The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) - film and score (Brian Tyler)

[Faleel 5,359]

It was certainly..... a choice.

[Tydirium 1,167]

https://screenrant.com/super-mario-bros-movie-composer-interview/

[Jay 37,373]

OK, I'm more excited for the score now

 

Koji Kondo, the original writer of this music, who I adore and am friends with, was a big part of this. I would talk to him back and forth: "Okay, what about this? What do you think if I did this for this?" because I wanted to incorporate things. Sometimes it's invisible, [or] just like an Easter egg. The harp might be doing a line from the select screen on Mario Kart that only happens when you're in the waiting room. There's a part [in the movie] where Mario and Luigi are in a waiting room, and I thought it'd be cool [if] within the score that's actually a mystery score, you hear the harp playing the waiting room music. I wanted to completely dive in and make [the film's music] a feast for people that watch it 1,000 times, or Mario fans, but [ensure it] also works on a dramatic level.

This score is big. It's orchestral, it's got choir, and it's got bands, it's got Italian instruments, accordions, live drums, mandolins, and whistling human voices. Also, I'm using eight-bit [sounds]. I'll be playing the drums, and all of a sudden the tom fill is just eight-bit tom fills. It's really eclectic, but at the same time, the goal was that it would work on a level that a score like [John Williams' score for] E.T. [does]. It has a transcendent nature; it is not limited by the polyphony you have on an eight-bit thing. It's not just porting over melodies from a game to a movie. It had to be so much more to capture what this film is.

[Tydirium 1,167]

Also, this:

 

Quote

When [Kondo and Miyamoto] were out here, we were at Skywalker Sound doing the mix, and they love the score and the new music I did. I was so nervous playing [the music for] them. [I] did this, like, 15-minute suite of all these new themes I felt would bring you into the world. Their reaction was so unreal; they loved it so much. It was like, "Welcome to the family. This is Mario already." They kind of like stamped it. They were saying [that] when you hear the new Mario themes that I wrote, it feels nostalgic already, as if it were part of it already.

 

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

It's a really cool interview and makes me very excited for the score!

[Tydirium 1,167]

Now let's hope the soundtrack album actually has most of those classic theme references, and isn't just Brian Tyler's new stuff (as good as I assume it will be).

[Jay 37,373]

There's a 0% chance that the album will only have original Tyler music and 0 legacy themes.

Especially when you consider what he says about working harp lines into section of cues, etc

[Jaaaackified 81]

39 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Now let's hope the soundtrack album actually has most of those classic theme references, and isn't just Brian Tyler's new stuff (as good as I assume it will be).

 

Based on the composer announcement last October and these recent interview, I am almost certain that Koji Kondo will receive an upfront credit like "Themes by" on the soundtrack album

[Tallguy 3,401]

Other than the original Donkey Kong and the fact that I like to play Mario Kart with my kids, I'm not a Mario fan. But I think this looks super fun. My kids ARE Mario fans and they keep asking if we're going to see it on opening day.

[Stark 316]

This movie and score sound so fun. I am very excited.

[Jay 37,373]

Miyamoto-san at the premiere

 

https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-super-mario-bros-movie-premiere-los-angeles-20230402-nzemjiel2nebrmtmfhgkm57kwq-photogallery.html

[Tydirium 1,167]

 

Very strange to do a short profile on a composer just days before he releases one of the biggest scores of the year, but to not actually talk about that score at all other than a passing mention after the segment... And why is she sitting so far away from him, on a footstool? Also, is it just me or does something seem a little "off" about Tyler in this brief interview? Not sure what it is, but he just seems different than he has in previous videos. Idk if he's high, or if something is up with his voice, or if that's a tic at the beginning after he says the words "When I'm conducting," etc.? I just hope he's well.

[Jay 37,373]

Yea maybe they'll air more from the interview where he talks about Mario, after the movie is out

[Tydirium 1,167]

I hope so! They mention having other stars back this week. Would be nice if there's actually some video of Tyler talking about the score. At least we have that Screenrant interview, I guess.

[Jay 37,373]

And yes I also thought something was off with his voice

 

And it was weird that the interviewer specifically mentioned him being in his 40s, when he' almost 51

[artguy360 1,844]

I'm eagerly anticipating this score. The bits we've heard so far sound great.

[SilverTrumpet 638]

20 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

Very strange to do a short profile on a composer just days before he releases one of the biggest scores of the year, but to not actually talk about that score at all other than a passing mention after the segment... And why is she sitting so far away from him, on a footstool? Also, is it just me or does something seem a little "off" about Tyler in this brief interview? Not sure what it is, but he just seems different than he has in previous videos. Idk if he's high, or if something is up with his voice, or if that's a tic at the beginning after he says the words "When I'm conducting," etc.? I just hope he's well.

 

He's always kinda seemed weird. Like a insanely rich Youtuber before that was a thing.

[TolkienSS 407]

He looks high as a kite to be frank.

[Jay 37,373]

Film Music Reporter is reporting that the label "iam8bit" will release a physical edition:

 

https://filmmusicreporter.com/upcoming-soundtrack-albums/

 

They also tweeted the supposed cover art:

 

 

https://twitter.com/filmmusicrep/status/1642606686862192641

[Tydirium 1,167]

Awesome cover! Looks like it's releasing Friday.

[Tom 4,672]

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

He looks high as a kite to be frank.

Not all composers stick to Schnapps.  

[Tydirium 1,167]

 

[Jay 37,373]

The music in that clip wasn't as fun/good as the music from the earlier clip

 

Didn't even recognize the flagpole music until second watch

 

Does Peach ever say "hiya!" in mainline games or is that only a Smash thing

[mstrox 6,651]

Yeah, the BT stuff sounds like pretty bog standard BT stuff, and the flag reference isn’t particularly well-integrated there.  

[TolkienSS 407]

7 hours ago, Tom said:

Not all composers stick to Schnapps.  

 

https://youtu.be/OW2z3pMILm8

[artguy360 1,844]

16 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

This latest excerpt fits with what BT said in the interview linked above. Some nice musical Easter eggs embedded in a larger orchestral palette. I think the sound of this score will be quite varied. 

[Jay 37,373]

I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album

 

A guy on FSM said its 88 minutes long, and the movie is 92 minutes, so I guess it's probably complete from the jump

 

Though I guess a 1-CD physical edition wouldn't be

[enderdrag64 624]

39 minutes ago, Jay said:

I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album

 

A guy on FSM said its 88 minutes long, and the movie is 92 minutes, so I guess it's probably complete from the jump

 

Though I guess a 1-CD physical edition wouldn't be

Was the recent leak the complete score or the album? And is the 88 minutes referring to the recent leak or to an actual announced album length?

[Jay 37,373]

He was talking about the OST album, which is what is available in nefarious places of the internet already ahead of its Friday launch date, like what happens with every album every week.   The mastered album has already been sent to Shazam and Aha Music, They identify the music in this clip as OST track "Level Up", for example.

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

In this Instagram post Tyler shows a video of 7 game themes he incorporated in a scene from the film

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqnopwwJi7Q/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[Jay 37,373]

That's a cool video, but it's not something Brian or his team put together, or even anything brand new;  The guys at IGN made it, and posted it last December as soon as the first clip from the movie with all these themes in it was released

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl9yKu4DVU6/

&

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmFbY7tjD5i/

[Jay 37,373]

So who from JWFan is planning on catching this in the theater this week?

I will be!

 

BTW it's 55% on rotten tomatoes and 49% on metacritic.  I'm glad many critics don't like it, I want the movie to be made to please fans not made to please critics!

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

I'm seeing it tomorrow. I'm very excited!

And I rarely agree with critics. Can't wait fkr the whole thing

[Tydirium 1,167]

Seeing it tomorrow with my brother! Can’t wait. Critics scores tend to be pretty meaningless when it comes to a film like this, imo; I don’t need an amazing story, just give me a bunch of nostalgic references in beautiful animation and I’ll be a happy camper.

[Jay 37,373]

Yep

[Romão 2,274]

I really don't see how liking to play Super Mario games would necessarily translate to a desire to watch a movie based on it. It's not like there was ever any significant narrative thrust to the games.

 

This is simply a very easy and lazy way to make money 

[Jay 37,373]

1 minute ago, Romão said:

I really don't see how liking to play Super Mario games would necessarily translate to a desire to watch a movie based on it.

 

You don't?

 

1 minute ago, Romão said:

It's not like there was ever any significant narrative thrust to the games.

 

So?

 

1 minute ago, Romão said:

This is simply a very easy and lazy way to make money 

 

How so?

[Faleel 5,359]

11 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

 

How so?

Well known IP = Money I guess.

[Jay 37,373]

That doesn't make anything that happened here lazy or easy.  Miyamoto spent 6 years working with Illumination on this

[Faleel 5,359]

1 hour ago, Romão said:

I really don't see how liking to play Super Mario games would necessarily translate to a desire to watch a movie based on it.

 

This is simply a very easy and lazy way to make money 

So which is it? Are people going to want to watch it, making it an easy and safe choice to make boatload of money, or are not very many people going to be interested, resulting in not as much money?

[Tallguy 3,401]

Mario etc. have to be the most recognized and beloved video game characters of all time. It's only a cash grab if it's fast and cheap. This looks to be neither. Now I just hope it's good.

[SilverTrumpet 638]

Movie was good. Outside of a bunch of really good musical references (which I'm sure was all Kondo's supervision), the score was about as unspectacular as any BT score. I'm sure without Kondo involved there would have been no familiar musical themes outside of an overly Hollywood sounding six notes of 1-1.

[artguy360 1,844]

I'm going on Saturday with my family. The movie looks like a joyous celebration of all things Mario, and that's all I want from a Mario movie.

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

I just saw it.

I quite liked it. I can understand where all the critics are coming from, but I had a really fun time.

 

Upfront I do have to say, there's not really a story. The script is a bit thin. But if you're gonna see the film to see the games brought to life on the big screen then you're in for a treat.

 

The animation itself is truly amazing. I especially loved when you got close ups of Bowser and you could really see all the detail of the scales etc on his skin.

 

There's a lot of sequences that are very faithful to the games. I haven't played any of the games in a long time, but my favorite sequences were the following:

- The journey through Mushroom Kingdom

- The training course

- Donkey Kong Vs. Mario

- The Kart sequences

- The final battle

These were all wondefully realised and a lot of the times they used long takes with point of views of the characters, which really made it feel like you were in the game. The Rainbow Road sequence was especially beautifully animated.

 

There's also a ton of Easter Eggs (like soo many) and there's 2 end credits scenes (one for laughs and one to setup maybe a second film).

 

The cast, overall, is great. My favorites were Jack Black (he's so great, and you wouldn't know it's him), Anya-Taylor Joy, Keegan-Michael Key (also unrecognisable) & Seth Rogen.

Charlie Day as Luigi is good, but he's not much in the film.

As for Chris Pratt, I think it was a good choice to not do the Italian accent. I'm glad that he made it his own. It wasn't distracting, but I do wonder what it would've been like to have the original voice actor do the job (he's in the film).

 

As for Tyler's music. To me, this is his best score since Now You See Me 10 years ago. It's fun, colorful, has a ton of themes, orchestral but still with the 8-bit sounds from the games.

He uses tons of themes from the games and integrates them really well into the score. And everytime they appear it was a hoot.

But he also wrote a number of themes himself. There are themes for Mario/Luigi, Peach/Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser/The Darklands, a more emotional theme and I believe something for Donkey Kong/Jungleland. I thought all of them were great and really cemented themselves as the themes for these versions of the characters.

 

So all in all I had a fun time. Is a perfect film, no. Could things have done better, yes.

But I had a blast (and so did the people in my screening. Cheers and applause) and I think it's great entertainment for 90 minutes.

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

Saw the film last night. I struggle to objectively evaluate a score when it actually uses themes above and beyond what I was expecting. I'm so used to watching stuff like Marvel films and waiting for a thematic reprisal that never comes. This is one of the few movies in years where I'd go "man, it'd be cool if they played __________ here" and then they did. Most of my favorite thematic reprisals were one-offs, but they're not blink and you miss it like or barely heard in the mix (*cough* No Way Home *cough*)

I'm talking shit like:

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

-Mario Kart 8 customization music playing when they go to pick out karts

 

-Taiko/kongo drums kicking in while a slow forboding version of Donkey Kong's theme plays when they enter the Kong kingdom

 

-The theme from Luigi's Mansion playing when Luigi is running through some dark woods

 

-The Gamecube logo music playing as Luigi's ringtone

 

-Really cool version of the Mario Invincibility theme

 

It is one of the scores that feels like it was made for this community, and I'm all for it. You can tell they had fun with the music, and when that shows, chances are you end up having fun too.

 

I don't know how much people will get out of this film if they aren't familiar with the Mario games. To that token, I think you'll have a good time with this, Jay.

[Jay 37,373]

Samples of every track are up on Apple Music NZ:

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-super-mario-bros-movie-original-motion-picture/1679090104

 

1 Super Mario Bros. Opus (6:42)
2 Press Start (2:38)
3 King of the Koopas (3:33)
4 Plumbin' Ain't Easy (1:16)
5 It’s a Dog Eat Plumber World (1:15)
6 Saving Brooklyn (1:48)
7 The Warp Pipe (2:05)
8 Strange New World (2:03)
9 The Darklands (2:20)
10 Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom (2:18)
11 2 Player Game (5:07)
12 The Mushroom Council (2:07)
13 The Plumber and the Peach (1:21)
14 Platforming Princess (1:39)
15 World 1-1 (2:34)
16 The Adventure Begins (3:04)
17 Peaches (Jack Black) (1:35)
18 Lost and Crowned (1:39)
19 Imprisoned (2:54)
20 Courting the Kongs (2:00)
21 Drivin' Me Bananas (1:20)
22 Rumble in the Jungle (3:59)
23 Karts! (1:51)
24 Practice Makes Perfect (1:00)
25 Buckle Up (1:31)
26 Rainbow Road Rage (3:31)
27 Blue Shelled (2:26)
28 An Indecent Proposal (3:24)
29 The Belly of the Beast (1:23)
30 Fighting Tooth and Veil (3:45)
31 Tactical Tanooki (2:22)
32 Mario Brothers Rap (Ali Dee) (0:58)
33 Grapple in the Big Apple (3:40)
34 Superstars (1:39)
35 The Super Mario Brothers (1:27)
36 Bonus Level (1:01)
37 Level Complete (2:32)

 

TOTAL TIME - 1:27:47

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

Based on the tracklist and length, it looks like most, if not all, of the music is on the album.

 

The opening is a suite of Tyler's themes. And the 2nd cue plays in the first part of the end crawl after "Level Complete".

The rap is used in the commercial that was released earlier and I believe belongs after "King Of The Koopas".

 

Everything else seem chronological.

9 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

It is one of the scores that feels like it was made for this community, and I'm all for it. You can tell they had fun with the music, and when that shows, chances are you end up having fun too.

I agree completely!!

[Jay 37,373]

So you're saying the chronological order is:

 

1. 3 King of the Koopas (3:33)
2. 32 Mario Brothers Rap (Ali Dee) (0:58)
3. 4 Plumbin' Ain't Easy (1:16)
4. 5 It’s a Dog Eat Plumber World (1:15)
5. 6 Saving Brooklyn (1:48)
6. 7 The Warp Pipe (2:05)
7. 8 Strange New World (2:03)
8. 9 The Darklands (2:20)
9. 10 Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom (2:18)
10. 11 2 Player Game (5:07)
11. 12 The Mushroom Council (2:07)
12. 13 The Plumber and the Peach (1:21)
13. 14 Platforming Princess (1:39)
14. 15 World 1-1 (2:34)
15. 16 The Adventure Begins (3:04)
16. 17 Peaches (Jack Black) (1:35)
17. 18 Lost and Crowned (1:39)
18. 19 Imprisoned (2:54)
19. 20 Courting the Kongs (2:00)
20. 21 Drivin' Me Bananas (1:20)
21. 22 Rumble in the Jungle (3:59)
22. 23 Karts! (1:51)
23. 24 Practice Makes Perfect (1:00)
24. 25 Buckle Up (1:31)
25. 26 Rainbow Road Rage (3:31)
26. 27 Blue Shelled (2:26)
27. 28 An Indecent Proposal (3:24)
28. 29 The Belly of the Beast (1:23)
29. 30 Fighting Tooth and Veil (3:45)
30. 31 Tactical Tanooki (2:22)
31. 33 Grapple in the Big Apple (3:40)
32. 34 Superstars (1:39)
33. 35 The Super Mario Brothers (1:27)
34. 36 Bonus Level (1:01)
35. 37 Level Complete (2:32)
36. 2 Press Start (2:38)
    NOT IN FILM
37. 1 Super Mario Bros. Opus (6:42) 

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

8 minutes ago, Jay said:

So you're saying the chronological order is:

 

1. 3 King of the Koopas (3:33)
2. 32 Mario Brothers Rap (Ali Dee) (0:58)
3. 4 Plumbin' Ain't Easy (1:16)
4. 5 It’s a Dog Eat Plumber World (1:15)
5. 6 Saving Brooklyn (1:48)
6. 7 The Warp Pipe (2:05)
7. 8 Strange New World (2:03)
8. 9 The Darklands (2:20)
9. 10 Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom (2:18)
10. 11 2 Player Game (5:07)
11. 12 The Mushroom Council (2:07)
12. 13 The Plumber and the Peach (1:21)
13. 14 Platforming Princess (1:39)
14. 15 World 1-1 (2:34)
15. 16 The Adventure Begins (3:04)
16. 17 Peaches (Jack Black) (1:35)
17. 18 Lost and Crowned (1:39)
18. 19 Imprisoned (2:54)
19. 20 Courting the Kongs (2:00)
20. 21 Drivin' Me Bananas (1:20)
21. 22 Rumble in the Jungle (3:59)
22. 23 Karts! (1:51)
23. 24 Practice Makes Perfect (1:00)
24. 25 Buckle Up (1:31)
25. 26 Rainbow Road Rage (3:31)
26. 27 Blue Shelled (2:26)
27. 28 An Indecent Proposal (3:24)
28. 29 The Belly of the Beast (1:23)
29. 30 Fighting Tooth and Veil (3:45)
30. 31 Tactical Tanooki (2:22)
31. 33 Grapple in the Big Apple (3:40)
32. 34 Superstars (1:39)
33. 35 The Super Mario Brothers (1:27)
34. 36 Bonus Level (1:01)
35. 37 Level Complete (2:32)
36. 2 Press Start (2:38)
    NOT IN FILM
37. 1 Super Mario Bros. Opus (6:42) 

 

I believe so.

Few things I'm not 100% sure about:

- Can't remember if the Opus also plays in the credits.

- 2 Player Game is either used partially or was excised with source music completely.

- Courting The Kongs is I think one half before Drivin' Me Bananas and the other half after.

 

But of the rest I'm quite certain

[Jay 37,373]

Physical editions of the OST album are up for pre-order (shipping Q3)

 

https://www.iam8bit.com/collections/smb