kylevan-76991

Ever since I was six, I was a big fan of Mario and I played seven Mario games growing up. I was anxious about how this movie will turn out. To my surprise, I had a blast from beginning to end. It never insults our intelligence, and It's entertainment value hits all at the right spots.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the movie consistently delivers rollicking energy nonstop. The direction is incredible with slick surprises, excellent timing, and superb slow-motion. Not to mention that the direction is so unpredictable, that we will never know what's coming. In that way, it has the urgency to make failure seem possible for our heroes. Of course there is going to be some references to the games, and they pay off really well. The hilarious humor is what makes this animated diversion the funniest movie of the year so far with sharp sight gags, while the action offers frantic excitement with energetic momentum. As for the story, I already know what the story is going to be as a Mario fan. Kids who were born several years ago will enjoy this simple good-vs-evil story that offers messages about friendship and compassion with good-natured precision. Also, when you notice Mario experiencing and trying new things like mushrooms and meeting new friends, you start to realize that it is a story about how Mario became the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, before all of the games where Mario rescues Peach were made. The animation is pleasing overall; the colors are vibrant and vivid. When the film pans to heroes, the colors are wonderfully upbeat, but when it pans to the villains, it is a menacing marvel to behold. The animation has a lot of sprightly energy to it with entertaining results. The score by Brian Tyler is richly vigorous and it smartly tweaks the iconic theme songs from the games. The eighties rock songs were a classy choice for each element.

I found myself invested in the characters; they are fun, fleshed-out with exposition, and the portrayals of some of the characters are quite different. Chris Pratt does a fine job as Mario; matching his characterization, he sounds confident, cocky, and insecure. Luigi is the victim of the film, and Charlie Day brilliantly voiced him, sounding all frantic as we expected for a clever reference to Luigi's Mansion. The relationship between Mario and Luigi is endearing; they are like best brothers who have fun together and will never let anything happen to them. Keegan Michael Key is amusing as Toad, yet his voice has an emotionally wide range. Princess Peach is portrayed as a no-nonsense female warrior, and instead of a love interest for our heroes, she is more of a compassionate mentor for Mario, as they team up to fight Bowser. Anna Taylor Joy makes Peach sound like a mildly zany yet seriously mature heroine. Seth Rogen's voice strikes an effective fusion of humor and rage as Donkey Kong. I was both intimidated and amused by Bowser with his campy performance. Jack Black was astonishing as Bowser; his voice sounds deep, and he makes Bowser sound ferocious. Highly Recommended (suitable for kids seven and up)!

The Positive: The CGI animals are some of the best CGI special effects ever. Some of the dialogue is well-written. The Cast is fantastic. The direction is very good. The Acting and voice-acting is top-notch. The music score by Dominic Lewis is big, strong, energetic, cartoony, charming, & Playful (one of the best original film scores i have ever heard). & The 2D animated flasback.

The OK: The story barely makes sense. And there are a few positive messages but have been pushed by the negative.

The Negative: The idea of making this film a comedy ruins the source material. Most of the dialogue is very stupid, there are a lot of moments of dialogue that are considered to be plot-holes, there are moments of dialogue where some of the characters break the 4th wall in a naughty and questionable. As a comedy, Most of the comedy bits are unfunny. It's just the same old illogical gags and pranks over and over and over again. The Jokes are unfunny too. The story of the film does not stay true to the book & the plotline/story does not come together in the third act of the film, it's because of the dialogue, the screenplay, & the characterizations. The characterizations of the 2 characters (peter rabbit & thomas mcgregor) failed and does not work, because, it's difficult to know which character to care about/worry about & who to root for. Peter Rabbit is the main character of the film, but he is not a positive role model, he tells lies, he's bossy, he can be arrogant at times, he steals, And he's immature throughout the entire film. The narrator said a lie: "Peter is the hero of the tale." He is not a hero! Sure he does causes mischeif, but again: it does not work. Thomas McGregor is a man who has a hatred for wildlife, especially rabbits. When provoked, he has a bad-tempered and vicious attitude. He said "I am not a bad guy! I am a nice person!" THAT'S NOT TRUE! But again, the movie does not show us which character to care for. He tells lies to his neighbor "Bea", He is not a positive role model either, in fact, Nobody is a positive role model, well...exept Bea. The score is very limited by pop songs. The kids will think that this movie shows what a hero is, but it's not true. Kids will mimic what they saw from the rabbits in the movie. The movies barely even tries hard to be cute. This movie is immature, not very smart, not very funny, not likable, and it's not recommended to anyone. It's not recommended to kids either. Kids deserve smarter, & better than this! There are better family-friendly films out there! Read the beatrix potter book and watch the animated television series and skip this film! 4.5 out of 10

The movie's source material is an entertaining family-friendly saturday-morning jurassic park gem.

The animation is spectacular. Beautiful 3D animation & adds facial expressions for dinosaurs. The musical score is orchestral but it's not flashy, but there are moments of big brass sounds that sound a bit like the "inception" horns. This movie grab's emotions like shock, awe, has thrills, & it's even funny and cute.

This movie wasn't going for realism/non-fiction. It's just pure sci-fi/fantasy entertainment. & it was entertaining.

The movie has a vibe of a Y7 cartoon which makes it enjoyable, however, the main character's scared melodramatic behavior seems "larger than life."

Flaws: the main character does not say the names of the dinosaurs. & tells the baby dino to chew with his mouth closed, dinos are not people! Tell that to rude humans! Sometimes the movie can be stupid if you watch it.

Overall: this is a thrilling, fun, entertaining, 3D dino short that's recommended. Only Appropriate for kids age 7 and up.