33 replies to this topic

[Anthus]

The film turns out to just be a speedrun of Mario Odyssey but without skipping the cutscenes.

 

You know, I'd actually be okay with that

 

I'm going to make a video game adaptation of The Crying Game. Or maybe the long, and dialogue heavy 1962 Lolita. We'll see how great of an idea it is to cross mediums.

 

(Edit: realizes the crying game could actually be done as a third person shooter, or something.. and Lolita? Hm, dating sim?)

[The Satellite]

On a more serious note, we were talking about this in the Discord but if the film ended up being an adaptation of Galaxy it could potentially be really cool. However, I don't see that happening, since they're more likely to do something new than recycle an old concept.

 

"but they made Galaxy 2"

 

I SAID SOMETHING NEW.

[Anthus]

One story I think could work, albeit, it'll be corny, but what if it's like, "Hey, this kid got sucked into the game". It might have the Sonic X syndrome of adding in a new, unwanted character, but I dunno. I want to be excited, but I just know realistically, given what we know about the parties involved, it's probably going to be made to appeal to as many people as possible. And I'll admit, I even like some "kid" movies. Moana was good, and I like the vast majority of Pixar's work, and Dreamworks.  I'm just baffled as to why Nintendo chose Illumination.

 

Here's another thought: Even though Mario is super famous and all, people that don't play his games might not even know about the story, or lack of. 

[The Satellite]

I hadn't considered the angle of treating it like a game in-universe and that's another plot I don't want to see. I'm not big on those types, especially because they do something stupid like add in an unappealing real world character. 

[Cukeman]

Obviously it's going to take place after Mario's first victory against Bowser. Now that the kingdom is safe, Mario needs to find work, so he decides to become landlord of a Hotel- the Hotel Mario, full of unruly tenants who leave their doors open (Mamma mia!).

 

I do love the Mario RPG storytelling where everyone else speechifies and Mario just reacts (and does the action), but I'm sure they won't go with that interpretation of Mario, I'm sure it will be the Sunshine-Galaxy-Odyssey interpretation of Mario.

 

Either way, this movie could have lotsa spaghetti.

Edited by Cukeman, 02 February 2018 - 09:27 PM.

[klop422]

I'd watch it if it were a reboot of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show

 

More seriously, I'd argue that Mario isn't a silent protagonist. He speaks in just about every game since SM64. I just hope they get Charles Martinet to voice everyone at least Mario. And that isn't just his yells and "Let's-a go". In the Mario and Luigi games (which I think are canon?) he explains a good amount of things - you just don't get the specifics.

And everyone else isn't silent, so that's fine.

It's true that he doesn't have a lot of personality, but he'll probably be given the 'hero' archetype. Nothing too interesting, but hopefully enough...

 

Mario also has a bit of lore. It's not a lot, but there might be enough for a film. If worst comes to worst, they can take Game Theory's lore theories

[The Satellite]

If worst comes to worst, they can take Game Theory's lore theories

No, please.

[Mitsukara]

Mario talked loads in Mario's Game Gallery / Mario's FUNdamentals, a game where Mario hosts various bland single player computer card games like Go Fish and acts as a 'fully interactive' second player. It's the kind of thing I would've loved as a lonely child with no friends XD It's also the first game that I know of where Charles Martinet voiced Mario, though I think he did certain Nintendo presentations even earlier (and Super Mario 64 and Mario Teaches Typing 2 came not much later).

 

There are totally stories with silent protagonists, in cartoons, but yeah I don't think Nintendo really treats Mario as a silent protagonist these days (awesome as his pantomime in Super Mario RPG was- speaking of which, I'd love to see that game adapted into a movie or OVA, but it'll never happen. We'd get an FFVI movie/series before that), except maybe for Paper Mario.

 

One thing that could actually be a fun, would be to deliberately play off of how strange Mario's setting is. If Mario is meant to be from Earth (I'm not sure if this is canon? The whole Brooklyn thing?), then it could be about him and Luigi's first encounter with the Mushroom Kingdom as they find out how strange everything is, and the alien physics it works by. That could also be why they're so great at jumping (Mario's jumping is much more mundane in, say, Donkey Kong). It's like a universe that runs by totally different (and much more forgiving) physical laws.

 

I can't imagine them not having Bowser kidnap Peach. You want it to avoid the most common, well-known trope in all of Mario when there's never been a 'proper' movie about the subject? That seems implausible. But they could play with it, having Peach be proactive like in Paper Mario when she sneaks around the castle Metal Gear-style. Or maybe even something like this. They could also have other complicated stuff going on, but I'd say the one foregone conclusion is that Bowser will kidnap peach, at least to the extent seen in Super Mario RPG (where it was right at the beginning for a couple minutes before the real plot crashes down on their heads).

 

I wonder if the Koopalings will appear. Luigi will obviously appear (lest there be rioting in the streets), some manner of Toads and Yoshi probably will, and I doubt they could refrain from Bowser Jr given Nintendo's marketing for the past 15 years, but the Koopalings are always on the fence about getting worked in or not (though with Mario Kart 8 and the New Super Mario Bros games I think it's been on a bit of an upward trend for them maybe). Wario is also anyone's guess. Donkey Kong seems like somebody they'd at least make a passing reference to. But Geno and Mallow are only in my dreams.

Edited by Mitsukara, 04 February 2018 - 10:58 AM.

[Cukeman]

Yes the first movie should be a Donkey Kong adaptation, before Mario goes to the Mushroom Kingdom, save that for the sequel.

[Mitsukara]

It also occurs to me that they might play with the recurring theme of Mario and friends being like a troupe of performers doing a stage show (the rising curtain and blocks bolted to the sky that they cast a shadow on in Super Mario Bros 3, for example, and Paper Mario played with it too, and probably some other stuff).

[Norzan]

I honestly never got the point of movies about video games. Isn't the interactivity the main point of a video game? What's the point of a movie about a video game if you can't even interact? Can't you just make that movie into a video game instead?

 

Then again, games are becoming more and more like movies. So what do i know?

Edited by Norzan, 04 February 2018 - 03:25 PM.

[Cukeman]

I honestly never got the point of movies about video games. Isn't the interactivity the main point of a video game? What's the point of a movie about a video game if you can't even interact? Can't you just make that movie into a video game instead?

 

Then again, games are becoming more and more like movies. So what do i know?

 

You raise a good point. I think a lot of it is just seeing all the rest of our favorite characters in theaters, and having these absent.

[Orithan]

When done right; movie adaptations of video games can tell a much deeper story and deliver much deeper characters than what they can produce in the source material. That is when they are done right. They don't necessarily have to faithful to the source material 100% of the time, but a lot of the time they are done wrong.

As far as Mario goes, I am not sure how such a movie will pan out. The series has quite a bit of lore hidden underneath the series' cuddly exterior, some of which can be used to build a movie from. But there is a good chance that it will involve the franchise's most common trope: Kidnapping Princess Peach and most of this lore could be ignored.
As much as people dislike Illumination and would rather prefer Dreamworks or Pixar making the movie; I'd say what Illumination does is a better fit for the series than either of the other big companies.

[Cukeman]

Deeper story and characters? If the original game is a platformer, sure, but if it's a long and story driven game, then the movie only has 2 hours to tell a story the game had dozens of hours to tell.

Edited by Cukeman, 04 February 2018 - 03:56 PM.

[Saffith]

True, but they'll probably cut out the bits where Mario and co. go badge shopping and fight thirty buffed goombas on the way to the next story event.