39: Super Mario Bros. (1993)

For the month of April the Watchcast crew will be digging through the detritus of early video game movies, and we're kicking things off with the mother of all game-to-cinema adaptations in the profoundly weird Super Mario Bros.! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - NOTE: Some timecodes may be inaccurate in versions other than the ad-free Patreon version due to dynamic ad insertions. Please use caution if skipping around to avoid spoilers. Thanks for listening. (00:00:16) - Intro. (00:04:59) - Talking a bit about earlier Mario adaptations. (00:09:14) - The long and twisted history of how this got made. (00:19:36) - Some casting what ifs. (00:24:18) - Boy, the people who starred in this movie do not have nice things to say about it! (00:33:11) - This is about as off-putting a "family" film as this era ever produced. (00:35:18) - The set-up for this weird-ass movie. (00:43:02) - Truly this is a movie about the plight of struggling working class plumbers and under-funded archaeologists. (00:50:34) - Some special effects and set design talk. (00:53:20) - The depiction of the Koopa dimension. (00:59:00) - Break! (00:59:18) - We're back, and things are nutty in this Koopa Kingdom. (01:02:30) - A valid question: what is Koopa's plan? (01:06:54) - The movie's endless parade of baffling aesthetic choices. (01:14:05) - Yoshi, what have they done to you? (01:18:35) - The bonkers car chase. (01:24:17) - Nothing says Super Mario Bros. like a goofy club scene. (01:29:52) - Finally, the Mario brothers get their jumpin' powers (and their awful secret handshake). (01:36:43) - Heading into the final confrontation (which takes like 25 minutes). (01:48:09) - Final thoughts on the film. (01:51:47) - Outro.