The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a worldwide phenomena, garnishing over $500 million worldwide and becoming the biggest opening for an animated movie yet. This is a movie that you should definitely see as a fan.

Unfortunately, just like almost anything else, with success comes the critics. And I’m not referring to half the movie critics that panned this film. I’m talking about the culture critics that have not only disliked it, but they think it’s a reflection of society gone wrong. Why?

Some of the criticism is a demographic one, such as actor John Leguizamo, who said he would boycott the film because it doesn’t have Latin voice actors. He says that the directors of the film really “fought hard for him” to be in the movie, but ultimately the studio decided to cast Chris Pratt (Mario) and Charlie Day (Luigi). Leguizamo played Luigi in the 1993 live version of the film.

Leguizamo, like many other non-white actors, believe that characters need to represent the background of the characters they played. Hollywood does have a history of casting white actors into non-white roles, a practice critics call “whitewashing”.

But if that is his argument here, then he should know that Charlie Day does have Italian ancestry from his paternal grandfather’s side, while Leguizamo himself is Colombian, with mostly Spanish ancestry on his European side. So, by that standard, Charlie Day is more qualified than Leguizamo to play Luigi. Did Leguizamo wanted to play as Mario, though? We (other than he) may never know. Personally, I thought Pratt did a decent job portraying the main character.

By the way, Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Peach, is part Argentine from her father (and speaks Spanish very well). Does that make her “less Hispanic” than Leguizamo? It seems like John is a little frustrated that he didn’t get the role, but I believe his anger, while a bit understandable, is misplaced.

And then we have the more dubious criticism, or rather “question”, regarding the film: is it “too woke”?

SIGH!  

For the uninitiated, the expression “woke” is originally a black American vernacular to mean “being alert to racial prejudice”. Now reaction-ers (in particular) are using it to attack anyone, or any idea/trend, that deviates from “traditional norms”.

I honestly don’t know where to start. People have used the term “woke” so much, I’m not sure what the point is anymore, if there is any.

Let’s start with right-wing talk show host, Anna Perez, of “Wrongthink”. Regarding the movie’s portrayal of Peach, she says it “brainwashes women into becoming a ‘bada** feminist’… it is not realistic… Please make her a helpless princess again”. I won’t dignify this with a response other than “Why? What does she have to gain (besides money) by making these comments?”.

Then we have Charlie Kirk, another conservative activist from Turning Point USA (TPUSA), who has a different response, but for a weird reason. He says that the movie is “anti-woke” by the virtue of “defying” John Leguizamo’s boycotting the film after raking in more than $375 million in the box office.

Again, I’m not even sure what to think here.

To make it short, as gamers, we know that Princess Peach is the “stereotypical” damsel-in-distress character since the original game. However, in the “non-traditional” games, she does come out as a “bada** feminist” in Super Mario Bros 2/USA, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario RPG, the Paper Mario series, the Mario Party series, Super Mario 3D World, etc. So, it’s not as if the movie just suddenly made her a more capable character. It was gradual and gamers of all types (at least most of them) have accepted this.

Nevertheless, let’s not get caught up in this silly culture war and enjoy the movie for what it is: a love letter for fans and gamers everywhere.