After too many years in the making, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is finally out and we positively love it. Mike has already gone ahead and done us the honour of penning our spoiler free review for it, but I still feel the need to discuss many factors of this amazing creation. Unlike Mike, however, everything I will go on to say will not be spoiler free so please take this as your first and only warning.
With that unpleasantry out of the way, it’s time for our fourth topic, Donkey Kong and a great injustice.
Donkey Kong Done Wrong:
Donkey Kong Done Wrong:
A great injustice has occurred and no, the injustice has nothing to do with Seth Rogan being the voice of Donkey Kong. In fact, Seth Rogan was a fitting choice and there is plenty I am going to say on that issue, but first, we have to address the elephant in the room. Yes, the DK rap is in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and it’s used to serve as a musical introduction piece for when Donkey Kong himself, makes his first appearance.
The only issue with the rap, of which there is two, is firstly, I wish the entire thing made it into the movie. It would have been surreal to see the entire thing play out with each of the DK crew spitting bars as they bring it to the big screen, but instead, we’re tested with a few of the opening lines, all while Donkey Kong is showboating.
The second injustice, should you sit and watch the credits, which you most definitely should do if you wish to see both the mid and post-credit scenes, is whilst every other track in this film gives the proper credit to where it’s due, the DK Rap is credited only to Donkey Kong 64, as any mention of Grant Kirkhope being the composer, is non-existent. It’s a travesty really. As cheesy as it is, it’s still a masterpiece that was epically brought back to life for the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Moving onto more positive things, let’s talk about the Kong with the red tie. I love how he is portrayed as being a jackass. His dad sees him as a failure and DK does plenty of pouting, but it is still hilarious to see him hating on Mario pulling because he can. Unlike a bratty child who has been told off by a parent, DK utters the typical “I hate you” in the direction of Mario and until a quad pro quo situation that occurs much later in the film, he just hates the plumber outright.
Sure, when they first meet, it’s in an arena and Mario had to quite literally beat Donkey Kong in combat to win over the Kong army, but from there, DK just outright detests Mario purely because he can and Seth Rogan plays this part very well indeed. Even when Donkey King is just lounging around idly in a hammock, eating bananas, it’s near impossible to look at him like that and not smile.
Furthermore, the Jungle Kingdom is utterly stunning and I regret not being able to see more of it. It might come off as a little weird to see how kart obsessed the Kings are but Illumination had to find somewhere to fit karts in and where better than making the Kongs out to be gear heads?
Naturally, all views above are entirely my own and I would love to hear what you guys thought of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Thank you for reading.
