I will not give The Super Mario Galaxy Movie props for many things, but I will at least tip my hat to Illumination and Nintendo for not relying on fart jokes for cheap laughs like so many other animated films do. Does that mean Mario’s gassiest rival, Wario, is doomed to never appear in the big-screen adaptations? Not necessarily, according to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
In an interview with Japanese outlet Crank In, Miyamoto said that he had given actors like Chris Pratt, who plays Mario in the films, a rule to not use crude jokes. However, he says that doesn’t mean Wario, whose appearances in his own games like WarioWare or in other Nintendo games like Super Smash Bros. usually include some kind of bodily function “humor,” will never show up in the movies. (One of my most vivid memories of the character was when he was introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl trailers by creating a nuclear mushroom cloud with a fart.)
This aspect of Wario’s personality is much less pronounced in proper Mario games, and the movies have already been playing a bit fast and loose with their characterizations of the main crew anyway, so a less smelly Wario doesn’t seem out of the question. I’m glad that thus far the Mario movies haven’t swung for this low-hanging fruit that infects so many other animated films. I’m a big proponent of the idea that cartoons and animated films should treat kids with respect as audience members, and if you think kids should be raised to think farts, burps, and other normal body functions are peak humor, I don’t think you respect them at all.
While the next Mario movie is probably still years away, the next Nintendo and Illumination collaboration is coming in 2028, and fans think it might star Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong.
