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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Brian Tyler/Various)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are an avid enthusiast of the concept on its
original gaming platform, for Brain Tyler has expertly coordinated a
symphonic blend of vintage and new melodies for this wild romp.
Avoid it... if you harbor a distaste for this genre of film generally, for this hybrid score is haphazardly frenetic and bounces between countless, needle-dropped references to the game's music.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Super Mario Bros. Movie: (Brian Tyler/Various)
Intellectual depth isn't a trademark feature plumbed in the Nintendo
properties of "Super Mario" and its relatives. The concept's long
history as a video game features a mindless series of tasks to
pleasantly pass time, and it's no surprise that its nostalgia value has
caused it to pass down to another generation. Owing to the "Donkey Kong"
game console release of 1981, the Mario Bros. characters have had a
limited and lambasted history in narrative adaptations, the disastrous
live-action 1993 movie, Super Mario Bros., ridiculed even decades
later by its own cast. The concept owners decided to revisit the
franchise once again in an animated film, and The Super Mario Bros.
Movie resulted. With a tired and predictable plotline involving the
same silly characters as ever, the 2023 endeavor conjured mediocre
critical reviews but amassed huge box office returns, proving again that
nostalgia sells, even if propelled by idiocy. The Italian-American
plumbing brothers Mario and Luigi descend into the bowels of Brooklyn to
fix a major municipal water issue and are sucked into the realms of the
Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Lands, where they team up with Princess Peach
and the familiar faces of the Jungle Kingdom (where Donkey Kong's
gorillas come from) to defeat the evil Bowser, the king of the
turtle-like Koopa race. Bowser can't seem to decide between his love of
Princess Peach from the Mushroom Kingdom and the destruction of
everything and everyone else, and with the help of the Kongs, Peach,
Mario, and Luigi not only save the imaginary lands but Brooklyn as well.
With the movie pounding towards a billion dollars in grosses, one has to
imagine that its pornographic parodies will emerge before long, and
they'll probably be equally intelligent. Just as your interest in (and
tolerance of) the film depends upon your passion for the extensive
history of Mario Bros. in all their various games and associated
spin-offs, the same can be said of the soundtrack. With the guidance of
the concept's creators, the songs and score for The Super Mario Bros.
Movie were carefully crafted as an ultimate nostalgic Easter egg
hunt, throwing music from countless game iterations into a mix with new
ideas from Brian Tyler to form a hybrid cinematic orchestral adventure
and vintage video game homage.
The hiring of Tyler for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is apt, as the composer proclaims to be a passionate enthusiast of the associated video games. His intent with the assignment was to bring large-scale symphonic depth to the score as means of addressing the scope of cinema. As expected, though, a significant dose of eight and sixteen-bit music relating back to the original Nintendo game scores by Koji Kondo is applied as well. Tyler confesses that blending these Kondo tones with a touch of John Williams orchestral bravado was the intent, and he succeeds surprisingly well at the task. The spotting of music in The Super Mario Bros. Movie proved to be a daunting endeavor, Tyler consulting extensively with Kondo and concept veteran designer Shigeru Miyamoto about the placement of multitudes of references to the franchise's past music into this film. Also collaborating with Tyler was another franchise composer, Mark Mancina, and beyond that, music from an even broader range of those involved with the concept in the past, from Mark Mothersbaugh to Burt Bacharach, made the final cut. Although Tyler credits Miyamoto, Kondo, and Mancina for their consultation, his score comes with countless arrangers but no ghostwriters suggested, implying his personal involvement from corner to corner. (This includes, as per usual, Tyler himself pounding away at a drum kit for the final performance.) The countless era rock songs dropped into the film sometimes displace his score cues; a really fantastic passage early in "World 1-1" is among those replaced by a song. Two source songs were supplied by actors on the fly during production, and neither is the work of Tyler. The Jack Black song as Bowser, "Peaches," is wretchedly terrible but somehow generated chart success as a single, and this sorry entry is included on the score album. A Keegan-Michael Key song as the character of Toad is not included on the album, however. The other song making the cut is the vintage "Mario Brothers Rap," which is another horrific diversion from the score. Tyler achieves his goal of blending orchestra and eight-bit inspiration quite well, the tone of the overall product adventuresome and haphazard in the methods of a typical animated action comedy. Only occasionally does this balance tip awkwardly to straight vintage tones, and the score does suffer moments when a needle-dropped idea seems forced, but these are relatively few. The standard orchestral instrumentation for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is joined not only by digital throwbacks, but it's laced with hard rock elements, vaguely Italian ethnic character, jungle-inspired tones for the Kong-oriented sequences, and choral accompaniment that ranges from wordless fantasy to male chants of "Mario!" for dramatic effect. (That latter technique isn't as prominent in the mix as needed, and its use is sometimes a tad sudden, as at 0:54 into "It's a Dog Eat Plumber World.") The roaring rock elements sometimes overwhelm, and the complete shifts to eight-bit sounds also break you out of the orchestral mood in a few places, but these moments still thrive as temporary diversions for humorous throwback motifs. Thematically, Tyler handles The Super Mario Bros. Movie from two distinct directions at once. From one side, he approached the narrative of the movie as if it weren't connected to the franchise, assigning three new major themes of purely orchestral inclination to the main characters to follow their journey in this one film. With those ideas established, he then returned from the other direction to infuse the periphery of that new core with all the innumerous references to themes and minor motifs from the many iterations of the game in the past. (Nothing from Alan Silvestri's score for the live-action 1993 movie seems to survive.) The "Super Mario Bros. Opus" track summarizes the three new themes with a few retro references within, and the "Level Complete" end credits track contains a haphazard collection of game themes sometimes not referenced in the rest of the score, itself bracketed by Tyler's main new theme. That primary new idea for Mario and Luigi is a fun, rollicking, slightly jazzy identity that works well in conjunction with the existing Kondo themes. Some of its most unique applications come with solo violin melodrama, as in "Press Start." In his suite of new themes, the main identity is brightly optimistic at 0:12 into "Super Mario Bros. Opus" and returns at 5:08 in similar fashion. It occupies the first half of the aforementioned "Press Start" on loungey tones mixed with 8-bit digital effects, exploding with faster tempos and overbearing drum kit percussion later in the cue. After closing "Plumbin' Ain't Easy" with a frantic lurch, the solo violin from "Press Start" is reprised with the melody in "2 Player Game," which segues the theme to brass and the fuller ensemble for several easy-going renditions throughout the cue. After early establishing scenes, Tyler's new main theme for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is more haphazardly incorporated in the score until its closing moments. A slapping rock rendition early in "World 1-1" leads back into straight orchestral mayhem. It's overwhelmed by the Donkey Kong material in "Drivin' Me Bananas," supplies relief from the Bowser theme in the middle of "Blue Shelled" and the end of "The Belly of the Beast," explodes at 3:13 into "Fighting Tooth and Veil" in fanfare mode, and shifts to determined minor key in the first half of "Tactical Tanooki." The main theme has an epiphany in the second half of "Grapple in the Big Apple" with choir, mingles extensively with legacy themes in the ultra-bright "Superstars," and opens "The Super Mario Brothers" in slight melodrama before closing that cue with typical finale form. The theme humorously emerges in the middle of "Bonus Level" for a more flamboyant crescendo, complete with a "Mario" lyric at the end, and anchors the start and end of "Level Complete" with a retro instrumental tone. More about character than melodic grace is the new theme for the villain, Bowser. Some of his secondary motifs from the games are dropped in, but the primary thematic phrasing for him is new. It's an elusive melody, not clearly applied in parts of the score, but it consolidates nicely in the middle of "King of the Koopas." As part of Tyler's suite, it builds throughout the fourth minute of "Super Mario Bros. Opus" before a more bombastic march edition at 0:10 into "King of the Koopas" joins a vintage rock interlude for electric guitar that transfers straight from the game. The idea adds some fright to the end of "World 1-1" and guides the tone of "Imprisoned," offering generic posturing early in "Blue Shelled." It's prominent in the first minute of "An Indecent Proposal" against vintage motifs, tries to fend off all the heroic themes old and new in "Fighting Tooth and Veil," and dies off with a reference at the start of "The Super Mario Brothers." The best new theme may belong to Princess Peach, heard with massive orchestral and choral force at 2:41 into the "Super Mario Bros. Opus" suite. It lends a snippet to the end of "Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom," builds confident momentum late in "The Mushroom Council," and becomes spritely and confident in the middle of "Platforming Princess." This theme turns nicely sensitive in "Lost and Crowned," is cute in the middle of "Practice Makes Perfect" and late in "Buckle Up," shifts to full battle mode against Bowser fragments during "Fighting Tooth and Veil," and enjoys a magically redemptive moment with choir at 0:25 into "The Super Mario Brothers." Tyler's consultation with the composers and others from the franchise's past yields countless references to themes and minor motifs from across the realm of related Nintendo products. For casual enthusiasts of the game, the most pivotal of these will point to the first game's music by Kondo. That product's main theme is applied all over The Super Mario Bros. Movie as a companion to Tyler's new main theme, the duo sometimes layered simultaneously. The memorable six-note motif from Kondo's theme is most prevalent as a motif here, but fuller renditions are definitely explored. Tyler sneaks in this idea at 5:11 into "Super Mario Bros. Opus" and revisits it to close out the track. Hyperactive, momentary bursts at 1:01 and 2:29 into "Press Start" are affectionate. The theme persists at the start of "Strange New World" in ethereal tones, 0:37 into "Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom," 0:38 into "World 1-1" under the new main theme (a moment sadly cut from the film and replaced with a song), and very briefly at 1:08 into "The Belly of the Beast." The best and wildly energetic extended performance of this theme occurs at 1:18 into "Fighting Tooth and Veil." While it informs the unfortunate "Mario Brothers Rap," Kondo's main theme returns for better life in the melodrama at the end of "Grapple in the Big Apple" before building to a momentous conclusion in "Superstars." It punctuates a quick celebration at the end of the "Bonus Level" finale and opens the end credits in "Level Complete." Also used extensively is Kondo's course complete and underground themes. The former is applied as a counterpoint line at 1:14 into "Press Start," recurs at the end of "Platforming Princess" in redemptive victory, bloats up with noble brass at the start of "The Adventure Begins," becomes integrated with the finale near the end of "Fighting Tooth and Veil," and interjects rather suddenly at 1:09 into "Level Complete." The underground theme is prominently conveyed as source on piano in one scene, but that cue doesn't appear to exist on the score album. It is alluded to a few times in "Press Start" and develops onto rambling low piano in the first minute of "The Warp Pipe." The theme's primary four notes are established for menace early in "Imprisoned" and again at 1:20 into "An Indecent Proposal." The idea experiences a quick action explosion at 1:23 into "Tactical Tanooki" and makes an abrupt entrance at 0:33 into "Level Complete." These Kondo themes, among many others, are tossed into that end credits arrangement in a rather haphazard assembly, with arguably too many motifs crammed together without elegant transitions in that summary credits cue. A variety of other themes from Kondo and others are applied in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, though many of their insertions are singular events. More substantial is the game's invincibility theme, which is nicely orchestrated for anticipation at 2:58 into "Super Mario Bros. Opus" and rambles for a moment with wild percussion at 2:10 into "Press Start." After some teasing with dramatic symphonic gusto at the end of "King of the Koopas," this idea disappears until its natural resurrection at the outset of "Superstars" with magnificent energy. Likewise, the game's underwater theme makes a few appearances; its stately waltz is barely heard at 0:40 into "Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom" but makes itself fully heard at 1:13 into "Level Complete." The rainbow road theme lets loose at 0:48 into "Buckle Up" with choir and tingling percussion, though its incorporation isn't as sustained as expected. The motif for a dead player pokes through at the end of "Press Start" in pure analog form, and the game's end theme is utilized at the start of "Fighting Tooth and Veil" with dignity. Meanwhile, Tyler was asked to include ideas from the Donkey Kong musical universe, resulting in some motific references to add to his exotic woodwind, vocal, and percussion effects for that Jungle Kingdom sequence of cues. The vintage melodies are nicely adapted in "Courting the Kongs" and "Drivin' Me Bananas," though the (strangely uncredited) Donkey Kong rap intro music is not provided on the score album. There are countless other references to motifs in the later incarnations of the game, ranging from "Super Mario Bros. 3" to "Super Mario 64" and many others. Only avid enthusiasts of the game will know the connections for these inclusions, though other listeners will still find that the applications provide snippets of style that stand apart from Tyler's base mode. That general writing of new material for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is functional but not always exemplary. The action music between "Saving Brooklyn" and "The Darklands" is too anonymous, as are some portions of "Tactical Tanooki" and "Grapple in the Big Apple." A very long album release is an immense treat for concept fans, but it does contain these somewhat generic cues of more mundane Tyler music. Still, the long album, which managed distribution via CD, vinyl, and cassette (just watch... thirty years from now, a sealed copy of this cassette will sell for a million dollars), has to be excused as an Easter egg hunt at the very least. As a coordination effort, Tyler deserves significant praise for his care and attention to this franchise's music. His new main and Peach themes are worthy additions. The score is wildly out of control and shifts between themes and eras with zeal, but that's the whole point. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 87:47
* performed by Jack Black ** performed by Ali Dee
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for the digital album.
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