2023: The year of divisive video game movies

Ryan Humphrey, Contributing Writer

You would have to be living under a rock to not have heard about either of the two biggest video game film adaptations of 2023. “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” were alike not only in their financial success but in their controversy, with each franchise’s fans upset with the unfavorable critical responses. 

As someone who is — to some degree — a fan of these franchises, I would love to say that I was satisfied with the films, but sadly, I found myself more on the side of the critics.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was the more positively received of the two, and for good reason — it has a love for the source material that shines through in every frame. I smiled every time I saw a character or heard a piece of music I recognized from the games, but unfortunately, all the references in the world can’t save it from a lackluster script. 

With an unimaginative story that progresses at a breakneck pace for fear of losing the attention of the children in the audience, the film comes across as utterly devoid of substance. It’s not hard to think of a basic character arc for a Mario Bros. movie — Mario learns to value Luigi’s help, and the kids in the audience learn to let their little siblings play with them — but the duo is split up for most of the runtime, and the film misses its chance to mine even basic emotional depth from its characters. 

It was strange seeing adults so upset over mild criticism of a movie about Super Mario — particularly given the film’s clear disregard for them — but it wasn’t that strange. After all, kids who like Mario grow up to become adults who like Mario. 

In the end, it just seems the movie rights should have been given to a studio more suited to making films that all ages enjoy. That’s not to say that Illumination’s films are incapable of entertaining adults, but compared to their competition like Pixar or even Dreamworks, they come across as the most kid-centered. 

The criticism of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was more severe, with the film being lambasted for its weak plot and lack of scares. Despite the original creator’s involvement, the film seems unaware of the games’ biggest strength — the terror of being stuck in a single room and hunted by unkillable monsters. 

Rather than monitoring the cameras until 6 a.m. when the murderous animatronics go back to sleep, our protagonist spends his night shifts lounging around, sleeping on the job and having banal dreams where he talks to the ghosts possessing the machines. 

The anxious solitude and quirky unease of the games are gone, leaving an overly self-serious plot that seems more devoted to explaining things to the audience than scaring them — likely in part due to the high number of young fans. 

Many defended the movie by saying things along the lines of, “It gave the fans exactly what we wanted,” but if that’s true, I have a hard time telling what it is that they even like about the games. Video games are more than just collections of lore and character names — they have gameplay, and that gameplay should factor into the content of the movie. The film could have been something really fun and unique had it leaned into its video game origins instead of shunning them. 

As fans, we should appreciate the work that went into these projects, but that doesn’t mean we should just accept whatever we are given. I didn’t go into these kids movies expecting masterpieces, but I at least hoped for things like basic character development and respect for the source material. I didn’t want just any adaptation. I wanted a good adaptation, and in this sense, critics of the films are advocating on my behalf. 

To an extent, the controversy makes sense. If you’re a young fan having the seemingly once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing your favorite characters on the big screen, it’s easy to feel as though naysayers are just trying to spoil your fun. However, the sheer scale of the backlash took me by surprise.

With everyone being able to have their voice heard online, the divide between critics and audiences has gotten smaller and yet has become massively polarized. Many hold bitter perceptions of critics as pompous elites trying to dictate what others are allowed to enjoy.

However, the truth is that critics are just people with their own opinions. They don’t have the power to deny you your enjoyment — nor do they have the power to erase these films’ financial success and incoming sequels, which are already major victories for satisfied fans. 

Of course, critics sometimes have objectionable takes, but do we really need to argue every time the Rotten Tomatoes audience score differs from the critics’ score? If you enjoyed these films, that’s great, and as long as you’re secure in your own opinions, no one can take that away from you. I say we give the war a rest.