Hello again. Welcome to another Rising Sun. Today’s review is on a rarity of a work, so stay tuned.

I really don’t need to ask the question “are you familiar with Super Mario”, becuase I’d get a yes almost every time. Mario, after making his debut in 1981’s Donkey Kong, became quite a legendary character, reviving the gaming industry, slipping into the persona of the late Captain Lou Albano and having a short-lived career in film, with an American Super Mario movie being a massive flop in 1993.

So why am I talking about Mario all of a sudden? Because there’s a Super Mario anime film that predates the live-action movie by seven years, entitled Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach. This movie is a bit of a rarity, having only a theatrical release and one VHS release before never seeing the light of day again.

In this film, Mario and Luigi are grocery store workers (stop me if you’ve heard this already) transported to a bizzare country far to the west and tasked with rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser’s rather dimwitted scheme to force her to marry him. Despite the synopsis, this is honestly a much more faithful adaptation, with the brothers seeking out a Mushroom, a Fire Flower and a Starman, as well as coming across the enemies from the game. (In one scene, they have to get past a Hammer Bros. guard who has good aim.) It’s also pretty silly and comedy oriented, with scenes involving mood mushrooms, a Lakitu spouting out his Japanese name origin (in essence, a couple can’t decide on their child’s name, so they give him a ridicuosly long one.) and Princess Peach trying to outwit Bowser, which I wish we’d see more of the next time Peach gets kidnapped. This is how a Mario movie should be done, narrative-wise.

However, this movie isn’t a perfect adaptation. The animation is rather lackluster, being choppy and not that detailed at times, and sometimes not matching the voice acting. The film also casts Luigi as greedy and oblivious to the situations he gets himself into, more like Wario. (In the film’s defense, the original game doesn’t offer much unique characterization for Mario or Luigi, so this is minor.) My final compliant is that the addition of new characters leads to a bittersweet ending (at least for Mario) that really doesn’t belong in a Mario movie. This last compliant also applies to the live-action movie and how it handled Luigi and Daisy’s relationship.

In spite of those compliants, this film is so superior to the live-action film, and it supports two of my sentiments regarding Japanese fiction. 1.) Mario is better suited for animation and 2.) If you want a movie based on a Japanese property, let the Japanese handle it. (Looking at you, Dragonball Evolution!)

The only way to watch Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is to find it YouTube, but it’s definetly worth it, and I can’t seem to figure out why Nintendo hasn’t re-released it.