The Super Mario Bros. Movie is getting really mixed reviews and received a “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes, but how does that compare to other recent CGI video game adaptations like Sonic the Hedgehog, The Angry Birds Movie or Detective Pikachu? Video game movies have always struggled with reviews, going so far as to inspire the so-called “video game movie curse;” however, a number of recent popular video game adaptations have proven the “curse” may be a myth, so how do they compare to The Super Mario Bros. Movie?
The 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. adaptation has a 29 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 29 percent audience score, and there’ve been plenty of failed video game adaptations in the decades since then, but after the recent success of movies like Sonic the Hedgehog and fun looking trailers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie animated adaptation, it seemed like things may be different this time. Unfortunately, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has critics divided and debuted to a Rotten 53 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Here’s how it compares to other recent video game adaptations.
The Animated Super Mario Bros. Movie’s Rotten Tomatoes Score is Worse Than Other Recent CGI Video Game Adaptations
While Sonic the Hedgehog (64 percent), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (69 percent), and Detective Pikachu (68 percent), are a mix of CGI and live-action, they have a similar tone and target audience to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, making them good points of comparison along with The Angry Birds Movie (43 percent), and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (73 percent), which are entirely 3D animated. Altogether, these video game adaptations average 63 percent in Rotten Tomatoes, putting them 16 points ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with all but The Angry Birds Movie earning “Fresh” scores and ranking higher than The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Has the Best Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of Recent Video Game Adaptations
The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s Rotten Tomatoes score from critic reviews may rank lower than most other recent video game adaptations, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie is getting rave reviews from audiences, sporting a better Rotten Tomatoes audience score than other recent CGI video game adaptations. Sonic The Hedgehog (90 percent audience score), Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (92 percent audience score), Detective Pikachu (79 percent audience score), The Angry Birds Movie (46 percent audience score), and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (79 percent audience score) are all lower, averaging 77 percent, 19 points lower than The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s 96 percent.
Of course, all reviews are subjective, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s audience score could certainly fall a few points in the coming weeks, possibly even falling below second-place Sonic The Hedgehog 2‘s 92 percent audience score, but it’s clear regardless that there’s a big split between critics and audiences when it comes to the quality of these movies, especially if we differentiate the Top Critic Scores, which average 46 percent, far lower than both the 62 percent critic average and 80 percent audience average for the whole group. While critics may not love them, the audience is still thrilled to see their favorite Nintendo characters on the big screen.
