has what he needs, and Bowser won't quit until he has what he wants. Both are the most driven here, and neither stance can allow the other's to exist. They'll both be the last men standing from sheer refusal to go down, and they'll both stand in the other's way.
• Luigi's answer to Bowser's question on whether princesses like Peach find Mario attractive, "They do if they have good taste!", ended up ringing true as the film goes on. Mario turns out to have very good reasons why he would beat Bowser, even in getting the girl (even if it wasn't what he intended to do). Just by one look at Mario when they meet, and even though Peach judo flips him, she is immediately interested in him. And as the film goes on, she soon becomes charmed by Mario's heroic determination, kindness, as well as his sense of humor. Which culminates in when Mario invites her over to Brooklyn so he can buy her a pet turtle, she flirtatiously considers accepting his offer. In short, Peach does have good taste, and therefore she does find Mario attractive.
• Among the elaborate vehicles such as Toad's monster truck, Peach's motorcycle, and the Kongs' Buggies, Mario gets a simple go-kart. It seems funny at first until you remember that in the Mario Kart series, Mario tends to be a character with balanced stats, making him a character that's beginner friendly.
  • Go-karting has become a popular past-time for all ages so it's possible that Mario has actual experience with racing and chose a vehicle that he had experience with.
• During the SMB Plumbing commercial, Mario flicks a model van across a map of New York and Luigi quickly catches and places it on the Queens area. Not only does this display the shoddy nature of the advertisement, but we see the dynamic between the Bros.
  • In addition, Luigi prevents the toy van from landing on the Bronx: an infamously rough part of New York.
• Lumalee is seen as a captive in Bowser's dungeon, which might seem odd at first until you consider that Bowser is looking for the Super Star, so he might have thought the Luma might have been one or at least close in power to it.
  • In Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina explains that even after Lumas die, they are always eventually reborn from the stardust of the cosmos. This might be why the Luma has such a Dissonant Serenity over being captured and dying.
  • Back in Lumalee's home games, he could transform into one of a few items Mario needed provided, he had enough Star Bits. Knowing Bowser, he likely either paid Lumalee to turn into a Super Star and thought he got scammed when he couldn't, or didn't have the currency and kidnapped him in the hopes he'd eventually cave and do it for free.
• Several Kong-related realizations:
  • Why are the Kongs such a "technologically advanced" race, when they are mostly known for living in an unspoiled jungle? In the Donkey Kong Country series, Funky Kong is shown to be a technological genius who creates Bamboo Technology vehicles — a barrel plane in the first game for backtracking between levels, and a series of vehicles to unlock the world map in the third game. Also, the obscure Donkey Kong Barrel Blast^note aka Sex: The Videogame revolves around the players racing with Bamboo Technology jetpacks, whilst Diddy Kong (the only one who could use a Bamboo Technology jetpack in its debut game Donkey Kong 64) was the star of Diddy Kong Racing.
  • Cranky's insistence on a Trial by Combat to decide whether or not to lend aid to the Mushroom Kingdom wasn't due to his eccentricity, isolationism, or, err, Crankiness. He did it to test the martial abilities of Mario and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom leadership. After all, no just ruler would want to lend his army to a cause that had no chance of winning, and that had a high chance of getting lots of his troops killed or captured due to poor leadership. His adding power-ups to the arena was not only to ensure that the fight was fair and that Mario had a chance of winning but also to test Mario's ability to overcome a disadvantage with strategic use of the resources at his disposal, which would be the mark of a good commander.
  • Why do the Kongs have weaponized karts, and not the Mushroom Kingdom? It's not because the Mushroom People don't have the technology (Peach and Toad are comfortable driving motor vehicles); it's because the gorillas of the Jungle Kingdom are thrill-seeking adrenaline junkies, so of course they'll be familiar with modifying their karts with speed boosters, tricked-out weapons, and other unconventional equipment.
  • Donkey Kong's showboating behaviour. Firstly, it meshes with his archetype as the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Jerk Jock. Secondly, it emphasizes his status as a foil to Mario; whereas Mario is small, agile, quiet and humble, Donkey Kong is big, brutish, brash and arrogant. Finally, it acts as a Mythology Gag; in the Wii version of Punch-Out!!, where Donkey Kong appears as a Superboss, he is characterized as a big goofy showoff, to the point that defeating him requires the player to take advantage of his tendency to grandstand!
  • Why is Cranky Kong the king of the Kongs of Jungle Land? Firstly, it's an homage to Cranky and Donkey's status as the stars of the Donkey Kong video games. Secondly, it's an homage to the obscure CGI cartoon, in which Donkey Kong was the future ruler of the Kong people as guardian of the magical Crystal Coconut.
  • Mario and Donkey Kong end up as Vitriolic Best Buds because it highlights how the two originally began as hostile to each other in the games — the original Donkey Kong, now Cranky Kong, was the antagonist of the first Donkey Kong arcade game, whilst Mario was the antagonist in the second, where Donkey Kong Junior had to rescue his father from Mario. Despite that inauspicious start, Mario and the Kongs eventually made up, to the point that they would regularly play sports and games together. Mario and Donkey Kong start out as foes but warm up to each other over the movie, which reflects the progress of the games.
  • Why are Diddy, Dixie and Chunky Kong the only other Kongs from the Donkey Kong Country seen at the arena? Diddy is DK's best buddy, Dixie is Diddy's girlfriend, and together with Donkey Kong they make up the stars of the first three Donkey Kong Country games. The only oddity is Chunky, and even then, he makes sense; Dixie's sidekick from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Kiddy Kong, wouldn't be at the arena due to being too young... but Kiddy's big brother Chunky, from Donkey Kong 64, would be!
  • When trapped in the belly of the Maw-Ray, Donkey Kong complains about his dad not respecting him. This obviously homages the relationship Donkey and Cranky have in the games: whilst their precise biological relationship has never been set in stone, what has been is how they interact; Cranky Kong is constantly belittling and berating Donkey Kong, largely because he views him as an Inadequate Inheritor. Whilst this iteration of Cranky may be a lot more pleasant than usual, he's still obviously unimpressed with Donkey's ability to succeed him.
  • Another reason for Donkey Kong to be so rude is that his name's a Tactful Translation of "Jackass Gorilla."
  • This one is likely coincidental but there's actually real world biological backing for cat Mario being able to easily defeat DK. In real life, leopards are actually a natural predator to gorillas, with recorded cases of them bringing down full grown silverbacks.
• The Punch-Out!! references are not only because Little Mac, the protagonist, hails from the Bronx. It’s also a reference to how Mario was the referee in the NES game. Even earlier than that, Mario, Luigi, DK and DK Jr were present in the audience of the original arcade games.
• This film answers why the Mushroom Kingdom has no Mushroom King: the Toads themselves are, collectively. While they didn't appear to have a royal position when Peach first came to the kingdom, they raised Peach as one of their own as a group effort (as opposed to having a single dedicated retainer a la Toadsworth) and just as collectively crowned her themselves when they understood her proactiveness made her fit to lead. This also works as a joke on real-life fungi, as they're classified as their own separate (taxonomic) kingdom and can often be found in "colonies" of their own.
• Luigi appears to be perfectly adept at fighting the moment he gets a power-up, considering he had no training. There are two reasons for this: the first one is that he didn’t just get any power-up, but the Super Star. The second one parallels Mario representing the player having to try again. When a player gets an Invincibility Star, they're granted the temporary ability to sprint through the level without any fear of being harmed. Any enemies that get in their way are instantly taken out. Luigi represents the player throwing caution to the wind and being able to do anything.
• Another factor of Luigi being able to fight as well as Mario when they both get the Star power is simply how Power-ups work. With power-ups like the Cat Suit and the Tanooki Suit, Mario immediately learned how to use them, so it's likely that everyone just immediately learns the benefits of said power-up. The Star Man grants invincibility, Luigi had nothing to fear and follows Mario's lead.
• It might seem strange that Bowser gets so jealous of Peach training Mario, considering that reports hint that's only known him for a day at most. But then you remember Peach's sheer joy upon realizing Mario is human like she is. Meaning that, in Bowser's mind, there was a high chance Peach was going to fall in love with Mario simply because he's the first human that she's ever known other than herself.
  • This also explains why Peach is so quick to recruit Mario just after meeting him — she can tell immediately that Mario is not a Toad (who are completely defenseless), which means he's probably capable of fending for himself. She still has Mario run through the obstacle course to determine how capable he is, but the princess of a kingdom full of Perfect Pacifist People is undoubtedly desperate for anyone who can actually throw a punch.
  • It could be that Peach just wants to make sure the first human she's seen in years doesn't get himself killed. Mario's determination could only go so far and he likely wouldn't have lasted as long as he did had it not been for the obstacle course.
• Why was Toad technically the best possible option to go with Peach and Mario? He has experience exploring, possibly more than Peach. He's the one who found Mario and the first thing we see him do is warn Mario about a potential poison mushroom and expertly could traverse the mushroom plains on his own, so another expert wouldn't have hurt.
  • All this exploring is what helped Toad grow to be braver than most of his kind, something Peach herself knows is an extreme rarity. Sure she has guards who would defend the castle as best as they can, like chasing Mario, but it's clear that they go to their Princess for all the answers. Toad was the only one to actually willingly go with Peach and actively stay by her side.
• Mario going through Peach's obstacle course parallels playing a Mario game. Peach is an experienced player who knows all the ins and outs, so she can breeze through the level with style (and in an otherwise-impractical floor-length gown and high heels to boot). Mario is a first-timer. Naturally, he struggles and keeps having to retry many times. Mario slowly starts to learn the layout and how to deal with the various obstacles and enemies, eventually becoming skilled enough to (almost) make it through in style. This also doubles as demonstrating his Determinator attitude, which is exactly what you need to get good at a Mario game.
• Why was a dog the Mario Brothers' first adversary in the movie? Because one very common dog name is Bowser.
  • In addition, what game was the original Super Mario Bros. often packaged with? Duck Hunt which starred an annoying dog who was the closest thing to an antagonist in that game.
  • Also, Chain-Chomps were inspired by a dog that lunged at Miyamoto when he was a kid.
• Luigi is an Advertised Extra in the movie because in the original games, Luigi was just a Palette Swap of Mario and it wouldn't be until 2 that he gained his abilities with the N64 games giving him his understudy role and Luigi's Mansion that he gained his Cowardly Lion personality that we know and love.
• When Mario first comes to the Mushroom Kingdom, he sees a Toad selling an NES cartridge. But how did it get there? Most likely, it came through the same portal that Mario, Luigi, and Peach came through.
  • Which could explain why Toad was hanging around the Warp Pipe - chances are he was looking for displaced items to collect and sell for a living. His trademark frying pan could be one of these items he kept for himself.
• The use of popular 80’s songs for the soundtrack may seem out-of-place until you remember that Mario’s first appearance was in 1981.
• Several scenes deliberately invoke video games:
  • Mario and Luigi get through a construction zone early in the film are shot side-on, like a 2½D sidescrolling platformer level. Mario employs copious Le Parkour to get around, and Luigi methodically sneaks through.
  • Toad's commute through Toad Town invokes some of the later entries of the Mario games, with floating platforms and a warp-pipe maze.
  • Peach's training course is set up like a level from the later parts of a Mario game, with Spikes of Doom, a few fireball whip traps, and a bunch of Bullet Blaster turrets. Mario has a devil of a time getting the hang of it while Peach aces it, invoking the frustrations of a first-time player who just watched their elder sibling effortlessly complete a Death Course.
  • The Jungle Kingdom is based around a Wacky Racing game, more than likely Diddy Kong Racing, where everyone Drives Like Crazy and spectacular crashes are the norm, rather than a newsworthy event. Furthermore, Rainbow Road has its famous shortcut, where a driver can skip a good portion of the track by deliberately driving off it at a certain point.
    • On that note, the Bowser Baddies' armoured karts invoke a Darker and Edgier sort of wacky-racer, such as Carmageddon.
• The Koopa General being the infamous Spiny Shell makes a great deal of sense when you see just how he acts during the battle on Rainbow Road. Like the Spiny Shell, he bashes away every kart in his path as he makes his way to the lead kart, which happens to be Mario. He is relentless, not unlike the Spiny Shell. To own such an item known for ruining so many races requires a relentless, sadistic, and Ax-Crazy personality to match.
  • Plus, why does the Koopa General’s Spiny Shell form aim for Mario and Donkey Kong instead of Peach and Toad despite the latter two being ahead of them as seen in the How It Should Have Ended episode based on the movie, as well as the usual fact that Spiny Shells aim for the person in 1st place? Because the Koopa General targeted Mario and JUST Mario, since he was following Bowser’s orders to get rid of him, because he was seen by the King of the Koopas as someone who could steal Peach from him. Not to mention doing a Suicide Attack on the Princess Bowser was gonna marry would’ve landed the General in hot water…or hot lava if he was revived and brought to Bowser’s Castle to explain the change in targets.
    • Additionally, it could also double to Super Princess Peach’s Fridge Brilliance of Bowser ordering his Minions to not hurt Peach too badly since he loved her, despite him kidnapping her like crazy in the games.
    • Or even more simply: this isn’t a Grand Prix or VS Race, this is Battle Mode. And since Mario has the most onscreen knockouts ^note roughly four or five he gets the Blue Shell.
• Peach responds to a Toad asking who Mario is by saying "He's not important!" Sound a little harsh at first, but given that she's only just met Mario, she wouldn't have much information about him to properly answer the question, and likely just said what she did to keep the Toads from asking further questions about him.
• Bowser blasting the luckless Koopa who asked what he would do if Peach said no to him may look like a way to just shut him up, but he actually was giving a very direct answer to the question. Later on in the wedding, Bowser responded to Peach indeed rejecting him by attempting to spew fire at her.
• Luigi referencing Ghostbusters when they get their first call has another layer of humor to it when you remember he's the star of a series of games where he fights ghosts in a manner that directly homages the film.
• The two characters voiced by Charles Martinet; Giuseppe and Papa Mario are foils to each other in terms of how they interact with Mario. Giueseppe happily compliments the usage of Italian accents in the brothers commercial when Mario felt like it was too much. Meanwhile, Mario's dad dissuades Mario for quitting the brothers' previous job when Mario happily started his plumbing business.
• Bowser gets the Super Star and gloats that “no-one can stop (him)”. As it fades to black, we cut to the Super Mario Bros Plumbing commercial, starting with the famous opening notes to the Super Mario Bros theme. In the climax, Mario and Luigi get the Super Star and curb stomp Bowser and his entire army. Just as they deliver the finishing blows, the score features a triumphant orchestral reprise of the same first notes to the aforementioned theme. Bowser found out that his own beliefs were about to be contradicted.
• This might be some retroactive fridge for the games. In the games, despite seemingly having the ability to rescue herself (as demonstrated in Bowser's Inside Story and in games where she's a playable char), Peach is usually the Damsel in Distress. That might seem kinda weird, as why would an Action Girl like Peach need to be rescued? This movie shows how much she loves the Toads and the Mushroom Kingdom that she's even momentarily considered marrying Bowser to make sure they're safe. So, perhaps, in some of the games, she's a hostage because she's protecting her Toads by being one (and Bowser is less of phallus in the games than he is here). Some of this might also explain why she gets help from the Mario Bros. Bowser is just one enemy, the Koopa Kingdom is many enemies, so she can't escape alone.
• The way Mario and Luigi fight Bowser mirrors how they work together as partners in Super Mario Bros Plumbing. Mario works on the problem with Luigi assisting him, while Luigi is in charge of dealing with customer service (i.e. answering the phone in both the movie itself and the promotional voicemail). In the climax, Mario immediately charges into battle, taking down minions from the get-go. Luigi also has this goal in mind, but his priority is ensuring that civilians are protected, as shown when he saves Spike.
• Mario's aversion to mushrooms makes more sense when you take into account the negative effects he suffers whenever he gets too close to a Goomba.
• All it takes for Luigi to immediately know how to fight and later adapt to the Mushroom Kingdom is using a power-up. Why is it seemingly easier for him whereas Mario had to train? Because unlike Mario, Luigi likes mushrooms.
• Why is Bowser far viler in this movie than in the more recent games? Because Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings haven't appeared in this universe yet. Bowser may be cruel to his own regular henchmen, but he may be much kinder towards his son and his friends if they ever show up, since they're at the same level as him in terms of sheer villainy. But if they get defeated, Bowser snaps (since they, and marrying Peach, are the only things that do make him happy) and instantly reverts back to his far crueler personality in this movie.
  • Building on that, a lot of the Character Development Bowser got in later games like Super Mario Bros. 3, RPG, Super Paper Mario and Bowser's Inside Story hasn't happened yet either. The movie's setting is a mashup of Bowser's earliest villain days, and stuff like saving the Mushroom Kingdom or the entire universe from far worse villains would happen later. The inevitable sequel could easily have Bowser working to stop a worse villain like Dimentio, Cackletta or the Dark Star from destroying everything.
    • Although considering he crossed the Moral Event Horizon by forcing Peach to marry him under threat of destroying her kingdom and her people through Toad, tried to sacrifice all of his prisoners to a horrible death via lava, and tried to destroy her kingdom to spite her and Mario for foiling his wedding, all without remorse, there is a good chance that he will get Character Development, but in the worst way possible.
  • If Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings ever make an appearance later on in a sequel, since they're just as vile as Bowser himself, Adaptational Villainy or otherwise, their level of villainy would essentially cancel out Bowser's own.
• Why doesn't Bowser ever refer Spinies by their real names? Because those are technically Lakitu's pets.
• Why does Bowser eventually become more and more unhinged near the end of the movie, and then start going on a violent rampage when he is finally about to be defeated? Many video game bosses often tend to become more violent when they have only one unit of health left before being defeated by the player.
• After the final battle, Peach tells Luigi that he's "so brave". This observation is true, but from the princess' perspective, Luigi made an incredible first impression. She didn’t see Luigi run and hide the moment everyone was warped to Brooklyn, as she, Donkey Kong and Toad were buried under rubble. However, she did witness Luigi stand between a homicidal monster and his brother to protect him from being incinerated. She saw how this very action prevented Bowser from getting the Super Star and destroying both Earth and the Mushroom Kingdom. It was likely there that she realized exactly why Mario wanted her to help him rescue Luigi. Outside from Luigi being extremely important to Mario, he’s just as much a hero.
• Since Bowser is far crueler to his henchmen in the movie than in the games, this may explain why some games portray enemy characters as friendly NPCs: these are really enemies who have been fed up with Bowser's constant mistreatment of them for their constant failures and ultimately quit working for him. Meanwhile, the ones who remain loyal to him are competent enough for Bowser to treat them more kindly.
• By the end of the movie, Bowser harbours a grudge against everyone except for Toad. From a Doylist perspective, it’s because including him in the lyrics to Bowser's reprise of "Peaches" is too much of a Painful Rhyme at best and ruins the pacing of the song at worst. From a Watsonian perspective, it’s because for all Bowser knows, Toad did nothing to ruin his conquest. He couldn’t have known it was Toad who smuggled the Ice Flower to Peach. Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Peach on the other hand directly contributed to Bowser's downfall:
  • Mario not only took “Peach's affections” away from Bowser, but prevented his Bomber Bill from destroying her kingdom. All Mario cared about was saving his brother. Now that he had accomplished his goal, he saved the Mushroom Kingdom. This is why Bowser blames him for ruining his wedding. From his perspective, Mario was the reason Peach refused to marry Bowser.
  • Luigi began Bowser's paranoia about Peach by implying that princesses who have good taste love Mario. This was enough for Bowser to decide to execute him. After the wedding went up in smoke, Bowser was very close to using the Super Star to kill everyone. It was Luigi who ruined any chance he had of winning. His action allowed himself and Mario to get the Super Star and use its power to defeat Bowser and his entire army, something that no-one has ever accomplished.
  • Donkey Kong took down several of Bowser's soldiers and stopped the prisoners, his father and brethren among them, from being executed. This ruined a wedding “tradition”. His presence also means that Peach now has the support of the Kong Army should Bowser attempt a revenge attack.
  • Princess Peach not only refused his marriage proposal, but also contributed in saving the prisoners from being executed and contributed to his defeat by kicking the Super Star to Mario and shrinking him with a Blue Mushroom, plus to add insult to his injury, Bowser didn't see Mario run up to Peach, but rather the opposite; Peach ran up to Mario herself, catches his attention, and shows herself to be much happier with Mario than she'll ever be with Bowser. This meant that Bowser now holds a grudge against Peach and vows to make her his prisoner as revenge.

Fridge Horror

• On the tracking map, we see Princess Peach's magic map tracking Bowser's movements. It shows that the Penguin Kingdom has been utterly obliterated, with most of the landscape now being as volcanic and barren as Bowser's Kingdom. It is very, very likely that there were more penguins living beyond the castle.
• What did Bowser do to the imprisoned Lumalee, (a child, by the way), to make him want to die so badly?
• One of the original three reviews for Super Mario Bros Plumbing is made by Mario and Luigi's former boss, Foreman Spike, who is furious because they left his company and states that "they'll learn their lesson someday...". This leads to a bunch of questions, and it surely means that something bad happened. Since Foreman Spike was also a bad boss in his origin game Wrecking Crew (where he sabotaged and hindered his workers when they are doing their job) and the bros were tired of his attitude, as seen in their website, what exactly happened that led Mario and Luigi to resign? What exactly did Spike do to push them to their breaking point? Sabotage at work? His bad temper? The lack of safety measures? The overall toxic working environment? Did Spike's obnoxious behaviour and negligence result in work-related injuries? If something awful happened to Luigi during work because of this, it would all be Spike's fault, so it would give Mario a personal reason for wanting to quit that job, leading him to resign and cancel his and Luigi's contracts in protest as a result. Also, what Spike may even plan to do to the bros if he's so petty that he wants to get revenge on them for leaving his company to start their own?
• The Dry Bones as we all know are undead Koopa Troopas and are basically zombies and they are shown to clearly be here in this movie, but how did they die in the first place? Mario and Luigi couldn’t have dealt with them prior because this movie is an origin story where Mario and Luigi haven’t even been to the Mushroom Kingdom before, and yet Dry Bones are still clearly established to be around before they arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom as seen with Luigi running away from an entire horde of them. Could it be possible that Bowser killed all those Koopa Troopas for failing him, speaking out of line, or even not following his ideals of conquest? While the Bowser we know from the games is a caring ruler for his troops and would never even consider killing them for their failures, it is quite possible that this movie version is much worse towards his minions. In the movie proper, we actually see Bowser himself roast one of his minions who was out of line, immediately reducing him to his skeletal state.
  • This is even supported by the scene where Luigi is placed in a cage over a volcano and you can see Koopas and Dry Bones in the background in cages, and even a Goomba, if you look carefully. Apparently, some of his soldiers don't share his ideals of world conquest and got imprisoned as punishment because of it.
  • What supports this theory even more is that when Bowser burns that one Koopa Troopa and reduces him into a Dry Bones, not only do none of the other Koopas around him visibly react that strongly with the Koopa right beside the Koopa victim himself even giving him a "What did you honestly expect? Do you now see what happens when you question him?" gesture, but the Koopa Troopa victim himself doesn't seem visibly fazed by it either once he's turned into a Dry Bones, which heavily implies that Bowser burning his own minions alive is an extremely common occurrence that the Koopas have to deal with on the regular and are basically really used to it at this point.
• It's revealed that Peach originally arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant, and was raised by the Toads until she was crowned their Princess. If a child could easily wander into there, Peach was lucky that she was found by a friendly race rather than arrive in the Dark Lands. Furthermore, the possibility of her having parents in the human world is never mentioned, meaning that it's likely they never got closure about their daughter who went missing and never came back...
  • This also brings into question if Peach as an infant entered the Dark Lands instead of the Mushroom Kingdom, imagine how she could've ended up becoming like if she were raised by the evil Koopas instead of the good-natured and peaceful Toads... And the worst part is that we've seen just how dangerous adult Peach is when she's on the side of good so imagine that kind of power and skill on the side of evil...
• At the end of the film, Bowser is reduced to being a shrunken turtle trapped in a bird cage with only his tiny piano to give him comfort after being force-fed a mini mushroom. However, as we saw with Mario during his fight with Donkey Kong, being struck particularly hard will reverse the transformation. The moment someone decides to really let Bowser have it and punt him around may end up inadvertently undoing his current condition, allowing him to wreak havoc again.
  • Not to mention that Bowser's cage appears to be made of just thin metal, while he has a significantly powerful Breath Weapon. Better hope that that metal is stronger than it looks...
  • Another thing? Bowser was fighting Mario in Brooklyn during the climax. Now that he knows that there is a whole other world beyond the pipes, will he set his sights on Earth if he escapes?
  • Even though Bowser might be a prisoner, his minions aren't. Kamek himself can rally an attack against the Mushroom Kingdom, and may also be a contributor to breaking out Bowser (remember that he was pivotal in swiftly reducing the penguin's defences to scrap?). And that doesn't even go into the future possibility of Bowser Jr. or the Koopalings. We know how devoted his minions are to his cause, they may be just as dangerous, even if their leader isn't present.
• The Snifit that leads the group of Shy Guys and brings the captured Luigi to Bowser actually speaks to the Koopa King and is revealed to have a very Creepy High-Pitched Voice. Just what exactly is behind that gas mask of his?
• The Koopa General reveals that he's actually the infamous Blue Shell and bombs Mario and Donkey Kong's cart. He doesn't appear afterwards, indicating we got a suicide bomber in a Mario movie. Not only did the filmmakers get away with a kamikaze attack, but this raises some very disturbing questions about Bowser's army, which already got a hefty dose of Adaptational Villainy and Darker and Edgier. We've seen how devoted they are to their leader, and some are willing to die for it. Not to mention that Bowser doesn't seem to give a damn over his own soldier giving up his own life just to do what he orders said soldier to do.
• While Mario and Luigi are travelling in the space in between Warp Pipes, we can see other Warp Pipe endings, presumably from other places on Earth or maybe even other planets/dimensions. When the Bomber Bill exploded there, it caused a massive explosion in both Brooklyn and the Mushroom Kingdom. Even if the Bill only exploded in the path between Brooklyn to the Mushroom Kingdom, given how big the explosion was, certain other areas may have been bombed.
• The Koopas are shown to have Karts that launch various missiles, including Green Shells. Since the Koopa General was revealed to be the Blue Shell, the Koopas are essentially using each other as living weapons, even though that means that they will explode on impact.
  • Worse yet, did they willingly agree on it? ^note  Then again, it's been established in previous games that the shells are removable accessories, so that might not be the case.
• During the wedding sacrifice, the two prisoners who looked particularly close to the lava at first glance were Cranky and Luigi. While Cranky was able to get out with his cage unscathed by the lava when Donkey Kong pulled the dropping mechanism back, Luigi's cage was half-submerged, and he even loses his grip after trying to climb on top of his cage. There were so many opportunities and variables in which rescue would have arrived too late to save them.
  • After the blue shell attack, Donkey Kong blames Mario for dragging him and the other Kongs into this situation, which is a harsh but justified accusation, since the Kongs agreed to help the Mushroom Kingdom because Mario made a deal with King Cranky, DK's father: he would only give his army in support of whoever manages to defeat his son in an arena match, and right after they fell off Rainbow Road, all the other Kongs, including Cranky, got captured by Bowser's army and are about to be executed during Peach's forced marriage to Bowser, with would leave Mario indirectly responsible for their imprisonment and possible deaths, since he dragged everyone in his personal mission and thus put his people in mortal danger. Donkey Kong's cocky and overconfident demeanor and braggart persona start to reveal themselves as a mask he uses to hide the deep internal insecurities he has due to his strained relationship with his father, who hates his attitude and sees him as joke because of it, thus, unworthy of being his successor to the throne, which is his birthright as the prince of the Jungle Kingdom. However, judging by Cranky's behaviour when they arrive at the broken part of Rainbow Road where the Blue Shell attack occurred, he believed that he had lost his son, thinking that he was either killed on impact by the explosion or had died from falling down thousands of feet off the sky. Cranky would have died leaving DK to question whether his father loved him in his lifetime, not to mention the pressure of ruling the kingdom after returning home as a failure and with his confidence at an all-time low, knowing that since he failed in saving his friends and family, he had let his people down.
  • Mario's scenario would be much, much worse. His entire journey in the Mushroom Kingdom was to rescue Luigi, and went through hell and back, fighting tooth and nail, to rescue his little brother, something that he reminds everyone about multiple times through the entirety of the second third of the movie. When he manages to save Luigi just in time and they reunite, Mario seems like he's about to cry at any moment. Imagine doing everything you could imagine to reunite with your relative, only to reach them just a moment too late to prevent their death. To make matters worse, before he was presumed dead, Peach and Toad were with him during their journey across Rainbow Road to Bowser's Castle, and after everyone else get captured the latter gets then tortured by Bowser and Kamek, forcing Peach to agree to marry Bowser while everyone is set to be executed, including the already captured Luigi. If Mario failed to reach Bowser's Castle in time, it would mean that all he did to save his brother, including his training, all his misadventures, enduring the beatings he gets from either the world around him or a fully grown gorilla and fighting against Bowser's army, was all in vain. The guilt of not being able to save Luigi and seeing him die with his own eyes would haunt Mario for the rest of his life. While he does manage to save him, it's clear that if he came just a moment later, he would have lost his younger brother forever, and if almost losing him would cause him to get traumatized, resulting in recurring nightmares of losing Luigi, separation anxiety and becoming overprotective of him, it wouldn't be surprising.
  • What makes this even worse is that the reason Mario and Luigi got separated was because the former insisted on taking him to the sewers to fix the broken valve that was causing a flood so that they can prove themselves to everyone despite Luigi's reluctance, which not only would make him indirectly responsible for what happened to him and the other prisoners that are about to be executed, but since he has a difficult relationship with his father, who always criticizes his stubborn nature, his reckless and risky decisions and his involvement of his brother in all of this, which was the last thing he said to Mario and it offended him not a little, it would mean that he was right when he thought of him as a reckless fool. How can he face his family, especially his father, after the tragedy?
  • Bowser intending to dunk the prisoners as wedding sacrifice is bad enough, but when Peach rejects him at the altar and helps rescue the prisoners, he orders a Bomber Bill to destroy her kingdom. Which makes her forced wedding to Bowser much more like a Sadistic Choice; either she marries him and let the prisoners die or have her kingdom and her people destroyed.
• While it was in the heat of the moment and there wasn't a lot of time to think straight, Mario dealing with the Bomber Bill very likely had other casualties in Brooklyn. While redirecting the Bomber Bill in the Warp Zone did prevent the Mushroom Kingdom's destruction, the detonation halfway across dimensions resulted in a lot of elements from the Mushroom Kingdom getting warped to Brooklyn, including Bowser's fortress. While Mario was able to save the Mushroom Kingdom from obliteration, sadly that same effort probably resulted in a lot of damage and casualties in Brooklyn though Mario's not entirely the one to blame.
• The Bomber Bill was a major destructive force equivalent to that of a nuke, so how powerful is the even larger King Bill?
• Mario and Luigi’s father giving Mario the unfavorite treatment is another way that Mario and Luigi are Foils. Plus, their being called The Mario brothers implies that their last name is Mario. This implies their parents only came up with a name for Luigi and left Mario with just the family name.
• While the "warp zone" is impressive in its own right, how many other worlds are connected? And what would happen if a governmental organization, an oil company or other business or group discover that there are whole other worlds beyond Earth with untapped natural resources?
• During the climax in Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi use the power of the Super Star to completely curb-stomp Bowser and his entire army into oblivion and proceed to destroy his entire castle fortress showcasing just how much more powerful the user becomes when using the Super Star. Now imagine just how dangerous, powerful, and unstoppable Bowser would be if he actually used the power of the Super Star instead...
  • Its also worth noting that Bowser in this movie is already very powerful in just his base form and also very Ax-Crazy, who's to say that he wouldn't use the newfound godlike power that the Super Star grants him to completely destroy Brooklyn in its entirety?
• King Boo makes a surprise cameo appearance by attending Bowser and Peach's forced wedding. However, after Peach rejects Bowser and quite literally puts the Koopa King on ice, the rest of Bowser's army attack Peach for freezing their king except King Boo who doesn't do anything and is still even shown smiling (King Bob-Omb also doesn't do anything, but that's mainly because he had fallen asleep and didn't even notice Peach freezing Bowser). This implies that King Boo doesn't truly give a damn about Bowser and possibly had plans of betraying him before. This would fit well going into his Luigi's Mansion (Series) appearance if a possible Luigi's Mansion movie happening is to be believed.
  • What if a potential sequel decides to expand on King Boo's character and he undergoes either Adaptational Jerkass and/or Adaptational Villainy like Bowser? Good chances are that this version of King Boo will be much, much worse...
• Bowser says to Peach that he will be sacrificing all his prisoners for their wedding "in her honor". This raises many questions as to whether or not it's a regular tradition in the Koopa hierarchy to sacrifice prisoners during weddings.
• Luigi hides in an abandoned, crumbling castle only to be ambushed by the Shy Guys and captured. The castle is in Bowser's kingdom but is in total disrepair unlike his own flying fortress. Why? It could be it's just an old castle he doesn't need anymore. Alternately it could be the castle of another kingdom he destroyed which would imply the Dark Lands was once a normal place and he did the same thing to it he did to the Penguin Kingdom.
  • So it's Ruined Kingdom?
• While the only power-ups shown in the movie are the Red and Blue Mushrooms, Fire and Ice Flowers, Super Leaf, Super Star, and the Super Bell (offscreen), there is one power-up that isn't shown that is a whole new can of worms if it exists in this universe: the 1-UP mushroom. While they're only used by Mario and the crew in the games, imagine what someone could do when they get their hands on one and cheat death, especially someone like Bowser or his army.
• Bowser intending to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom with what's essentially a nuke because Peach refused to marry him is horrifying enough, but it gets even worse when you realize that Bowser's fortress was not just IN the Mushroom Kingdom when the order was given, but was mere meters away from the Bomber Bill's intended target, Peach's Castle. In other words, Bowser would've likely ended up killing himself and his entire army (as well as Peach, the Mario Brothers, Toad, the Kongs, the Penguins, and Lumalee). Depending on if Bowser himself realized this, it might have been a case of Taking You with Me.
• If you look very closely at the city skyline background briefly seen during the Mario Bros. Pluming commercial, you can actually see One World Trade Center among the various skyscrapers making up Manhattan's skyline. Which means that 9/11 may have actually occurred at one point in this universe...
• What would probably want to make Bowser think that marrying Peach would be the only thing that would make him happy, although at the threat of him destroying her kingdom if she ever refuses?
• Given how intense Bowser's Villainous Breakdown and Unstoppable Rage was during the final battle, now that his wedding has been ruined (which he thinks would make him happy), what would probably happen if Mario and friends thwarted the only other thing that would make Bowser happy- in this case, defeating the rest of his family members first, particularly his own son and his friends the Koopalings, should they ever appear in a sequel? Since Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings are the only ones left to keep Bowser happy and allow him to retain what's left of his sanity...

Fridge Sadness

• It is a happy ending for all, both on Earth and in the Mushroom Kingdom, except for the penguins. On the Fridge Horror tab, Peach's map displays the Ice Kingdom (or another name of a similar nature) in complete smouldering ruin. Even though they're free from their cages, it's the complete epitome of You Can't Go Home Again.
  • However, the penguins are a proud and strong people. They will likely rebuild... and as building materials go, snow and ice are fairly cheap.
    • While they can probably rebuild their castle, that doesn't change the fact that many of their people are likely dead from the Koopa Troop's attack.
• Mario and Luigi's family must have been worried sick while they were in the Mushroom World. They were gone for at least 2 to 3 days (night when the brothers went in the sewers to fix a valve when Brooklyn was getting flooded and they were separated, though it was daytime in the Mushroom Kingdom when Mario ended up here, night when Mario did the obstacle course, day when Mario finished the obstacle course, night in the Fire Flower fields, day when they reach the Jungle Kingdom, night during the Rainbow Road battle, and day during the "wedding"). Although that's only if the Mushroom World and Earth follow the same rules of time, and Year Inside, Hour Outside or Year Outside, Hour Inside are not abided by.
  • Papa Mario's scenario is especially bad. His last conversation with Mario was not a positive one: in his own way, he calls him a reckless fool for leaving his old job and accuses him of dragging Luigi in his messes. Mario's last words with him before the brothers end up in the Mushroom World are sarcastic thanks. Then, that same night, both Mario and Luigi suddenly leave home without saying anything to their parents or the rest of the family to fix a broken valve in the sewers because it was causing a flood in Brooklyn, and they never come back. Realistically, it would put Papa Mario in a situation where he realizes that his sons went missing after the disagreement he had with Mario at dinner and that he went out with Luigi to fix said valve to stop the flood because he wanted to prove himself to him and get his approval, causing him to feel guilty for his lack of support, understanding and trust in his eldest son.
    • The scene where Mario and Donkey Kong bond about their difficulties in earning their respective fathers' support and approval after getting eaten by the Maw-Ray shows that Mario takes his father's criticism hard, thinking that he sees him as a joke that only messes everything up and involves Luigi in his failures and humiliations.
  • It was already bad that Mario and Luigi's first day on their new job was a disaster because the client's dog attacked them and prevented them to do their job properly just because Luigi accidentally stepped on his favourite bone, but this causes Mario to feel humiliated in front of his entire family and fed up of not being taken seriously. Even worse? They're "BrKLnCouple", one of the original three reviews. With their 2-star review (they only did 2-star because Francis "loved" the Bros.), Spike's spiteful 1-star review, and Mama Mario's 5-star review (2 + 1 + 5 = 8 / 15 = 53.3 average rating at the time), talk about a rough start...
• Crossing with some Heartwarming, the fact that Cranky encourages DK to do his pec-flex can be considered a well-hidden case. When a person believes someone they care deeply about has died and then finds out later they're alive after all, the relief tends to result in a potential variety of reactions. One possibility is a new appreciation for the loved one's quirks, even ones that may have been seen as annoying. Cranky reacted to DK's pec-flexing back in the arena with utter exasperation. The fact he encourages it after DK saves all the prisoners from ending up in the lava not only is praise for DK's heroics, but also a subtle show of just how relieved Cranky is to see DK alive.

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