Cinema Unwrapped: TRUST THE FUNGUS - Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition

Is Super Mario Bros. one of the most baffling and messy films released during the 1990s? Absolutely. Does that mean I don’t love all of its subversive and non-sensical weirdness? Absolutely not. I was a fan back when I saw it in theaters on opening weekend in May 1993, and I may love it even more now, 30-plus years later. And Umbrella Home Entertainment’s TRUST THE FUNGUS box set that was released last year is the ultimate celebration of this cult film that so many fans have embraced despite all of its missteps along the way.

Look, I’m never going to pretend that Super Mario Bros. is a good video game adaptation by any means, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a weirdly entertaining movie that feels like this wonderfully bizarre “interpretation” of what has made these Nintendo games so iconic. I know that Super Mario Bros. has its issues, but I cannot help but still be endlessly fascinated by all of its weirdness and appreciate how the filmmakers behind it decided to take some really big swings with such a well-known property.

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For the uninitiated, Super Mario Bros. follows Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi (John Leguizamo) who must go on a daring quest to a parallel universe to save Princess Daisy (Samantha Mathis) from the clutches of the evil President Koopa (Dennis Hopper) who rules supreme over "Dinohattan" — a world where the inhabitants have evolved from the dinosaurs. Koopa has plans to take over our world because he doesn’t like how the “mammals” are seen as the superior species, and he sets out to get his mitts on a mysterious crystal that can connect the universes so that he can exert his dominance over our world, too.

Honestly, that’s like the Clif Notes version of Super Mario Bros.’ story because there is SO MUCH going on, but those are the basic beats of the film to give you an idea of what the stakes are here, narratively-speaking. There are also the Goomba henchmen who just want nothing more than to dance, Koopa’s idiot cousins Spike and Iggy who do his evil bidding, a group of missing Brooklyn ladies, Koopa’s leading henchlady Lena (Fiona Shaw) who makes a power grab of her own, lots of fungus (because why not), and the most adorable dinosaur this side of Jurassic Park — Yoshi.

But for as much as I enjoy the film Super Mario Bros., I love the story behind how it all came together (and in some ways, didn’t come together) even more so. Most people may not be aware of the fact that Super Mario Bros. is an independent film, and it was Roland Joffé from Lightmotive who convinced Nintendo to go with his company’s approach to a live-action Super Mario Bros. over a number of major studios at the time. So beyond the fact that Super Mario Bros. is the first film project of its kind, the movie’s legacy of being one of the biggest independent movies of its time is pretty darned cool as well.

And look, I’m never going to pretend that Super Mario Bros.’ story is some kind of masterpiece because, at the end of the day, it’s a lot of good-hearted gibberish infused with some big ideas that don’t quite come together cohesively. But what I appreciate about all the cinematic chaos contained within Super Mario Bros. is the fact that directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton (who previously left a huge mark on ‘80s pop culture worldwide with their cyberpunk TV series/movie Max Headroom) truly set out at the beginning to make a movie that took some risks but still felt like it belonged to the world of the Super Mario Bros. video game series.

What ended up happening was a lot of studio interference diminished Morton and Jankel’s original vision, a variety of writers all came at the material with very different perspectives which resulted in a mish-mash of ideas, and a variety of budget and time constraints — and none of these are conducive to a fulfilling creative process, especially as directors. As editor Mark Goldblatt said in an interview on the film, Super Mario Bros. was considered a troubled production from day one.

But the thing is, there are still so many other components of Super Mario Bros. that are so extraordinary that I cannot help but geek out whenever I’m watching it. As a nerd who specializes in special effects history, I have always loved the F/X featured throughout Super Mario Bros. and have been fortunate enough to have interviewed several of the amazing artists behind these creations for my book series (Patrick Tatopoulos and Rob Burman). So, not only does their work look just incredible in Umbrella’s 4K presentation, but a bunch of the artists involved are heavily profiled throughout the special features, too.

Also, I love how much visual effects ingenuity went into Super Mario Bros. at the time. Jurassic Park gets all the glory — and yes, all of that glory is earned and then some. But I do think it is totally fair to take a moment and appreciate just how hard the visual effects team behind Super Mario Bros. was working at the very same time as JP was in production, and they also found ways to innovate the industry through their cutting-edge work at the time so they deserve their time in the spotlight. What they achieve in Super Mario Bros. is nothing short of spectacular for what was going on in early ‘90s cinema.

David Snyder’s production design efforts on Super Mario Bros. is also massively superb. There are certain flourishes that I really dig, like Koopa’s lair being similar to how it looks in the game with these huge brutalist vibes going on and all the little areas within that world (Boom Boom Bar!). But Super Mario Bros.’s centerpiece set is — without a doubt — Dinohattan, which was an actual set comprised of several stories of buildings, walkways, and other structures to create a real environment for the cast and crew to work within for weeks on end.

The way that Umbrella’s box set presentation celebrates all the love that went into making Super Mario Bros. back in the early ‘90s is just beyond wonderful and made me so happy as a fan. They have included quite anything you could possibly want to have if you are a fan of the movie. Not only is there a book featuring a massive collection of Super Mario Bros.’ scripts (over 200 pages worth!) for you to peruse, but there is also a treasure trove of other bonus materials presented in a 480-page collector’s book, a souvenir magazine, lobby cards, posters, and even a film cell and stickers (I miss getting excited for stickers).

I know that Umbrella’s TRUST THE FUNGUS edition of their new Super Mario Bros. 4K has already sold out, but let me assure you that the love they put into the release of this movie makes it a must-own for any fan out there. The film itself looks fantastic but the VHS workprint version of Super Mario Bros. is really fun if you are interested in seeing this movie in its rawest form: featuring extended and deleted scenes, some still-in-progress visual effects, missing scenes, and I think I even heard Back to the Future in there as a temp score.

There were a lot of amazing home releases to come out during 2024, but I think what Umbrella does with their TRUST THE FUNGUS edition of Super Mario Bros. sets a new bar for excellence in home media.

And for the record, I absolutely would have played “The Super Koopa Cousins!” game. Alas…

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