Nintendo has released the second trailer for The Super Mario. Bros Movie, giving fans an in-depth look at the action – laden with references to the character’s sprawling history – hitting screens in April.
Debuted in a Nintendo Direct presentation overnight, the two-minute preview starts with the titular hero (voiced in the film by Chris Pratt) going head to head with Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) in some kind of platforming stadium. After he’s promptly beaten to a pulp by his pre-Bowser nemesis, the scene cuts to Bowser himself (Jack Black) interrogating Luigi (Charlie Day) for information about Mario.
It’s interspersed with shots of Bowser’s army – mostly comprising Koopas, but also including Goombas, Bomb-Ombs, Piranha Plants and Shy Guys – before his warship makes landfall on the Mushroom Kingdom. “Bowser is coming,” declares Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), telling her own crowd of Toads: “Together, we are going to stop that monster.”
From there, we see Mario attempt (and fail) to clear a platforming stage, don his iconic Tanooki Suit, and embark – alongside Peach and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) – on an adventure sprawling “a lot of galaxies”. The final shot reveals a Mario Kart tie-in of sorts, with Mario, Donkey Kong, Peach and Toad – as well as a cohort of other unidentifiable characters – zooming down the legendary Rainbow Road.
A co-production between Nintendo and Illumination (the studio best known for the Despicable Me franchise), The Super Mario. Bros Movie is set to be released early next year. A rare major Hollywood film with a staggered release, it will screen in Belgium and Germany first – on March 22 and 23, respectively – before reaching France on March 28.
The film will then hit cinemas in Central and Latin America, Australasia and Ireland on March 28, with a release in the UK to follow on March 31, North America on April 7, Japan on April 28, and finally South Korea on May 3.
The film was first announced in 2018 (some four years after rumours starting circulating), and the first trailer for it was released back in October of this year.
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The first preview received mostly positive reception from fans online; however, many found Pratt’s take on Mario to be “jarring”. Among other notable critics of the casting include veteran voice actor Tara Strong and John Wick star John Leguizamo (who also played Luigi in the live-action Super Mario Bros. film from 1993).