Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor

nuc5002@psu.edu

Photo Credit – Nintendo/Illumination

On November 29, gaming giant Nintendo, in collaboration with animation studio Illumination, released the second trailer for their upcoming movie “Super Mario Bros.” This trailer comes less than two months after the first and was originally shown during a livestream on Nintendo’s Youtube page, later uploaded to various social media platforms by the film’s official accounts. 

Unlike the first trailer, which acted more as a teaser for the film, this new trailer gives the audience a larger view and overall feel for this upcoming movie.

From what can be inferred from the trailer, it seems like Luigi, Mario’s brother, has been kidnapped by Bowser, King Koopa. Mario then sets off on the adventure to save his brother with the help of the Mushroom Kingdom’s Princess Peach and Toad, the Princess’ loyal servant. 

While only around two minutes long, this trailer shows off a lot of the various motifs and settings we will be witnessing. The audience gets a good view of the Mushroom Kingdom along with seeing both an ice realm and Bowser’s lair. Sprinkled throughout the trailer were an abundant amount of references to the “Mario” legacy. 

There are moments where the audience can evidently see references to the older side-scrolling entries and even to the more modern 3D platforming era like “Mario Galaxy.” The final shot of the trailer also alludes that a portion of the film will involve a go-kart race, clearly a homage to the “Mario Kart” spin-off games.

The audience also gets a good look at the various power-ups at play in this movie. We can see Peach picking up a Fire Flower, turning her outfit to a metallic white and red color scheme. There is also Mario wearing the iconic Tanooki suit as he flies around. 

On the topic of characters, I need to address voice acting. Now that almost everyone’s voices have been displayed, it is evident that everyone else is carrying Chris Pratt. Even though a majority of the actors involved have little to no voice acting experience, you feel that they are doing their best to shift and alter their voice to better fit the character. The most noticeable of these is Jack Black as Bowser with the actor adding a grave tone to his standard cadence to create a level of malevolence for the character. Chris Pratt seems to be doing his regular, standard voice, leading people to worry as he plays the lead. 

Even with people’s continuing issues with Chris Pratt, the internet’s reaction to this trailer was considerably more positive than the first. With more people looking forward to the “Super Mario Bros.” release on April 7, there grows more speculation on whether the film can live up to the hype surrounding its release.