Nintendo ‘needs to get involved’ in a Mario Bros. movie New, says the character’s creator

But this Wednesday, Mario, one of the most famous characters in video game history, debuted in theaters in the United States as the hero in “Super Mario Bros.: The Movie,” a new animated production from giant Universal. the pictures.

“I didn’t even imagine that Mario would grow so big,” Miyamoto told AFP.

“It’s like watching a 2D illustration come out of paper and become a 3D doll, then come to life and become a human being,” said the legendary video game designer.

The production, which is hitting theaters after recent successful video game adaptations like “The Last Of Us,” is the second attempt to bring Mario to the big screen, after the ill-fated 1993 live-action movie.

At the time, Nintendo ceded creative freedom to Hollywood producers, who developed a dystopian fantasy set in Jurassic Kingdom.

This time the Japanese giant took center stage.

Nintendo sent Miyamoto himself to co-produce the film with Chris Meledandri, founder of Illumination Studio, which has several hits like “My Favorite Villain” and the popular “Minions” in its catalog.

“Not only did we want to give away the rights, we wanted to be involved,” Miyamoto explained.

“We got to meet Chris. It gave us the confidence that Chris and his team would work with us,” he said.

“I was sure we had to be involved,” said Miyamoto, and emphasized that this was the only way to successfully incorporate the true spirit of a Nintendo video game into the film.

Focus on the characters

The result is a colorful action movie that unfolds at a kid-friendly pace, packed with details and references that will inspire nostalgia among fans who grew up on Nintendo.

He even provides a back story on his protagonists.

The Mario brothers struggle to make ends meet in their fledgling plumbing business in New York, trying to save the city from a flood crisis, but are drowned in the green pipe.

Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom, where he will have to rescue his brother from the clutches of its ruler and nemesis, Bowser.

According to Miyamoto, the idea to create a movie stemmed from a major strategic shift Nintendo made a decade ago to make its games “more character-centric”.

Until then, beyond “Wahoo!” For Mario, Nintendo’s designers didn’t add “anything extra or superfluous” to their characters because “we didn’t know what kinds of games they were going to be used in” later.

“We wanted non-players to be able to identify with our characters,” Miyamoto explained.

The “change in direction” also led to Nintendo’s theme parks opening recently in the cities of Osaka and Los Angeles, with the promise of new attractions.

Spielberg Video Games

Miyamoto, 70, who is sometimes considered the Steven Spielberg of video games, has had to adjust to his new role as a producer in Hollywood.

“I enjoy watching movies, but I’m not an expert,” he told AFP. “I see everything,” he said, “but I never thought I’d want to make a movie.”

On the contrary, it was films like Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” that inspired his video games, including the famous “The Legend of Zelda”.

“When I watched the movie,” he said, “I realized that there were a lot of creators involved (…) and that one person at the helm brought everything together into a cohesive structure.”

In this sense, he noted: “I saw this from a game designer’s perspective, and I thought ‘I want to make video games like that.'”

Working alongside Meledandri for six years to complete the new “Mario” movie allowed Miyamoto to “watch this whole process up close.”

Hollywood stars like Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Seth Rogen were enlisted to give voice to the popular Nintendo characters.

controversy

But the movie has already sparked controversy, especially because of Mario’s accent.

In contrast to the Italian accent used by Mario in the video games, last year many fans were surprised to hear Pratt portray the character with an American accent in last year’s trailer.

The explanation for the alleged omission lies in the film’s plot, and should allay viewers’ skepticism.

Pratt suggested that Mario’s accent (played by Charles Martinet in the video games) could be a distraction in a full-length movie.

“We talked early on about the importance of rooting my version of Mario’s voice in something that could support a 90-minute emotional streak,” said Chris Pratt in the film’s press releases.

Miyamoto hopes that putting Mario in a movie will make fans feel like he’s really there.

“I feel like we made it happen, and I hope so,” he said.

After Mario, could new Nintendo adaptations come? Maybe a “Zelda” movie?

Miyamoto replied, “There are always possibilities!”