4 Star Fun from the most Famous Plumbers of the 1990’s
This film first aired in 1993 and was only based in name on the computer game. Directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton (Max Headroom) bring us a comedy that lightens the heart and leaves you with images that you will remember 20 years later (just mention Goomba’s in a lift, to anyone who has seen the film). Now brought to us in Blu-ray so we can relive those wonderful fashion choices we made in crystal clarity. Yay.
The story starts 65 million years ago, with the dinosaurs merrily enjoying themselves, when along comes a meteorite and destroys them, or wait a minute, no, it creates a parallel universe, where evolution takes a different path. Ace.
Jump forward to 20 years ago (1973) we see a woman running away from something unseen. She is carrying something under her arm and when she lays it at the door of a church, she bangs on the door but there is no answer. She places a small shard of stone into the package and departs, leaving the package in the care on the nuns within the church. Where upon we see the birth of a baby from an egg, “yes, an egg”.
Jump forward 20 years to now (1993) we come across two struggling plumbers Mario Mario (Bob Hoskins, Snow White and the Huntsman) and his young apprentice Luigi (John Leguizamo, The Lincoln Lawyer). Mario is sat by the phone waiting for any work to come in, while Luigi lounges around watching conspiracy TV about parallel universes and reading about all the missing girls in Brooklyn.
They get a sniff of a job and head across town, with Luigi driving and he drives using his feelings rather than Mario’s directions but when they arrive they are disappointed as their main rivals are there before them, The Scapelli Construction Co.
Meanwhile somewhere close, someone else is having problems with the owner Mr Scapelli (Gianni Russo, The Godfather 1&2). She is Daisy (Samantha Mathis, Buried) and she is in charge of the university dinosaur dig within one of Scapelli’s construction sites. He is pressurizing Daisy to get off the site and in the time before mobile phones she heads off to find a phone and this is where our plumbers and young lady in distress paths cross.
Daisy keeps getting the feeling she is being watched, she is, by two bungling goons Iggy and Spike (Fisher Stevens, Awake)(Richard Edson, Platoon). They have been sent to Brooklyn by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper, Speed) to find the shard that lies around Daisy’s neck as it always has.
Eventually our bungling duo get the right girl and whisk Daisy off to the crossing point between the two universes where it is safe to cross, with the Mario’s in hot pursuit. Koopa is after Daisy but that is only half the package that he is after, the shard is the main objective as this is to be placed within the meteorite to meld the two universes together for Koopa to rule over. But the shard is in Mario’s hands for a short while anyway but when they get to the parallel universe it is taken by Bertha (Francesca P. Roberts, Legally Blond).
A great fun film from an era that wasn’t in trouble with recession, so sit back and open the biggest packet of popcorn you can find and enjoy this blast from the past.
Ace Fun, Mario Style. Goomba!!!
Available to order on DVD and Blu-ray Now.
| Director | Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton |
| Genre | Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi |
| Starring | Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis, Fisher Stevens |
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