Although the film isn’t due in theaters until next spring, the animated movie version of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. already has its official MPAA rating. As of this week, the film is rated PG for “action and mild violence.”
The original live-action Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993 was a pretty strange and dark experience but it was also rated PG, for “sci-fi action, mild language and sensuality.”
No one expected a PG-13 cut of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but the PG rating tells us a little bit about what exactly we can expect. An animated Mario Bros. movie could have been rated G, but that may have been to its detriment from a box office perspective. When you’re trying to make a movie that has intergenerational appeal, it’s important to make sure that the content is engaging for everyone.
Since The Super Mario Bros. Movie is produced by Illumination, the studio behind animated favorites like the Sing or Despicable Me franchises, we can probably expect roughly that level of comedy and that sort of tone; maybe not mature, but still entertaining. The MPAA’s notes about “action” likely refers to fights with high stakes. What’s more striking here is a lack of any designation towards crude humor, meaning the jokes in the movie will likely be pretty tame by modern standards.
The movie’s first teaser debuted a few weeks ago at New York Comic-Con. If you missed it, here it is:
The film’s cast includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Jack Black as Bowser. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is due for release in theaters on April 7, 2023.
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