Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.Along with its reverence for the gaming franchise that inspired it, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has one advantage that Disney can't ever touch. Opening with Mario and Luigi trying to get their plumbing business off the ground in Brooklyn, it quickly turns into an epic adventure for the brothers once they get sucked into a mysterious tube, with Mario landing in the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi ending up in Bowser's Dark Land. With the help of Princess Peach, Mario sets off to reunite with Luigi, leveling up along the way with a variety of powers that will be able to help him defeat Bowser and his army of koopas.
Super Mario Bros. is box office gold, smashing records for animated movies that should make Disney concerned because while the House of Mouse has had great success with movies like Frozen and Moana, future Mario movies could threaten its dominance in that regard. Super Mario Bros. is an IP with generations of fans, and plenty of legacy characters, not to mention a scope as large as the MCU. Superhero fatigue has set Disney at a disadvantage, particularly since The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a few Power-Ups that set it apart.
Universal's Super Mario Bros Doesn't Need A Good Story To Succeed (Unlike Disney)
Despite bad reviews Super Mario Bros. set records, proving it doesn't need a complex story to succeed, unlike Disney's films. Even if critics don't like its simple quest narrative audiences have made it massively successful, and it's already broken some of Disney animation's largest records. The most successful animated Disney movies have solid character building as well as interesting stories, but Super Mario Bros. has proved that it doesn't need to surpass the House of Mouse on those levels to be popular.
That being said, The Super Mario Bros. Movie does emphasize character development in surprising and unexpected places that might only register with fans of the franchise. For instance, one of the reasons Bowser's "Peaches" song is so catchy is because it humanizes a villain that's been notoriously one-dimensional even in the games, and Super Mario Bros gives redemption for female characters by making Peaches more proactive. Rather than be a damsel in distress that Mario must save, she participates in her own rescuing and teaches Mario everything he knows to defeat Bowser.
Super Mario Bros 2 Only Needs New Worlds & Game Levels To Work
Part of the fun of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is seeing how the game worlds are recreated, as well as the fan-favorite characters like Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and Bowser. As long as fans get to see all the classic pieces that they love about the gaming franchise in a sequel, Super Mario Bros. 2 just needs to add new worlds and game levels, like components of Super Mario Galaxy. Adding Rosalina and more of the Lumas storyline would be exciting without the need for creating an extravagant storyline.
While the Super Mario Bros. universe is about to take off, Disney has announced a live-action version of Moana, indicating that competing in the realm of animated movies might not be what it's after. Super Mario Bros. 2 will still be able to provide imaginative storytelling without direct competition from Disney by mining all of its source material. There are more Special Worlds, Lost Levels to explore, as well as other facets of Bowser and Princess Peach, which are unique aspects of the movie that make the franchise richer.