Throughout the years, several attempts have been made to take popular video game franchises and turn them into blockbuster films.
Films like the 2019 “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” movie and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” being released later this year, are just a couple examples of such adaptations.
In most instances, studios take liberties with continuity and original storylines of these video games, making either a really exciting film adaptation or a disappointing one.
Honestly, some of those movies work well and others not so much.
Movies that contain Easter eggs and callbacks to original story elements are some of my favorite examples of these adaptations
An Easter egg is defined as a surprise appearance or featured item in a piece of media, according to Dictionary.com.
On the other hand, movies that try to change and deviate from the original media are amongst my least favorite.
Here are two movies that I strongly believe will transition well from consoles to the big screen, with the exception of some details that I think really need some work.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Upon seeing the movie, anyone would immediately be able to tell that those who worked on the movie knew what they were doing with the Pokémon material.
With several signs of resemblance to the “Detective Pikachu” video game, released on March 23, 2018 and the Pokémon series as a whole, this movie definitely proved to be a passionate project.
The movie was adapted from a spin-off video game in the Pokémon franchise of the same name that followed a similar story with a series of plot changes, according to IGN.
“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” is a movie about a 21-year-old young adult Tim Goodman, who sets out to find out what happened to his father, along with his father’s Pokémon companion, Pikachu, after he passed away in a fatal car crash.
The two set out to find clues amongst the streets of Ryme City, a town where Pokémon battling is now illegal.
Along the way, the two make a shocking discovery that can threaten the peaceful coexistence of both Pokémon and humans throughout the city, according to IMDb.
Upon seeing the movie myself, I really liked how they implemented the Pokémon and human coexistence in Ryme City.
All of the Pokémon looked as accurate as possible when translated to live action, maintaining their cute but deadly nature.
While the movie made several hefty changes to the game’s story, the changes worked for a film- adaptation scenario.
Some of the biggest changes included the fact that Tim had a larger role in the game, particularly when solving problems, as he was the character that you would play as. Along with the fact that the secondary character in the movie, Lucy Stevens, was split between two different characters in the video game, according to a May 12, 2019 article by IGN.
However, most of the general elements of the original story were kept intact, with added Easter eggs to the main series franchise as well.
In the movie, Mewtwo is being experimented on in a laboratory, just like in the original animated film “Pokemon: The First Movie,” according to a May 10, 2018 YouTube video by WatchMojo.
I also absolutely love the nod to the original video games at the end of the movie, right before the end credits roll.
While this nod features a custom “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” rendition of the original games, it still shows that the overall adaptation from video game to major motion picture was much more of a passion project than a quick-cash grab.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
As for the upcoming “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” set to release on April 7, things are looking kind of bleak to me.
From what we’ve seen, there is a mixture of good and bad things to expect from this movie so far.
With video game movie adaptations, there is a time and place for animation and live action. With “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” their best bet was to go with the 3D animation style, which they did.
That’s one thing they have going for them, especially after the failure of the first “Super Mario Bros.” movie.
Oh wait, you didn’t know that there was already a movie? Yup, back in 1993, a live action rendition of the Super Mario Bros. was developed for the big screen, according to IMDb.
However, this video game adaptation tried to take itself way too seriously and transformed the duo into more of a sci-fi adventure style comedy, instead of putting the Mario Bros. within a more playful, fun and comedic-animated style film.
While the look and style of the new film is great, my biggest gripe with the upcoming animated film is the cast.
I absolutely hate the idea and sound of Chris Pratt doing the voice for Mario.
To me, they took the super out of Super Mario Bros. and stomped all over the franchise’s original source material.
The cast is filled with big Hollywood actors that really don’t do any justice to the characters.
Mario is played by Chris Pratt, Luigi by Charlie Day, Princess Peach by Anya Taylor-Joy, Toad by Keegan-Michael Key and Donkey Kong by Seth Rogen, according to IMDb.
Almost the entire cast sound nothing like their video game counterparts to me.
The only voice that I think sounds good at all is the casting of Jack Black as Bowser because his rendition of Bowser’s voice sounds at least somewhat accurate to what I think the character would sound like, after being given a more developed definitive voice.
But really, why the hell is Seth Rogen’s name anywhere near this property, let alone Chris Pratt as Mario?
I’d rather have the actual English voice actors for the games come back for the movie and make their own rendition of the characters’ voices, based on the actual games.
That would be way better than having Chris Pratt star in another popular film, just to grab another paycheck and ultimately disrespect the source material that actually made the film popular in the first place.
Now to be fair, these decisions may have been made for contractual reasons or some kind of stipulation on the film.
After all, the film is being produced by Nintedo, alongside both Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
However, according to IMDb, Charles Martinet is also on the top cast list for the film.
Martinet is a voice actor, best known for his portrayal of Mario and Luigi, as well as several other characters in the Mario Bros. video games.
If they already have him, why wouldn’t they use him for either of the lead roles?
As far as I can tell, his role in the movie is not specified on the IMDb website.
Aside from the cast and voice actors involved, the best things from the film are the animated style and visuals and the newest trailer.
In the newest trailer, the theme song for “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!” is heard as a mock advertisement for Mario and Luigi’s plumbing company.
“The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!” was a TV show produced by DIC Entertainment in 1989 and aired on NBC, according to The Ringer, a sports, pop culture and tech news site.
A real life phone number and web address are also provided within the trailer.
If you call 929-556-2746 on your phone, you will be treated to a voicemail from Luigi detailing the nature of the brothers’ plumbing business and what they provide for customers.
There is also a website provided in the trailer that takes anyone who visits it to a site for the brothers’ plumbing business as well, complete with reviews and mock information about their services.
If you’d like to visit the website, just go to smbplumbing.com.
Little details like this make a huge difference to hardcore fans of their respective franchises and can be seen as the distinction between an amazing adaptation and a highly disappointing one.
That said, I think this one still needs some work.
Again, while I think the movie looks good in style and is marketed well, I’m still not convinced with the nature of the movie’s cast and overall attitude of the characters.
If there’s one thing every hardcore Nintendo fan knows, it’s that you don’t screw with Mario Bros.
They’ve done just that with the characters in this movie.
Hopefully the fanbase will get better news about this movie, as a Nintendo Direct has been announced for March 9, and will solely focus on information about the new movie, according to Polygon, a media news site.
As someone who considers himself a hardcore fan of the franchise, although there are some good elements to the film, this movie has done nothing but set me up for disappointment going forward.
At this point, it proves to me that this movie is more for today’s generation of kids than for the real Nintendo fans who played the classic Mario Bros. video games throughout the years.
It’s stuff like this that really shows neglect for the original source material at hand. It’s easy to notice the difference between a video game to film adaptation that has potential and one that’s just a quick-cash grab
