Of course, there’s been room to play with this number throughout the Mario series. No one pretends that the diaper variation seen in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island can legally drive and the plumber’s trophy in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Super Smash Bros. put him at a lightly 26 years old (via Mushroom Kingdom); but, for the most part, that mid-20s bracket is the area we played in.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Mario seen in the Illumination movie is the same age as the Mario we officially see in the game. In fact, some scenes in the movie even go so far as to challenge the number of adults we’ve dealt with all this time.
Now we’ll go into some descriptions of specific moments from the Super Mario Bros. Movie. light disclosure. So if you’re still hoping to see the movie completely blindly, don’t read any further until you’re completely hooked.
Throughout much of the film’s opening scene in Brooklyn, Mario is completely believable as a man in his 20s: he has a steady job, some disposable income, a mustache giant – he’s grown. But then we get to a scene that shows Mario and Luigi at home, sitting at the dinner table with their family, and out of nowhere, plumbers appear. much younger.
Mario is served dinner to him, he talks about his dislike of mushrooms, his parents punish him for his silly dreams and climax, he rushes off the table to go in. room and sulk. None of these aspects are necessarily tied to a certain age, but the whole scene portrays Mario as more of a child than we expected.
In subsequent scenes of Mario without the cap, we can’t help but notice that Nintendo’s mascot looks surprisingly smooth. We know that this Mario can drive a truck so he’s at least 16 years old (assuming the fictional Brooklyn has the same legal driving age as real people), but the innocent, childhood bedroom his – full of posters, figures and references – and his bright lines make us think this is not a man in his 20s but a much younger one; despite being someone with a full-time job and an impressive face.
On top of all of this (we really don’t want to throw another wrench at the job, but need to be), you have Mario’s live action presentations for all of 1989. Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and in 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Nothing against professional wrestler Lou Albano or Oscar-nominated actor Bob “I used to play King Lear” Hoskins, but these characters are hardly that of a man in his 20s. – Albano was over 50 at the time and Hoskins was pushing 50 at the time of the movie’s release. We don’t quite get the ’50s vibe from the Illumination movie, but all we can say is that anything is possible.
So where does this leave us? In one case you have the presentation of the mid-20s game that Miyamoto emphasized back in the day, in another you have the movie that sometimes leans towards a more youthful feel. In a final, third hand that we’ve magically pulled out of nowhere, you’ll have a live action scene depicting the plumber as a man road still older.
We advise you not to read too deeply about The Super Mario Bros. Movie (actually, it’s not that deep), but this is a question we need to answer. Where do you stand in the debate? Is Mario of the Mario Movie a grown man or do you have the same age-questioning reaction as we do? Fill out the following poll and let us know.
Got any other questions from Mario Movies that you feel you need answered? Drop your head in the comments below.
