Alright. In no particular order (and speaking only for movies I've specifically seen), here are a few kids/all ages films that I would consider great:
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Coco
- Turning Red
- Encanto
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
- Belle
- Pinocchio
- Steven Universe: The Movie
You could make arguments for films like Inside Out and The Mitchells VS The Machines, even if those weren't as much my thing, and while it's weaker than its predecessors, HTTYD: The Hidden World has great elements to it. And then there's films I haven't seen - Rise of the TMNT: The Movie, The Bad Guys, Luca, all of these are a few examples of films that, if not great, are still often considered good or worth your time. If we extend the time range a bit more, we can also add films like Tangled, Toy Story 3, and Kung-Fu Panda 2. Heck, if we talk about kid/all ages animation in general, we've had a great era of network/Netflix TV. Again, out of stuff I've seen airing new episodes in the last decade:
- Adventure Time
- Steven Universe
- OK KO: Let's Be Heroes!
- She-Ra & the Princesses of Power
- City of Ghosts
And that's just the stuff I've seen in full. There's also Gravity Falls, Regular Show, We Bare Bears, two different Ninja Turtles shows, and The Owl House, to name a few.
I'm not intending this as some "gotcha" or anything. If the works I mentioned don't tickle your fancy, then that's totally cool. But I firmly believe that kid/all ages works are indeed great, and they can be held to a higher standard.
If I were taking the reins of a Mario movie, then the first thing I would ask is "why do I want to adapt this? What about the characters and the world appeal to me? What do I want to say here?" Mario has a whimsical, fun tone. It has a simple "save the day" story. But that also gives a lot of room to potentially work with. That doesn't mean it has to be a
deep or complicated story. But it comes down to execution - what do you choose to explore? How do you push things like the humor or the action or whatever you decide on? How do you make the material interesting and engaging? A lot of what people are hyped about from the trailers are the faithful look or the references or the music, and those aren't insubstantial. But how the film handles the rest remains to be seen, but I'm not super confident, personally.
This approach doesn't guarantee a good film - you could say this is the exact same approach as the 1993 film, and the movie wasn't exactly renowned for its writing. I am also aware enough to recognize that this isn't Nintendo's goal with this movie. The focus is to have a movie that shows their character in a recognizable way. In that regard they've likely succeeded with flying colors. Movie will make a ton of money and will drive eyes to the brand. Heck, despite my reservations, I'm seeing it opening weekend - I'm part of the problem!
I really, really want to be wrong about this movie lol