The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Mario Bros. | Mushroom Kingdom | Dark Lands | Everyone Else
Everyone not associated with another faction in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
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Brooklyn, New York City
Pauline
Pauline
Voiced by: Jessica DiCiccoForeign VAs
The Mayor of New York.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Pauline has a long history with Mario in the games, being his first-ever love interest in the original Donkey Kong. In the film’s continuity, it’s apparent that the two have never met.
- Blatant Lies: She claims that the city's sewer problem on the streets is under control while geysers of water are erupting from the ground.
- The Cameo: She shows up on a news report, addressing a large flooding problem in the city's streets.
- Demoted to Extra: Whenever she appeared in the games, she either had a main role (Donkey Kong and Mario vs. Donkey Kong) or a supporting role (Super Mario Odyssey). She also appeared frequently in the newer sports games. Here, she only has a small cameo in the first act.
- Minor Major Character: She holds a very important position as the mayor of New York City yet has very little presence within the movie.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Her reaction when the worsening flood disproves her assurance that it's under control. On live TV, too.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: She is still the mayor of a big city like in Super Mario Odyssey, but is instead the mayor of New York City in a separate world rather than New Donk City being in the Mushroom Kingdom's world.
- Spear Carrier: She only appears in one scene shown on TV addressing the flooding problem.
Foreman Spike
Foreman Spike
"Get this through your tiny brain, Mario. You're a joke, and you always will be."
Voiced by: Sebastian ManiscalcoForeign VAs
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Brooklyn's favorite failures, the Stupid Mario Brothers!"
Mario and Luigi's former boss, and the owner of Wrecking Crew.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: In the games, Spike's color scheme ranges from yellow, orange or khaki to purple. His outfit is blue in the film, likely to avoid confusion with Wario or Waluigi.
- Adaptational Name Change: In Japan, he was always known as “Blacky” in the games. However, he’s renamed “Spike” in the Japanese dub of this movie, precedenting his name being officially changed to "Spike" in the games as well.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed, but nothing suggested that he actively tried to have the Mario Brothers killed when they worked for him, and he never worked for Bowser here. After seeing them save Brooklyn against Bowser and the Koopas, he happily cheers them on along with the civilians.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: He allied himself with Bowser in Wrecking Crew '98, but here, when Bowser attacks Brooklyn, not even Spike is safe from his rampage.
- Art Evolution: Compared to other characters who are based on either modern appearances or promotional artwork, Spike's appearance is a translation of his 8-bit sprite to modern graphics, with similar color shades and a thicker beard.
- Beard of Evil: More rude than outright evil, but Spike has a distinctly bushy beard that completes his boorish image.
- The Bus Came Back: This movie is Spike's first non-cameo appearance in a very, very long time. His last appearance was in Mobile Golf, which was released in Japan in 2001, 22 years before this movie.
- Dirty Coward: Spike enjoys picking on Mario and Luigi, who are both much smaller than him. Also, when Bowser’s army comes to the human world and some of his minions gang up on Spike, he cowers in fear and doesn’t even try to fight back, even though the minions were smaller than him.
- Evil Is Petty: He's not genuinely evil, simply by writing a negative review on the Mario Bros.' website out of spite, but his reason for doing so has nothing to do with the service but because Mario and Luigi "deserted" his business. Also, right before Mario battles Bowser in New York, he apprehends Mario for almost denting his truck after nearly running him over.
- It's All About Me: During the climax when Mario warps back to Brooklyn, he nearly hits Mario with his van and manhandles him for almost denting it (albeit Mario did appear with almost no warning), never mind Mario would've been dead or injured from the impact.
- Jabba Table Manners: He slurps down a whole pizza slice without chewing it.
- Jerkass: Spike antagonizes Super Mario Bros. Plumbing and leaves a negative review on their website because the founders left his employ. In the film proper, he mocks and antagonizes them at the pizzeria for leaving his business and questions if they had even found work, even physically squaring up when Mario has had it with his nasty attitude before leaving them be.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he's a massive bully to the Mario Bros, he still remembers to pay as he's leaving the restaurant and is the one who starts the cheers for them after they save Brooklyn.
- Kick the Dog: He leaves a negative, 1-star review on the Bros.' website that says nothing about their plumbing business all so he can berate them for leaving his business. There were only three reviews when the website first launched.
- Malicious Misnaming:
- He calls Mario and Luigi the "SUBPAR Mario Bros" in his review on their website, clearly angry that they quit working for him to go into business for themselves.
- He also calls them the “Stupid Mario Bros.” when they run into him at the pizzeria. However, at the end, he does actually call them the "Super Mario Bros".
- Manchild: Has the personality of a schoolyard bully despite being a full grown man with a Foreman job.
- Mean Boss:
- According to the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing website, the Mario Bros. got so tired of his "spiky" behavior that they ended up quitting and starting their own business. He was so angry about them quitting that he gave them a bad review on their website.Spike: There's no loyalty w/ mario and luigi!!! The SUBPAR Mario Bros used to wrk for me until they decided to break off and start there own bussines... theyll learn their lesson someday...
- Subverted when Spike decides to update his review after the Mario Brothers save Brooklyn.Spike: the SUBPAR Mario Bros somhow managed to save Brooklynn… so i’m officiallly bumpin my review from 1 Star to 1 & a Half.
- According to the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing website, the Mario Bros. got so tired of his "spiky" behavior that they ended up quitting and starting their own business. He was so angry about them quitting that he gave them a bad review on their website.
- Meaningful Name: His name is Spike and he's a real Jerkass. Mario and Luigi even acknowledge it by saying his personality while working for him was "spiky".
- Miles Gloriosus: He acts extremely macho and tough when dealing with people smaller and weaker than him, such as the Bros, but is left cowering in fear when some of Bowser’s minions attack him during the final battle and has to be saved by Luigi.
- Noodle Incident: While it's known that the bros quit working for him due to his "spiky behaviour", the exact things he'd done to them are never revealed.
- Pet the Dog: He's the one to lead the cheer for the Mario Brothers after they save the day.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: The angry review he leaves on their website contains numerous spelling and grammar errors. At the very least in the movie itself, he pronounces his words correctly.
- Sinister Shades: He wears a set of highly reflective, single lens sunglasses that immediately signify that he's an asshole.
- Sinister Schnoz: His character emblem, first shown in the cast reveal video in 2021 and later seen as his user profile picture on the SMB Plumbing website, depicts him with a big and pointy nose, and the website indicates that he's a jerk who mistreated the Bros. when they worked for him and continues to antagonize them for leaving. Contrasted quite noticeably with the brothers' more benevolent-looking button-noses.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Despite being among the first characters that appears in the movie, he did not appear in a single piece of promotional material (barring a non-physical reference on the SMB Plumbing website).
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: He gets angry finding the Mario Brothers in the same pizzeria he's in (Punch-Out Pizzeria) and instigates a fight with them insulting their lack of business but ultimately decides he refuses to stay there and walks away from his pizza only a quarter-way eaten and briskly throws cash at it.
- Thin-Skinned Bully: Despite trying to present himself as a strong macho man willing to manhandle Mario, he is frightened by even Bowser's weakest smallest minions and he lets them jump on him as he cowers in fear.
Woman from Commercial
Woman from Commercial
"Thank you, Super Mario Bros! It seems like the only thing you haven't drained, is my bank account...?"
Voiced by: Jessica DiCicco Foreign VAs
A woman who acts inside the Super Mario Bros. commercial as their customer.
- Bad "Bad Acting": When she's reading prompted lines during the commercial, she squints at them, reads them in a stilted manner, and then shrugs incredulously. Additionally, her line suggests she's checking her bank account on her phone, but the screen clearly shows that's not the case.
- Canon Foreigner: A character made exclusively for this movie.
- No Name Given: Her name is not known, told, or given to us.
- Spear Carrier: She only appears in a single scene where she delivers her line for the brothers' commercial.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: In the commercial, she reads her prompted lines with a confused expression, no doubt finding them cheesy.
Mario and Luigi's Family
Mario Brothers' Family
"Hey-ohhhhh!"
Father voiced by: Charles Martinet (English, Canadian and EU French, Italian, EU Spanish, German)Foreign VAs
Mother voiced by: Jessica DiCiccoForeign VAs
Uncle Tony voiced by: Rino RomanoForeign VAs
Uncle Arthur voiced by: John DiMaggioForeign VAs
Aunt Marie voiced by: Foreign VAs
Grandfather voiced by: Foreign VAs
Mario and Luigi's family members.- Adaptational Nice Guy: The Mario Bros.'s mother is far more supportive than the Control Freak she was in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the movie, we finally get to see Mario and Luigi's family like their mother and father (along with additional relatives) instead of leaving their family status vague (in the original games, their mother and father only have appeared briefly at the end of the Yoshi's Island games, though their faces aren't seen) or non-existent (the additional relatives haven't appeared or been mentioned whatsoever in the games thus far).
- Ascended Extra: The parents, compared to The Faceless versions seen in the Yoshi's Island games. Here, we actually get to see them in the flesh, and they're much more characterized than their game counterparts.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Papa Mario appears to be older than his two brothers, being the only one with adult children and significant hair loss, so naturally he looks very similar to Mario while his brothers look extremely similar to Luigi.
- Brutal Honesty: When asked directly by Mario what he thinks about their ad, the father says he thinks their decision is nuts.
- Canon Foreigner: In the games’ canon, Mario and Luigi don’t have any known family members aside from their parents, though they were alluded to in other Western media like Super Show.
- Canon Immigrant: Uncle Tony was mentioned in a segment of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. What makes it likely that this is a conscious reference instead of just the mutual use of a common Italian name is that the show alluded to him taking more than his fair share of food during family meals, which is exactly how he behaves in the film.
- Casting Gag:
- Charles Martinet, Mario and Luigi’s voice actor in the games, plays their father in this film.
- The other family members are played by voice actors whose last names indicate Italian heritage.
- Disapproving Look: Everyone gives the father one after he insensitively hurts Mario's feelings by saying that Mario drags Luigi into reckless decisions by fulfilling a dream he finds "crazy".
- Dope Slap: Aunt Marie lightly slaps Uncle Arthur for making Mario and Luigi a laughingstock, prompting a "what did I do?" reaction from him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur make fun of Mario and Luigi’s commercial during dinner, as well as using coordinated outfits and white work gloves as a trademark of their business. However, when their father tells Mario he's dragging Luigi down with him for his “crazy dream” (along with deeming him a disappointment), making him storm off to his room, both of his brothers give him looks of disapproval along with the rest of the family, showing that even they knew that he went too far with his words.
- Exact Words: The mother's review on the SMB Plumbing website says that SMB Plumbing "treated me like family" — because she is family.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Downplayed - Mario and Luigi's father is skeptical of their plans to start their own plumbing business, but he doesn't do anything to try and stop them and only gives his opinion when asked outright.
- Good Parents: The mom's review on her sons' website was the only five-star review when the website launched, and she talks about how polite and professional they are, as well as them being adorable and treated her like family (when she is family). It's clear as day how biased she is, but it shows just how much she cares. She's also the only relative wholly supportive of their dream at the dinner table.
- Innocently Insensitive: Their father didn't mean to hurt Mario's feelings when he told him that his refusal to give up was a cause of trouble and tells him in the process that he's dragging Luigi down with him, even asking what he said when Mario storms off and the rest of the family gives him disapproving looks for offending him.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Despite some of the family making Mario and Luigi's plumbing business the laughing stock at dinner, they aren't wrong when they said quitting their day jobs and dumping their entire life-savings on a dream of becoming working-class heroes (and with a cheap low-quality commercial for good measure) was a very risky move, and Papa Mario and his brothers were worried about their situation.
- The father did hurt Mario's feelings when he admonished his son's refusal to give up and accused him of "dragging [his] brother down with [him]", but since his actions would later result in Luigi being kidnapped, imprisoned and almost killed, his concerns aren't unfounded.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur keep poking fun at the Bros. for their struggling business, but they come off as more playful and didn't like their brother's harsher criticisms of them when Mario gets offended and leaves dinner. They also cheer for the Bros. after the two save Brooklyn.
- Mario and Luigi's father was quite critical of their decisions, but he didn't mean to hurt Mario's feelings when reprimanding him and is only stern because he's worried about their future. He also doesn't hide how proud he is when they save Brooklyn at the end of the film.
- Large Ham: Both uncles spend almost all of their screentime being purposefully loud and obnoxious.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The mother praises the song used during their plumbing ad, saying it should belong in a movie.
- Lookalike Lovers: The brothers' parents both look a lot like them, particularly Mario, being short, round, blue-eyed, and brunette.
- Multigenerational Household: Three of them, with nine members in total.
- Mythology Gag:
- The father resembles Talon, the Mario lookalike from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. His brother Arthur likewise resembles Ingo, the Luigi lookalike.
- Uncle Tony was one of the Mario Bros.' relatives mentioned in the Super Show episode "Glasnuts", where he was recalled as a Big Eater.
- According to the directors, the aunt's name is Marie. In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Luigi mentions an Aunt Maria in the episode "Crimes R Us".
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: For Nice, you have the mother, who's nothing but supportive of her sons' dream, and Aunt Marie, who slaps her husband for insulting them. For Mean, there's the Bros.' uncles for making fun of them, and their father, who thinks their plumbing business is a "crazy dream". For the In-Between, there's the grandfather and niece, who don't have anything to add to the dinner conversation, being a Scatterbrained Senior and a Phoneaholic Teenager, respectively.
- No Name Given: While some like Tony and Arthur are identified via the credits, the bros.' parents, aunt, and cousin go unnamed in the film. According to the directors
, their aunt is named Marie. The family name is also not revealed. While the Super Show includes a niece named Marilyn, there's no way to know whether or not the niece in the movie is meant to be an adaptation of the same character. - Parental Favoritism: The father appears to favor Luigi, as he initially chastises Mario for "bringing [his] brother down with [him]" when he brings up why they left their old jobs. He comes around after seeing Mario's heroics during the finale.
- Parents as People: Mario and Luigi's father clearly loves them both and is worried about their future, but he is also clearly shown to not be able to see when his words genuinely hurt his eldest son and generally seems oblivious to how his criticisms offend him and how they affect him. He is critical of their decision to start their own company after resigning from their old job, and even though he only does this out of concern, his sternness causes Mario to take his criticism hard due to his lack of support for them to the point of misinterpreting his concerns as him thinking that he's a joke.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: While her age isn't revealed, their cousin, the youngest member of the family, is constantly seen on her phone. She is seen looking down at it for the entirety of dinner and uses it to take a picture of the aftermath of the battle in Brooklyn.
- Rambunctious Italian: Most of the family fit this archetype to an extent, with the notable exception of the niece/little cousin who is a moody teenager who barely emotes and never says anything.
- Remake Cameo: The Mario Bros.' dad is voiced by the most well-known voice actor for Mario himself.
- Reused Character Design: Apparently, the character designs for the family were made by Nintendo's own artists and are many years old; presumably, they were considered to be included in the game series somehow, but this never ended up coming to fruition.
- Scatterbrained Senior: The grandfather doesn't seem to be all there anymore, needing to be fork-fed, biting into the fork despite the spaghetti already having fallen off of it and not showing any hint of interest in the dinner conversation.
- So Proud of You: After the final battle, the father tells Mario he was amazing, and then happily declares "These are my boys!" to the whole cheering crowd.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- All the men have the same style of mustache.
- The larger, rounded nose shape is a trait of all members of the family, even the ones who married in.
- The two uncles look almost identical to Luigi aside from their hair and mustaches, especially Arthur, whose only difference is his more pronounced chin, with dad's resemblance to Mario not far behind. Not coincidentally, the three of them are brothers per an interview with the art directors and Papa Mario is heavily implied to be the oldest.
- Unnamed Parent: The mom and dad are among the unnamed members of the family.
- Unseen No More: While Mario and Luigi's parents have been known to exist since 1995, their presence had never amounted to more than a brief, faceless cameo at the end of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (or rather, technically, its sequel) before their surprise appearance in the film.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The cousin spends nearly all of her screentime tapped out on her phone while her dad loudly makes fun of Mario and Luigi's commercial.
Francis the Dog
Francis
A dog that botches Mario and Luigi's first onscreen job.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He whimpers as Mario and Luigi are hoisting him back up to his owner's bathroom with a plunger, essentially begging them to save him.
- Ax-Crazy: Is pretty vicious, almost mauling Mario and Luigi just because the latter stepped on his favorite bone.
- Berserk Button: All it takes for Francis to go from a lovable Golden Retriever to a vicious, relentless dog out for blood is seeing his favorite bone accidentally stepped on by Luigi.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: Francis tries to maul the bros simply because Luigi (and only Luigi) broke his favorite bone by accident. However, this is subverted after they save Brooklyn, whereupon he drops the grudge.
- Canon Foreigner: A character made exclusively for this movie.
- Death Glare: He delivers these twice in the movie. He first gives one to Luigi after the man in green accidentally steps on and in-turn breaks the dog's favorite bone. He then gives another one to both of the Mario Bros. when he confronts them in the bathroom.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His whole reason for attacking and attempting to maul the Mario brothers and, in-turn, indirectly sabotaging and ruining their entire plumbing business in the first place? Because Luigi accidentally broke his favorite bone.
- Dog Stereotype: Completely and utterly inverted; he's a Golden Retriever, but his actual personality is the complete opposite of what Golden Retrievers are typically portrayed as.
- Expy: Francis somewhat resembles Doug from UP. If Doug were petty and vicious.
- Fatal Flaw: Pettiness. He attempts to maul Mario and Luigi over the latter accidentally stepping on his bone. His attempt to lunge on them causes him to accidentally jump out of the bathroom window after the brothers ducked out of the way. Had they not narrowly saved him, he would've fallen to his death.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He accidentally jumps out of his owners' bathroom window after Mario and Luigi duck out of the way of him lunging towards them. Fortunately, they save him by using a plunger to grab him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is a vicious dog, but after The Mario Bros. save Brooklyn, he nods at them in respect.
- Karma Houdini: He's responsible for the Mario Bros. accidentally wrecking their first client's bathroom and gets no comeuppance in the end.
- Killer Rabbit: Golden retrievers are usually seen as Big Friendly Dogs that wouldn't hurt a fly. Francis is an unusually psychopathic one.
- Misplaced Retribution: Only Luigi broke his favorite bone (by accident, mind you), yet Francis' vendetta is directed towards both brothers.
- Oh, Crap!: Just a second after diving out of the bathroom window and before plummeting, Francis has an expression on his face that underscores the danger he inadvertently put himself into. As Mario and Luigi manage to save him and are hoisting him back up, he's scared for his life and whimpering.
- Slasher Smile: He gives the brothers such a look after they trap him in the shower, only for the plumbing to flood the cubicle and carry him to the top where he's able to escape.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Francis takes an immediate dislike to Luigi when he steps on his bone. This leads to a series of events which culminates in the bathroom being completely destroyed. To a larger extent, this also motivates Mario into taking on greater jobs to repair their damaged reputation, leading to them being sucked into the warp pipe.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After the Mario brothers save Brooklyn from Bowser, he drops the animosity towards them and is seen giving a mutual head nod to Luigi in respect.
Giuseppe
Giuseppe
"Too much? It's-a PERFECT! WAHOO!"
Voiced by: Charles Martinet (English, Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, Canadian and EU French, Japanese, German, Hindi, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, TW Mandarin, Norwegian, Brazilian and EU Portuguese, Slovenian, EU and Latin Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese)
A rather eccentric old Italian who hangs out at the Punch-Out Pizzeria, and enjoys playing the arcade game Jump Man.
- Actor Allusion: He compliments the Mario Brothers for their fake Italian accents; bear in mind, he’s played by the man who gave the brothers their distinct accents in the first place. Even the accent that Charles Martinet uses for Giuseppe is flat-out his Mario voice.
- Canon Foreigner: He’s a character unique to the movie.
- Cool Old Guy: He plays arcade games despite looking to be in his fifties or sixties, and he supports the brothers when their commercial goes to air, which is a big deal considering how the brothers are held in low esteem by everyone else.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version, he sprinkles a bit of Japanese and a bit of English in his assessment of Mario and Luigi's voices.Giuseppe: Zenzen! It's-a perfect!
- Ink-Suit Actor: Giuseppe bears quite a resemblance to his voice actor, just with a graying mustache and an outfit inspired by the look of the original 8-bit Mario.
- Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: In-universe. When Mario asks Luigi if their use of exaggerated Italian accents in a commercial is "too much," the Italian Giuseppe overhears them and responds in a way that indicates his positive amusement:Giuseppe: (in a dead-ringer for Mario's game voice) Too much? It's-a perfect! (hops in the classic jump pose) Wahoo!
Mario: Okay, I'm gonna trust you! - Mythology Gag:
- He looks exactly like Mario's original Jump Man-era design as an old man, and he's introduced playing "Jump Man", an obvious expy of Mario and Donkey Kong's video game debut. And of course, he's voiced by Charles Martinet, not just in the original English but twenty-six of the film's foreign language dubs, including the variants of French, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish.
- Rather than overalls, he is seen wearing suspenders. It was the landlord of Nintendo of America, Mario Segale, wearing suspenders that encouraged the localization team — after they noticed his amusing resemblance to the character with them on — to rename Jumpman into Mario.
- Nice Guy: Unlike everyone else — excluding their mother — Giuseppe is supportive of Mario and Luigi's plumbing business, and goes out of his way to tell them how much he loves the gimmick they use for it.
- Remake Cameo: Serves as one of two for Charles Martinet, using his iconic original Mario voice. He reprises the role in almost every international dub of the film as well.
- Spear Carrier: He appears in two scenes; one where he praises Mario and Luigi about their accents, and later, cheering for the Mario Bros. alongside the townsfolk of Brooklyn after the brothers defeat Bowser.
Assorted Islands
Jungle Kingdom
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
"It is on like Donkey Kong!"
Voiced by: Seth Rogen Foreign VAs
"It's what they came here for! Dancing pecs!"
A boisterous Kong and the heir to the throne of the Jungle Kingdom.
- Actor Allusion: Seth Rogen does his trademark laugh twice in the movie, first after Mario shrinks himself with a Mini Mushroom during his fight with Donkey Kong, and then later when messing with Mario as they all drive to the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: To a lesser extent; Donkey Kong is trying to earn his father's respect and wants to prove he's not just a guy that smashes things. The games imply that he's accustomed to his dad's attitude.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In addition to the standard application of this trope to the Kongs, Donkey Kong has been characterized increasingly as a Dumb Muscle type in the games, such as the Retro Studios Donkey Kong Country titles. In the film, whilst he's a jock, he's never shown to be or treated as if he is particularly stupid, with his vices instead being arrogance and anger.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed, but he is noticeably more arrogant in the movie than in the games, developing into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold as events play out. While he does prove himself to be capable of selfless and noble feats like he would in his own series of games, most of his role in the story is learning to manage his feelings of jealousy and rivalry towards Mario, hearkening back both to the original arcade games the characters debuted in as well as the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, which was based on their rivalry.
- Always a Bigger Fish: He gets a chance to fight Bowser personally when the final battle moves to Brooklyn. Not only is the Koopa King twice as large as him, but the only attack that DK successfully lands on Bowser is tackling him while he’s distracted. We don’t see the brief tussle between the pair, but DK is wounded and incapacitated. He was very close to being executed before Mario stepped in.
- Anti-Hero: At first DK's conception of heroism seems largely superficial. He only joins the heroes to save their world because his father lost a bet, and he's unnecessarily rude to Mario even when helping him, coming across less sympathetically in comparison while Mario remains both humble and kind-hearted . It's only when DK goes up against Bowser that he proves himself truly heroic, as Bowser was bigger and stronger than DK and any reason to fight him extended beyond DK's petty motives.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: DK showboats to his adoring fans, pointedly avoids using any of the provided power-ups, and deliberately prolongs his beatdown of Mario for entertainment purposes. Then, when he's beaten, DK refuses to put it behind him.
- Ascended Meme: He quotes the memetic "It is on like Donkey Kong!"
- Badass Normal: DK shows himself to be a very powerful and capable fighter, even without power ups.
- Bait the Dog: After he and Mario are eaten by the Maw-Ray, they talk about how both their fathers don't appreciate them. They seem to be finding common ground... until DK callously says that Mario's father is right to think he's a failure.
- Baritone of Strength: DK is a powerful brawler with Seth Rogen's gruff voice.
- Bash Brothers: After an act full of Teeth-Clenched Teamwork, DK and Mario join together in spectacular fashion to take on Bowser's army in the Mushroom Kingdom to save Peach and everyone else captured for Bowser's wedding.Mario: (Seeing a squadron of Koopas procuring a stash of Power-Up Blocks) You wanna do this?
DK: (Sporting an ear-to-ear grin.) Yes, I do! - Bicep Kiss: He does this◊ while singing along to the DK rap during his entrance at the arena.
- Big Damn Heroes: DK and Mario make it back during the forced wedding and save the prisoners just in time, including Luigi and Cranky Kong, the latter of which finally shows some appreciation towards his son.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: DK may be a boisterous showman beloved by the crowd, but beneath his cocky exterior is a son who just wants to earn his father's respect and be seen as a worthy successor.
- The Big Guy: He's the muscle for Peach's resistance and physically the largest.
- Blood Knight: Implied. DK has a bit too much fun when fighting Mario in the Kong arena, and after getting the Fire Flower and fighting Bowser's Koopa army alongside Mario, he exclaims that "This is fun!".
- Boisterous Bruiser: He is shown to be as powerful a fighter as he is a showboating braggart, much to his father's consternation.
- Break the Haughty: Cranky Kong clearly didn't expect Mario to hold his own against his son at first — especially not through snatching victory from the jaws of defeat after what initially appeared to be an Open-and-Shut Case of a Curb-Stomp Battle — but he seemingly enjoyed seeing his arrogant heir get served a slice of humble pie. Meanwhile, DK has great emotional difficulty coming to terms with it at first, but this unexpected victory ultimately leads to DK learning to fight for something greater than himself.
- Butt-Monkey: Not to an extent like Mario, but he does get beaten several times.
- Canon Foreigner: Fire DK. Donkey Kong generally has not used transformations in the games he headlines. The power-ups are implied to be usable by anyone in this continuity though.
- Character Development: He starts out as an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who relies solely on brute strength and fights only for his own vanity, yet is insecure about his father's disapproval of him. He learns to put his arrogance aside, fight for the common good instead of himself, and even becomes a bit more of a Combat Pragmatist, using a Fire Flower in the final battle.
- Chick Magnet: He's implied to be this among the Kongs, because several female Kongs cheer when he does his pec dance.
- Commonality Connection: Bonds with Mario over their mutual issues with earning their fathers' respect.
- Composite Character: He's designed to be a combination of the classic arcade design and his Donkey Kong Country design. His general design and attire are modeled after his look in the Country series, but his body structure and facial features are heavily inspired by the artwork displayed on the original arcade cabinet and portrayals prior to the Country series.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: DK's eyelids are pitch-black, although they appear slightly less dark than they do in the games.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: His fight with Mario starts off as a one sided beating, with the few blows Mario does land having no effect. He is on the receiving end when Mario gets the Cat Suit.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: DK is no match for Bowser, but he does manage to get in a good punch that briefly sends Bowser flying.
- Decomposite Character: The traits he shares with Donkey Kong Junior are split into two Kongs. While DK being Cranky's son originated from some of the games, a separate Kong with Junior's appearance and tank top appears in the crowd to cheer him on. That is of course if you believe they're separate characters, which
isn't totally clear. - Defeat Means Friendship: For a certain definition of "friendship", after Mario bests Donkey Kong in battle, he initially begrudgingly agrees to help Mario before gaining some respect for him and growing to see him as an ally.
- Dub Personality Change: In the "Super Japanese version" Donkey Kong is less of a braggart and less antagonistic towards Mario, forming a friendly rivalry with him. He's also more hyperactive and enthusiastic, requiring Cranky Kong to keep him restrained.
- Enemy Mine: While he downright hates Mario by his own admission, he still works with Mario to help defeat Bowser, even before their small bonding experience near the end.
- Establishing Character Moment: When DK makes his first appearance, he gleefully intimidates Mario, flaunts his pecs and tries to coax some approval from Cranky, all of which demonstrate that he's got a fragile ego.
- Famed In-Story: Donkey Kong is popular with the residents of the Jungle Kingdom and is implied to be respected outside of it, given Peach thinks Mario agreeing to fight him is a mistake.
- Fire-Forged Friends: DK ends up developing a genuine friendship with Mario after their escape from the Maw-Ray and as they fight Bowser's forces on the way to Peach's forced wedding. He also becomes one with his brother Luigi, judging by his playful nudge to Luigi's shoulder after Bowser ends up shrunk by a Mini Mushroom.
- Friendly Rivalry: He has one with Mario. The two of them constantly argue and insult each other, but Mario still saves Donkey Kong's life, and the two of them work together to crash Bowser's wedding with Peach.
- Gladiator Games: Mario fights Donkey Kong in a gladiator arena with numerous Kongs in the crowd, as part of a condition to get the Kong army to help stop Bowser.
- Good Is Not Nice: After the Kongs form an alliance with the main heroes, he's still openly rude and condescending towards Mario for most of their time together.Donkey Kong: Cool raccoon suit!
Mario: Really?
Donkey Kong: Not at all! - Handy Feet: He's shown using his feet for minor actions over the course of the movie, including handing the steering wheel of his cart when he makes fun of Mario flirting with Peach, and gripping the spikes on the mechanism for the cages, leaving his hands free to roll it back and raise the cages. It comes naturally with being an ape.
- Headbutting Heroes: Like in the games, Donkey Kong is ultimately as capable of being heroic as his rival, but even when working together with Mario to defeat Bowser and save the world, he holds onto his grudge against him and rarely misses an opportunity to make fun of him.
- Helpless with Laughter: He's overcome with laughter upon first seeing Mario in the Cat Suit.
- Heroic Build: DK has a bulky upper body that resembles an exaggerated bodybuilder more than a real life gorilla.
- Hidden Depths: He reacts very strongly towards Mario telling him to "smash things", citing in punctuations that he's more than just a monkey that smashes things, giving us a hint of how most, likely his father, see him as such and he doesn't like it.
- Hunk: A buff gorilla who is quite the Chick Magnet in his kingdom.
- I Let You Win: He lies about letting Mario beat him on purpose to impress Peach.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Downplayed. Although he doesn't quite resemble Seth Rogen, he does have some of the actor's facial characteristics.
- I Resemble That Remark!: After Mario remarks that DK just smashes things, DK angrily rebuts that he is "MORE! THAN A GUY! WHO SMASHES THINGS!"...while jumping around and smashing things. This outburst unwittingly helps both of them find a way out of the Maw-Ray as the creature belches, flying them towards DK's kart where they see its remaining missile and use it as a Rocket Barrel to escape.
- Jerkass Has a Point: After they get eaten by the Maw-Ray, Donkey Kong blames Mario for what happened on Rainbow Road. While this is a harsh accusation that offends Mario and he's still rather salty about his defeat against him, he's not totally wrong: as King Cranky's son, he's the prince of the Jungle Kingdom, and the only reason he and the other Kongs agreed to help Mario is because he made a deal with Cranky, who only gives his army in support of whoever manages to defeat DK. Since Mario defeated him and then they were ambushed and fell off because of the Koopa General, Donkey Kong's father and the other Kongs were all captured, meaning that Mario dragged his people in his mission to rescue his brother, putting everyone in danger.
- Jerkass to One: Most of his aggression is directed towards Mario, since the latter was the first one to actually outperform him in battle. But as they travel together, he does begin to develop a real connection with Mario. By comparison, DK seems to take an instant liking to Luigi, and stops bickering with Mario and Toad without issue as soon as Peach tells him to stop.
- Jerk Jock: He takes every chance he can get to antagonize Mario. Pretty much the only reason they agree to work together is because Bowser is stronger than either of them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He's a cocky show-off, but he's not a bad person and he does develop a genuine friendship with Mario later on — and despite his frustrations with his situation, he honors the agreement to help the Mushroom Kingdom. Also despite his harsh statement about Mario's daddy issues earlier, he was later happy for Mario getting praised by his dad to the point he brings him and his family and friends into a group hug.
- While traveling on Rainbow Road, he makes fun of Mario for trying to flirt with Peach. However, when Peach politely asks DK and Toad to back off, he does so without a begrudging attitude. Plus he was later smiling with approval at Mario and Peach holding hands upon reuniting after crashing her forced wedding to Bowser.
- With some effort, he halts the wheel causing the prisoners to drop into the lava and reverses it to save them all, and shields Peach and Toad from falling debris once they're all thrust into Brooklyn.
- Kick the Dog: It was certainly quite harsh of him to say that Mario's father had the right to see him as a failure, which rubs more salt into Mario's wound.
- Killer Gorilla: Downplayed — he's a massive gorilla who, while by no means vicious or evil, is still a Jerk Jock who gives Mario a relentless beating in the arena while throwing death threats his way.
- Large Ham: He tends to be quite loud and bombastic, which is expected given that Seth Rogen provides his voice.
- Leitmotif: He makes his debut wrestler-style with his own theme music, that being none other than the chorus of the DK Rap.
- Lightning Bruiser: For an 800-pound gorilla, DK is very agile and light on his feet.
- Loved by All: Across the Jungle Kingdom, DK is highly beloved by his people as they cheer and worship him when he enters the arena. Even outside the Jungle Kingdom, nobody seems to actively dislike him, as even when he and Mario started out butting heads a lot, they end up getting over their differences and become friends, after Mario was the one to reach out to him, no less.
- Makes Us Even: After they escape from the Maw-Ray on the rocket barrel, he says to Mario "Now we're even!"
- Mood-Swinger: After cackling at Cat Mario, he glares at him while bluntly and seriously saying, "Now you die". Cue punch.
- Mr. Fanservice: Downplayed as he's a cartoon gorilla, but some shots emphasize his hunky physique, including when he does his Pec Flex ocassionally.
- No-Sell: Mario comes at him with a leaping punch, but DK grabs him out of the air without even blinking, slams him into the ground, and starts slapping him around. When Mario does manage to land a few punches on DK later, they have no effect.
- Pec Flex: He does this after he says "Dancing pecs!". Cranky finds it cringeworthy while the female Kongs love it. He later flexes his pecs once again at the end of the movie where he becomes part of the team with Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad.
- Pet the Dog: Despite being a Sore Loser from his loss to Mario, he still saves him from falling off Rainbow Road once Mario's kart is destroyed.
- Playing with Fire: For the first time in the franchise, DK gets the power of the Fire Flower in the as he shoots fireballs at Koopa Troopas.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: After Mario gains the Cat Suit, Donkey Kong takes a moment to laugh at him before collecting himself and going back to their fight by saying, "Now you die". Averted, though, since Mario is able to turn the tables and defeat him.
- Primal Stance: His default posture. He is a gorilla, after all, and a very top-heavy one at that.
- Primate Versus Reptile: He tries to fight the dragon-turtle Bowser during the final battle. He manages to land a few blows, but he's ultimately overpowered.
- Privileged Rival: A prince compared to Mario's plumber. He's initially the stronger of the two, but then Mario gets his second wind and turns the tide of their fight. After that, DK is still somewhat of a bully towards Mario but they eventually become better friends.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I! AM! MORE! THAN A GUY! WHO SMASHES THINGS!"
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The moment he has Mario pinned down during their fight, he repeatedly slaps and punches him in the face at breakneck speed, not giving Mario any time to breathe.
- Red Is Heroic: Aside from his signature necktie, DK's fur turns red when he gets ahold of a Fire Flower.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: The games have alternately portrayed DK as either Cranky's son or grandson. The film goes with him being Cranky's son.
- The Rival: To Mario. They meet by fighting a gladiatorial match and, after Mario wins, DK holds a grudge and continues competing with him before eventually realizing they have a lot in common.
- Shipper on Deck: While he makes fun of him for it, he nonetheless recognizes that Mario talking with the Princess on their way to the castle is him flirting with her, even if Mario is seemingly unaware of this. He is later shown smiling at Mario and Peach holding hands when they reunite, making it clear that he does support them getting together after all.
- Silly Simian: He dishes out a lot of Amusing Injuries to Mario in his opening scene, then goes on to spend most of the movie comically butting heads with him.
- Slasher Smile: He gives these to Mario on a regular basis.
- So Proud of You: Seen briefly when Mario and Luigi beat Bowser to the Super Star and curb stomp the Koopa King and his entire army. After Mario throws a Sledge Bro into the soldiers, DK has a “You guys are screwed!” grin on his face as he shields Peach and Toad from the skirmish.
- Sore Loser: He does not take his loss to Mario well. As soon as he recovers, he chucks a barrel at Mario while saying he let Mario win. When they're preparing to drive across the Rainbow Road, DK takes a moment to tell Mario he hates him with no provocation.
- Super Drowning Skills: Unlike his canon counterpart from the games, DK cannot breathe underwater and is in danger of drowning after falling off the Rainbow Road. Luckily, Mario saves him in time.
- Throw a Barrel at It: True to the games, barrels are DK's primary weapon of choice. He chucks multiple ones at Mario during their showdown, mimicking the original arcade game that started it all. In the climax, he kickstarts him and Mario Storming the Castle by throwing his Rocket Barrel-like missile at the Koopa Troopas to enable the duo to use the powerups.
- Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed. The majority of the characters opposing Bowser are established as unambiguously kind-hearted, but DK stands out as a Jerk Jock who would have become Mario's arch-enemy if they weren't forced to work together, even giving implications he would have killed Mario in their fight. Even Cranky Kong isn't as openly abrasive about working on a team. With that being said, he never puts Mario and his allies in danger and honors Cranky's agreement, and even grows to like them to some extent.
- Too Much Alike: DK refuses to admit he and Mario have anything in common even when it's obvious.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Despite being the team's most pompous and abrasive member, he does manage to generate a lot of chuckles. He does get better, though.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Becomes this with Mario. Despite their still ongoing bickering dynamic, they empathize with each other over their daddy issues and work especially well as a team. Later, as Mario is at first fearful of Bowser and hiding from him, Donkey Kong defends him by punching Bowser hard. They even share a group hug after Bowser is defeated, hinting that any animosity between them has ended.
- Warrior Prince: He's the heir of King Cranky and the strongest Kong in the kingdom.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He has some insecurities over Cranky not respecting him, mostly due to a difference of opinion towards his showboating attitude.
- Willfully Weak: At the start of his challenge duel, Donkey Kong boasts that he won't need to use any of the power-ups in the arena to defeat Mario.
- The Worf Effect: He goes up against Bowser and gets trounced within seconds.
Cranky Kong
Cranky Kong
"Buckle up!"
Voiced by: Fred ArmisenForeign VAs
"Enough with the showboating!"
The king of the Jungle Kingdom and Donkey Kong's father. Princess Peach seeks out his aid because he has the largest and most skilled army in the known lands, although he's also notoriously aloof and unpredictable.
- Adaptational Heroism: If you go by the backstory that Cranky was the one who kidnapped Pauline and fought Mario, then he counts, since this version has done no such things...unless the Jump Man arcade game is a dramatization of past events.
- Adaptational Job Change: In the Donkey Kong Country games, Cranky is a retired adventurer who still holds a leadership-type role. Here, he is specifically the king of the Jungle Kingdom.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Downplayed since he's still part of the origin story, but in the games, he was famously Mario's very first antagonist, appearing before Mario travelled to the Mushroom Kingdom and encountered Princess Peach and Bowser.
- Adaptational Modesty: In the games Cranky doesn't wear any clothes, but here he's dressed in robes with a gold headress to signify his regal status.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Cranky in the video games is a classic grumpy old man who is in a perpetually foul mood, sneering down his nose at the younger Kongs, mocking their skills and openly berating them as Inadequate Inheritors. Even the animated version was a short-tempered, snarky old jerk. This iteration of Cranky, in contrast, is constantly upbeat and happy throughout most of the movie; he still acts like a jerk, but now it's more mischievous than mean-spirited. He only briefly displays anything close to the classic Cranky's... crankiness when he sees Donkey Kong showboating at the start of his duel with Mario.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: He never met Mario in his prime and formed a rivalry unlike in the games, with the initial rivalry instead being given to his son.
- Age Lift: Likely to make him being DK's father more plausible, Cranky isn't the crochety old ape he usually is in the games, appearing physically adept enough to pass for post middle-age and not even needing a cane.
- Ambiguously Jewish: He sports a Jewish-sounding accent despite being voiced by a Venezuelan/German/Korean American actor, perhaps because Seth Rogen, who voices his son, comes from a Ukrainian/Russian Jewish family.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Unlike all the other Kongs, each of whom is an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal, he's got a full, Mayincatec-inspired regal robe and headdress — but he's still barefoot. Which makes sense because, as an ape, his feet are a second pair of hands.
- The Caligula: This is how the Toads seem to regard him, though when the actual guy is revealed he turns out to just be a little unfriendly and hesitant about providing another kingdom with his army. Cranky's subjects are more devoted to his son than they are to Cranky himself and he doesn't seem to take any umbrage with that fact. Apparently Peach gave them very high standards.
- Decomposite Character: In the games, he was the Donkey Kong who kidnapped Pauline and fought Mario, with his son (or grandson) having taken over his name after he retired. Maybe. In the film, he has no history with Mario, kidnapping, or being called Donkey Kong, with his son being the only DK around.
- Distressed Dude: After being ambushed by Bowser on Rainbow Road, he and the other Kongs except Donkey Kong end up in Bowser's cells.
- Dub Personality Change: In the Japanese version, Cranky Kong is less cranky overall, being more weary than aggravated.
- Frontline General: He personally goes with Princess Peach and leads his Army on Rainbow Road to fight Bowser.
- Good Parents: Though annoyed by his son's showboating, when DK is seemingly sent plummeting to his death, he is clearly devastated. When DK is revealed to be alive, he doesn't hide how proud he is of him.
- Graceful Loser: After Mario defeats Donkey Kong clean, Cranky looks annoyed, but relents with a "you got me" smile towards Peach.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He might seem, well, cranky most of the time, but he is a fair and just ruler:
- While he at first is unwilling to help the Mushroom Kingdom, he was willing to give Mario, Peach, and Toad a chance to prove themselves, plus he even gave Mario a fighting chance by placing power-ups across the arena with no strings attached. Once Mario wins, he takes it in stride and immediately agrees to help the Mushroom Kingdom.
- While he, at first, laughs uproariously at Mario's presence the moment the latter challenges him for his army, he quickly proves himself to be a Reasonable Authority Figure towards him by striking a deal with him that if Mario can defeat his son Donkey Kong, he will help the Mushroom Kingdom, even though Mario is in a social class lower than him.
- His behavior towards DK is more of how he sees DK's antics as an embarrassment, not that he's embarrassed to have DK as his son. When it seemed like the Blue Shell sends DK and Mario to their deaths, Cranky is clearly devastated by it. When DK not only is shown to be alive but saves all the prisoners and Cranky, he is overjoyed and actually asks DK to do his signature "Pec Dance", something DK says he'll do later, as there are more pressing matters at the moment, something that clearly impressed Cranky too.
- King Kong Copy: Narrative-wise. A group of adventurers (complete with a pretty blonde damsel) travel to an island surrounded by an impenetrable wall whose population have a simian king known as "Kong".
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His voice sounds remarkably similar to that of Larry David.
- Non-Indicative Name: This version is more of a loud-mouthed gadfly than the classic Grumpy Old Man from the games and the '90s cartoon.
- Pass the Popcorn: When Donkey Kong is beating the tar out of Mario, while Peach and Toad are horrified, Cranky can be seen picking up a banana with a smile on his face.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Eccentric, aloof and at first unwilling to help the Mushroom Kingdom he may be, he's willing to make a deal with Mario, a person lower in social class than him, the minute the latter challenges him, simply because he was impressed by his bravado despite laughing at his presence earlier. When Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, as part of the deal, he takes it in stride and upholds his end of the bargain by helping the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: He's Donkey Kong's father instead of grandfather in this movie (though that hasn't always been consistent in the past).
- So Proud of You: DK earns his respect after he saves him and the others. He even tells DK that he earned a pec flex, though the latter turns it down.
- Tempting Fate: Cranky brags about his army being the greatest there is. They were overpowered and captured by the Koopa Troop before they could storm Bowser's castle and don't get a chance to show off in the final battle.
- Troll: Cranky Kong put power-ups in boxes to help level the playing field between Mario and DK, but he also includes the Mini-Mushroom and Super Bell for nothing else than his own amusement. The Cat Suit ended up backfiring, since it gives Mario increased speed and reflexes, and equips him with a pair of claws that ultimately help him win the fight.
Diddy Kong
Diddy Kong
Voiced by: Eric BauzaForeign VAs
An overenthusiastic fan of Donkey Kong.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: He's Donkey Kong's best friend in most iconic portrayals of the character, but here, from what we've seen, he's just a fan of DK.
- Demoted to Extra: Diddy is DK's sidekick in his games, makes the occasional appearance in the Mario series and gained enough fame to warrant his own racing game. Here he's just a particularly recognizable spectator.
- Hero-Worshipper: Most of the Kongs seem to adore Donkey Kong, but Diddy Kong is by far the most demonstrative about it.
Kong (species)
Kongs
A simian species living on an island near the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: All the Kongs are shown wearing various pieces of clothing, including Donkey Kong with his now iconic monogrammed tie; the only Kong who is fully clothed is Cranky Kong with his royal robe.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Exactly how smart the Kongs are supposed to be has varied pretty wildly in the games. In the original arcade games, the Kongs are portrayed as effectively just animals — maybe unusually cunning animals, but still animals. In the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy and its sequel Donkey Kong 64, they are presented as fully sapient beings, using Bamboo Technology and speaking their own language. The Super Smash Bros. and the Retro Studios-released Donkey Kong Country titles present them much more like animals, largely by never letting them speak. In the movie, there can be no doubts as to their sapience; they speak, they have highly developed technological tools, and their city is even built around their love of using motor vehicles, an homage to both Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing.
- Adaptational Modesty: A downplayed example for Dixie Kong. While she usually wears a short tied-up shirt and no pants, she's clad here in a long basketball top-like shirt that covers her like a sleeveless dress.
- Anthropomorphic Shift: The film serves as the end point of this for them - throughout their history, the Kongs have gone from Nearly Normal Animals, to having a Bamboo Technology-based civilization with their own language of primate grunts that are translated for the player, to their depiction in the film, where they are on a similar/higher technological level as their peers and have no language barrier with the humans and Toads at all.
- The Bus Came Back: For Kongs such as Chunky and Swanky, this is the first time they've appeared in any official Mario or Donkey Kong media since the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in 2005.
- Continuity Cameo: Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Swanky Kong, and Chunky Kong are among the denizens of Donkey Kong Island. Swanky drives a kart and slips on a banana peel during the "Take On Me" segment, while the others show up as audience members during DK's fight against Mario, with Diddy in particular being highlighted as he (with Dixie and Chunky sitting next to him) cheers DK on. Fans have also noticed Kongs that resemble Funky Kong, Kiddy Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, and even Eddie the Mean Old Yeti among the movie's background characters, although it is unclear whether these are actual cameos or just generic lookalikes since they're not given any focus.
- Fanservice Extra: Played straight for the Great Kong Army members who are really shirtless in a few scenes, including at the kart workshop where they prepare their travel to the Mushroom Kingdom with Mario, Peach and Toad.
- Hero-Worshipper: The Kongs idolize Donkey Kong and indulge his showboating, much to Cranky's frustration. Diddy in particular needs to be specifically called out to stop cheering for his hero.Kongs: (cheering) D! K! Donkey Kong! D! K! Donkey Kong!
Cranky: Okay, simmer down!
Kongs: (continue cheering) D! K! Donkey Kong!
Cranky: (yells) I said, simmer down!
(All the Kongs except Diddy stop cheering)
Diddy: D! K! D! K! D! K!
Cranky: That means you, Diddy Kong!
Diddy: D! K! D— (stops mid-cheer and then sits down with a sheepish look on his face) Sorry. - Informed Attribute: The Kongs are repeatedly described as the strongest fighting force outside of Bowser's army, which is why Peach goes out of her way to negotiate their support. But once they finally join the heroes, they don't really get to show any of it, as they turn out to have a really bad case of Decapitated Army syndrome and the entire Kong army is captured in mere minutes after DK and Mario are thrown off the Rainbow Road and presumed MIA. In the end, they really don't accomplish much outside of Donkey Kong himself. (Granted, they're still the best fighters around by far when compared to the Toads and penguins.)
- Intelligent Primate: They have an affinity for technology (specifically go-karts) as well as a complex society and city. Their culture seemingly values more than brute strength, as shown by Cranky Kong filling the arena with power-ups that allowed Mario to win by via strategy and intelligent use of the resources at his disposal.
- Silly Simian: In general, they're just as fun-loving as the toads but much more high-energy and loud about it, at the expense of overall safety.
- Oh, Crap!: Swanky only has a moment to yell in fear before he drives over a Banana Peel that sends his kart careening.
- Wacky Racing: Rather than the Mushroom Kingdom, karting is depicted as a hat of the Jungle Kingdom, with everyone using karts in extremely dangerous ways with the most mundane treatment.
Ice Kingdom
General
- Bright Castle: The penguin castle is a beautiful, pristine ice palace before Bowser gets through with it.
- Ice Palace: The penguins live in a castle made of ice. Bowser is shown easily destroying it with his fire breath.
- Mauve Shirt: The Ice Kingdom is set up to demonstrate the threat level that the Koopa Kingdom poses. It's also the place where the Super Star is hidden, granting it a degree of significance to the story.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The film opens with Bowser and his forces invading the Ice Kingdom populated by penguins.
Penguin King
Penguin King
"That is but a taste of our fury! Do you yield?"note
Voiced by: Khary Payton (English), Pablo Adán (EU Spanish), Mauricio Pérez (Latin American Spanish), Thierry Desroses (EU French), Fayolle Jean Jr. (Canadian French), Marco Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese), Anton Olofsson Raeder (Swedish), Axel Malzacher (German), Chen Guowei (TW Mandarin), Fitra Hartono (Indonesian), Rattanachai Luangwongngam (Thai), Francesco De Francesco (Italian), Yuval Yanai (Hebrew)
The ruler of a kingdom of penguins that Bowser invades.
- Boisterous Weakling: When Bowser invades his kingdom, he proudly and confidently stands his ground against Bowser, even after his snowball attacks do absolutely zero damage to the Koopa King.
- Canon Foreigner: The penguins never had a monarch in Super Mario 64. Thus, the Penguin King is a new character created for the movie.
- The Comically Serious: The entire point of his characterization. He's a dead-serious king who attempts to lead his troops to victory, but he's also a tiny penguin who attacks his foes with snowballs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He's on the receiving end of one from Kamek, who uses his magic to push his entire army away in one fell swoop, and their snowballs do barely more than leave Bowser unimpressed and hit a single Koopa soldier.
- Fate Worse than Death: Being trapped above a pit of lava is bad enough for a creature acclimated to an icy environment, but the real torture is having to be within earshot of Lumalee while he harps on about how hopeless things are.
- Grin of Audacity: The king of the penguins can be seen smiling with furrowed brows as he orders his soldiers to attack the Koopas — even though his confidence is woefully misplaced.
- Little "No": The Penguin King gives one when watching Bowser destroy the entire ice palace with his fire breath.
- Nice Guy: Assures Luigi not to listen to Lumalee.
- No Name Given: He is merely referred to as "Penguin King".
- Requisite Royal Regalia: He's the only penguin with a crown and ermine cape. This confirms he is the king of the penguins and their kingdom. He continues to wear them even while a prisoner of Bowser.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He leads his troops into battle as if he was their general, and directly tries to confront Bowser and get him to call off the invasion... though his snowballs barely do anything to Bowser.
- Out of Focus: While the destruction of his Kingdom from Bowser and his theft of the Super Star is what kickstarts the plot, the Penguin King is a minor character that has very little scenes in which he appears, which is not helped by the fact that those scenes are short and show him sharing his limited screentime with Luigi, who also suffers this in the middle part of the movie, and Lumalee. Whenever he's on-screen, he's stuck putting up with Lumalee's macabre jokes. After he's freed in the last 15 minutes of the movie, he completely disappears.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: He's out of the movie when DK stops the prisoners from being lowered into the lava and gets them to safety. The violence intensifies after this.
- Underequipped Charge: He and his forces had military preparation. The problem is, said preparation was just enough for a glorified snowball fight and not an actual life-or-death war with a monster that breathes fire.
- Vocal Dissonance: A tiny, cute penguin with a regal, commanding deep voice.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The Penguin King exclaims this almost word-for-word after Lumalee mentions the only escape from Bowser's dungeon is death.
Penguins
Penguins
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The only things the penguins wear are some belts and bandanas (and a crown and ermine cape for the king).
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: The penguins are introduced as huge shadows looming on the gates of their kingdom, scaring a Koopa. Then the gates open and it's revealed that they are smaller than the gate itself.
- Fish Eyes: Whenever the penguins holler, their eyes go off in different directions.
- Ice Palace: The penguins live in a castle made of ice. Bowser is shown easily destroying it with his fire breath.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: In the opening scene, very few of the snowballs the penguins throw at Bowser and the Koopas even hit their targets (not that it would have made any difference).
- Penguins Are Ducks: The penguins, much like the ones that appear in the games, have broad, duck-like beaks.
- Polar Penguins: The film begins with Bowser invading the penguins' kingdom, which features a giant castle made of ice. The penguins try (and fail) to attack the Koopa Troop with snowballs.
- Snowball Fight: When Bowser invades the kingdom, its king orders his troops to throw snowballs at the invaders. Unsurprisingly, outside of one Koopa getting knocked out by a large, catapult-flung snowball, this does absolutely nothing.
Yoshi's Island
Yoshi (species)
Yoshis
A saurian species living on an island near the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Advertised Extra: That one shot of them in the trailer? That's the only shot of them in the entire movie, and they don't have any story relevance, only being part of a Travel Montage. Aside from the green Yoshi egg, which similarly only gets two short shots during the movie proper — and a Sequel Hook after the credits.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A variety of the Yoshis have colors seen in the games — including red, yellow, cyan, pink, and black. Conspicuously absent is the green Yoshi, which is canonically treated as the "main" one. One of the guests brings a green Yoshi egg as a present for Bowser and Peach's wedding, and in The Stinger, the egg is seen in the underground Brooklyn sewers... and hatching.
- The Cameo: They appear in all of one shot in the film. Although a green Yoshi egg is one of the wedding presents and is shown hatching in the post-credits sequence.
- Foreshadowing: None of the Yoshis in the movie are colored green.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Subtly referenced. As the heroes travel across the Yoshi homeland on their way to the Jungle Kingdom, Mario grabs a berry to eat. A pink Yoshi in the background pauses to look at this and starts enviously licking its lips.
The Brooklyn Sewers Visitor (MAJOR UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Yoshi Egg
Voiced by: Kazumi Totaka (archival)
A green Yoshi egg that was stranded in the sewers of Brooklyn after the Mario Bros. defeated Bowser.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In Super Mario World, it's established that the green Yoshi was imprisoned in its egg by Bowser, but the movie confirms that Bowser at the very least didn't personally capture this Yoshi, as the egg was intended to be a wedding gift presented by one of Bowser's Koopas.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The green Yoshi egg can be seen on the table of gifts at Bowser and Peach's wedding. During the final confrontation it was stranded in the sewers of Brooklyn.
- Sequel Hook: After being presented at Bowser's wedding as a gift, the green Yoshi egg ended up in Brooklyn's sewers, and it's hatching...
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: The green Yoshi egg understandably does not appear in any of the promotional material in part because it sets up a possible sequel.
- Walking Spoiler: The one scene it appears in with any plot relevance is The Stinger, a kind of scene known for containing spoilers, with said relevance being a spoiler since its appearance hints at the green Yoshi appearing in the sequel.
Other Inhabitants
Lumalee
Lumalee
"There's no escape. The only hope is the sweet relief of death."
Voiced by: Juliet Jelenic, Yuya Takezawa (chirps)Foreign VAs
A Luma held captive by Bowser.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Lumalee in the games is shown to be just as cheerful as the other Lumas. In the movie, he's the main source of Black Comedy as he cheerfully accepts being one of Bowser's prisoners and sacrifices.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the games, Lumas in general didn't appear until Super Mario Galaxy, where Mario already had a long career. Here, one appears during Mario's origin story.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Big time, though it’s Played for Laughs. Lumalee was a friendly, cheery little shopkeeper in the Galaxy games; here, he’s a Creepy Child and a Straw Nihilist, and only acts cheery because it humorously contradicts his negative attitude.
- The Anti-Nihilist: Lumalee is a Straw Nihilist for the movie proper, but before the credits, he gives a speech to the audience about how now that the movie is over, there’s nothing left but “[the viewers] and the infinite void”... and then he decides to play the saxophone for them.
- Black Comedy: He talks about how there is no escape from Bowser's Castle and that the only hope is "the sweet relief of death" with a childish voice, much to the penguins' dismay.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Before the credits roll, Lumalee pops out and drops one more existential bomb on the audience, as he did with his fellow prisoners. Then he whips out a saxophone and the main credits begin.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Is considered such according to the Penguin King.Penguin King: Pay him no heed. He is cute, but he is... (makes cuckoo whistle)
- Crazy Sane: Lumalee makes a comment implying he sees himself and his attitude towards death this way.
- Creepy Child: The contrast between his childlike voice and his cheery disposition towards wanting to die is Played for Laughs.
- Cute and Psycho: As the Penguin King puts it, the Lumalee is adorable but has a disturbingly twisted mind.
- Death Seeker: He brings up a variety of macabre topics unprompted, and comments that the only escape from the dungeon is "the sweet relief of death." When the prisoners are being lowered into Bowser's lava pit, he happily exclaims "Wheeeeeee!" and joyously giggles. He reacts with disappointment upon being saved.
- The Eeyore: Though, not in the conventional sense. His attitude is chipper, but his comments are exceedingly pessimistic, to the point that the penguins see him as a complete downer who's bringing down the mood in an already-grim situation.
- Foil: According to the DVD interview, Lumalee is something of an "Anti-Mario"; whereas Mario is chipper and unrelentingly optimistic, Lumalee is chipper and exceedingly nihilistic.
- Hammerspace: He can pull out random objects from nowhere like a pinwheel, a bubble wand and a saxophone.
- Hidden Depths: He's a really great saxophone player.
- Irony: In Super Mario Galaxy, Lumalee sold 1-Up Mushrooms, an item that famously grants Mario or Luigi an extra life. His role gets turned on its head in this movie since he mostly talks about death.
- Noodle Incident: Unlike the penguins, Luigi, and the Kongs, it's never revealed how he ended up in Bowser's captivity, particularly when there are no other Lumas and Rosalina is nowhere to be seen.
- Perpetual Smiler: He says the most morbid things while maintaining a cute little smile. The only time he frowns is when he's denied the "sweet relief of death," and as he talks to the audience at the end... at least until he pulls out his saxophone.
- Play-Along Prisoner: He could easily escape from his cage and even floats out of it once or twice, but stays in there seemingly because he wants to.
- She's a Man in Japan: Lumalee is originally referred to as a "he", but in the Croatian version (both dubbed and subtitled) he's female.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: He disappears from the movie after DK saves him and the other prisoners from the lava. After this, the stakes and violence intensify. Naturally, he comes back at the end of the movie when the danger is over.
- Straw Nihilist: Lumalee is comically obsessed with death and oblivion. That being said, he comes off as more of The Anti-Nihilist when he addresses the audience just before the credits.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: It's implied that he is a child given his voice. However long he's been in Bowser's castle, it must have taken its toll since all he talks about is hopelessness and he's been driven to wanting to die.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Does not appreciate being rescued from the lava pit.Mainly because he wants to die.Lumalee: Booooo!
- Wink "Ding!": He gives a wink with an audible "ding" after he starts playing the saxophone after his talk about the movie being over and there being only "you and an endless void".
Cheep-Cheeps
Cheep-Cheeps
- Flying Seafood Special: One part of the trio's trek to the Jungle Kingdom shows Mario, Peach, and Toad crossing a bridge with Cheep Cheeps jumping from an unseen body of water over them (referencing certain levels from the original Super Mario Bros.).
- Personal Space Invader: While crossing a bridge on the path to the Jungle Kingdom, a Cheep-Cheep flies itself onto Mario's face.
Maw-Ray
Maw-Ray
A gigantic eel.
- Burp of Finality: Shortly after eating Mario and DK, the Maw-Ray releases a quiet underwater belch. Averted in that they do manage to escape, negating the finality.
- The Darkness Gazes Back: The Maw-Ray's existence onscreen is unnoticeable until it suddenly shuts its mouth, revealing all of its teeth.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Maw-Ray's stomach contains blocks, shards of road, karts, and other assorted anomalies it should not be picking up from the way it chases Mario and DK. Even in its sleep it accidentally inhales a Blooper into its guts effortlessly.
- Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Zigzagged. It swallows both Mario and DK whole, holding them harmlessly inside it. Naturally, this results in Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth with a rocket. This is somewhat justified as Mario and DK were very clearly not in its stomach acid area yet and DK even comments that they will inevitably be slowly digested to death.
- Glowing Eyes: Initially, the only part of it visible other than its teeth are its glowing blue eyes.
- Non-Standard Character Design: All of the characters in this movie are faithful adaptations of their video game designs with slight adjustments (or a new costume in the case of Cranky Kong), with the notable exception of the Maw-Ray that Mario and Donkey Kong encounter in the ocean, which looks more realistic than its counterpart from Super Mario 64, and also looks different than its design in Super Mario Odyssey, which was also a more realistic version of the character design.
- Ribcage Stomach: The Maw-Ray has its ribcage lining its stomach above where food rests in an anatomical structure much closer to humans than real world eels.
- Sea Monster: A giant eel monster who lurks in the ocean the Rainbow Road crosses over.
- Scary Teeth: Each of its fangs are just as large as its eye.
- Swallowed Whole: With all those teeth, it makes no effort to chew its prey before sending them down.
- Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises / One-Eyed Shot: The shot of the Maw-Ray as it begins to get sudden indigestion. When it belches up its prey, its eyes remain wide open before shutting tightly in pain.
- Your Size May Vary: When it first appears, Mario and DK fit side by side in its mouth. In its final appearance, their kart is the size of one of its teeth.
Bloopers
Bloopers
White cephalopods.- Getting Eaten Is Harmless: One gets swallowed by the Maw-Ray, but the Maw-Ray's insides have their own ecosystem, so it doesn't seem like it will suffer immediately.
- Oh, Crap!: The Blooper that gets eaten looks visibly panicked when it realizes it's about to get sucked into the mouth of a giant eel.
King Bob-omb
King Bob-omb
- Action Bomb: He explodes during the scuffle at Bowser's wedding.
- The Cameo: He appears momentarily as a guest at Bowser's wedding.
- Face Death with Dignity: When he realizes he can't put out his fuse, he sadly sighs and stops trying to put it out.
- Heavy Sleeper: He nods off during the wedding and somehow manages to sleep through all of the chaos caused by Peach getting the Ice Flower, only waking up when his fuse is lit by Peach.
- Oh, Crap!: He starts to lose it when Peach lights his fuse.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Peach lights his fuse, he panics trying to put it out, before he stops and groans, accepting his fate.
- The Voiceless: Even though he's perfectly capable of speech in the games, he doesn't speak once during the movie. Though he does make some audible grunting and screaming noises when his fuse is lit.
King Boo
King Boo
- The Cameo: Like King Bob-omb, he appears as a guest at Bowser's wedding. He's also the only member of the Boo species that shows up in the movie.
- Dirty Coward: Implied. Unlike the other wedding guests, Boo doesn’t jump into action. Instead, he remains in his seat and later flees the battle offscreen as soon as things start going south.
- Fair-Weather Friend: He's implied to be one to Bowser. Despite Bowser inviting him to his wedding, he doesn't move a ghostly muscle to help when Peach starts fighting Bowser's forces. A later shot also shows he's absent, meaning he left at some point off screen.
- Living Prop: He has no lines and does nothing of significance in the film, simply mingling with the crowd and not even participating in the wedding battle or the one in Brooklyn.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Peach freezes Bowser at the wedding, all guests jump in to attack her, except for King Boo who quietly leaves the wedding offscreen.
