Super Mario Bros. 4
Directed By: Rob Reiner
Produced By: Jake Eberts/Roland Joffé
Written By: Blake Snyder
Based On: Super Mario Bros. by Nintendo
Cast
Bob Hoskins as Mario
Madonna as Princess Peach
Kenny Baker as Toad
Frank Welker as the voice of Junior
James Rankin as the voice of Larry Koopa
Gordon Masten as the voice of Morton Koopa Jr.
Tabitha St. Germain as the voice of Wendy O. Koopa
Tara Charendoff as the voices of Iggy and Lemmy Koopa
Dan Hennessey as the voice of Roy Koopa
Michael Stark as the voice of Ludwig von Koopa
Release Date: June 5, 1998
Budget: $250 million
Box Office: $50 million
The streak finally comes to an end for Nintendo as Mario 4 hits theaters and is met with a critical asskicking. Rob Reiner, coming off a string of failures with North, was called in to replace Harold Ramis with a screenplay written by Blake Snyder. The plot as it were sees a lot of changes from the previous film, with Mario now having been left by Pauline and with Luigi spending more time with Daisy, it's just him, Toad and Junior in Manhattan. Along with that, the Mario Bros. Plumbing Service is struggling to make ends meet. However, Mario's fortunes turn around with a woman by the name of Peach hires him and Toad to fix up her plumbing. This client is not only rich, but also stunning to look at, but there's something about that Peach that seems familiar to Toad. He can't quite put his finger on it...
Soon, Mario's back in the game of plumbing, occasionally flirting with Peach on the job while he and Toad get into all sorts of antics. The antics aren't helped as the plumbing is also sabotaged by the Koopa Kids, King Koopa's seven young children, who have managed to claim the necessary magic to enter the human world. The Koopa Kids look to kidnap Peach and make her their "mama" before they're discovered by Mario. More slapstick comedy ensues as Mario and Toad get into fights with the notorious all CG Koopa Kids, Peach getting caught up in the scuffle and being revealed as Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom in the process.
The whole movie is a series of broad slapstick set pieces. While the first movie evoked the fantasy-comedy stylings of The Princess Bride, the second took cues from Space Operas like Star Wars and the third was a swashbuckling pirate adventure, this movie seems more like a horrible cross between Home Alone and the Garbage Pail Kids movie. The movie ends with all the Koopa Kids flushed back down the toilet they came after having destroyed Peach's house. Peach moves in with Mario as the two live happily ever after, though the movie does foreshadow the arrival of Kamek, the Magikoopa who had granted the Koopa Kids the power to traverse worlds.
That sequel hook went unbitten as the combination of thin plot, obnoxious kid appeal and competition from Sonic's second movie lead to the first box office bomb from Nintendo (and the first video game bomb. The one bright spark was the surprisingly good chemistry between Hoskins and Madonna. Many fans felt the loss of Leguizamo as Luigi damaged this movie and many questioned why it was even called "Super Mario Bros. 4" if there was just the one Mario and Toad. Many had also criticized the switch of Junior to full CG, feeling that while he was now more mobile than ever before, that the animated Yoshi looked unsettling. Overall, the film was an utter disaster.