if you thought The Super Mario Bros. Movie If you were going to leave every Mario pop culture reference unreferenced, you better think again. A new ad for Nintendo’s and Illuminations’ animated adaptation of the bros. confirms that anything and everything Mario-neighbours can be mined for jokes, including the rap – “The Mario Rap” – from the 1989s Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s revival of “The Mario Rap” comes in the form of an in-movie commercial for Super Mario Bros.’s plumbing service presented as a local TV spot. Mario and Luigi rescue a damsel in distress whose sink is overflowing, revealing the breadth of their service area: both Brooklyn and Queens.
If you look closely at the map you will see some additional references including local points of interest such as:
- Punch Out, a reference to… er, Punch Out!!
- Link Street, this is where a bit of The Legend of Zelda comes in
- Hanfuda Avenue (sic) and 1889th St., references to Nintendo’s original business of making Hanafuda cards and 1889, the year Nintendo was founded
- Ecto Hill and Ghost City, possibly the location of Luigi’s haunted mansion in the film
- Mushroom Planet, the desert planet home of the Mushroom people The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Episode “Star Koopa”
The spot ends with a website (SMBplumbing.com) that convincingly portrays Super Mario Bros. Plumbers as a local business, and a phone number (929-55-MARIO) that allows callers to listen in at length to Charlie Day as Luigi. You can write it too!
beside day, The Super Mario Bros. Movie Stars are Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as a tip. The film was written by Matthew Fogel (Minions: The Rise of Gru) and co-directed by Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans go!) and Aaron Horvath (Teen Titans go! To the movies).
The Super Mario Bros. Movie hit theaters on April 7th.