We do love us some Super Mario Bros., but we are understandably wary about the idea of another feature film. The last time we saw this on the big screen, the results were catastrophic, to say the least. As a young kid of around five years of age, it’s one of the earliest memories of being disappointed in a movie in theaters — a movie I tried to convince myself I liked.

But the reality was that it was one of the worst films ever made and the first of a trend that continues to this day of bad video game movies. Set to take on the task of handling the Mario property correctly over the next few years is Illumination Entertainment, the folks behind Despicable Me and Sing. While most would be scared at this prospect, Illumination founder Chris Meledandri enjoys the fact that the original film sucked:

“I like that this was not done well the first time. I think that’s more exciting or more worthy than simply making another version of a film that was done incredibly well to begin with.”

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So what was the key reason why that the live-action film sucked? Well, I can list roughly 262 reasons why it does, but Meledandri thinks it all comes back to one thing: the character creator and game designer/producer Shigeru Miyamoto:

“We are keeping him front and center in the creation of this film. I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto. There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.”

“It’s an ambitious task. The challenge is taking things that are so thin in their original form and finding depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”

Well, it sounds like they have the right approach in mind. As much as Shigeru Miyamoto and co. aren’t exactly the right people to go to in terms of story, they will be key in making sure the film maintains the Super Mario feel and charm, and that will go a long way to swaying fans in their favor.

What approach would you take to make a Mario game? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: Variety