Goombas Don’t Play Harmonicas!March 3rd, 2008 by Gloria
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Ah, the obligatory game movies post. You all had to know it was coming sometime. I find it interesting how few gamers actually like any sort of video game to movie adaptations. Some fans are adamant about their favorite series not being made into a movie. I guess the general idea is that the chances of a game movie being 100% true to the game are slim’a'none.
For the sake of gamers everywhere, I am going to exclude all movies made by Uwe Boll from this post. I’m sure that by now, everyone reading this would know why. Personally, as a 5′5 120 lbs woman, I don’t think I would fare well in a boxing ring against him.
Now to start, I think I should highlight the movie most older gamers think of first when they hear the words game and movie in the same sentence. The Super Mario Brothers movie.
I was a young and impressionable child when the movie came out in theaters. At a mere eight years old, I had only just begun to dip my toes into the cool oasis that was Nintendo. I can’t remember what I expected from the movie when my mom took me to the theater, but I remember leaving and feeling both baffled and disappointed. I think the worst blow to me was the fact that Yoshi was tiny and looked nothing like his game counterpart. Back at that age, I had a thing for Yoshi. He was probably my favorite game character because I wanted one as a pet. Imagine my eight year old surprise and horror when I saw him on the full screen in all his er, tiny, glory. I think I left the theater quite terrified, actually. For a PG movie, it was incredibly dark. I could beat the bad qualities of this movie into the ground, but I think it’s been done enough. That horse is buried.
Resident Evil is the next big one that I think of. I admit, I liked the first film of the series. It wasn’t fully representative of the game, but it did have all the major elements. Survival horror, mansion, crazy zombies, and gigantic evil corporation. The acting was decent, and the setting of the hive had that lovely sense of claustrophobia and desperation.
I went and saw the second movie in theaters and was not very impressed. The story became less about the impending zombie apocalypse and familiar RE characters and turned into this weird fanfiction-esq self insertion-fest for Alice. It was a good movie, to be sure. It was very entertaining, but to me it just didn’t feel like a Resident Evil movie.
By the time the third movie came out, I didn’t have any more interest in the Resident Evil film franchise, so I didn’t go see it. I like zombie movies, for sure, but if I want to watch one, I’ll watch one of Romero’s. I also kind of got sick of seeing Milla Jovovich naked. Since I haven’t seen the film, I won’t offer any criticism because I really don’t know.
Now next up is Doom. A lot of people forget Doom even exists, and it’s easy to understand why. The movie had a lot of build up and when it came out and received negative reviews from most film critics. (but really, if you’re basing your viewing itinerary on what a movie critic says? Stop it! Bad!) So Universal did what it does with all its less popular films and just started pretending it doesn’t exist.
I liked it. But hey, it had The Rock shirtless and swinging a BFG. Mwahaha. What? I happen to be a closet wrestling fan.
A lot of people were disappointed because like 99% of other video game movies, it wasn’t a 100% complete recreation of the game. But really, when it cut into that first person segment I think I squealed really loudly in the theater and got stared at. I love that kind of nod towards the gaming community. It’s little things that truly make me happy.
Oh Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat. I was ten and my mother and I had just finally gotten over the horror that was the Super Mario movie. Thus, we ventured forth into the theatric abyss once more. Cheesy 90’s movies, am I right? Who cares. I loved this movie. Come on. It’s Mortal Kombat. That’s all I can say.
Now, I know the Tomb Raider movies exist, I’ve just never seen them. Oh, and the Street Fighter movies.
The last one I’m going to get into detail with is the Silent Hill movie. A lot of the SH fanbase was disappointed by this movie and really, I don’t understand why. For a video game to movie adaptation, it was one of the most faithful films I’ve ever seen. They blurred the lines between several games and changed a lot of things, but the idea was still there. The plot was a bit different, but such is the nature of the beast that is screenplay writing.
SH’s reception suffered like all other game film reception. The problem is, gamers want the game to be a movie. The issue with this is, while gamers do make up a very respectable marketing base, the film producers do want people besides gamers going to these movies and being able to follow the plots.
Plus, in all honesty, going in and watching a carbon copy of the game up on the big screen would be incredibly boring to me. I’d know all the twists and turns, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’d probably leave feeling really unfulfilled.
However, I do draw a line, like I did with the third Resident Evil movie. When I go in to watch a game adaptation, I want to see a certain level of elements taken from the game.
I understand that everyone’s opinions on these films are different, though. These are just mine, so take them as you will. I also apologize for the lack of depth in my descriptions. For the past week I’ve been suffering from a serious ear infection. It’s hard to write when you find yourself constantly tilting to your right side in your computer chair. But I press on for you, my lovely readers!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I absolutely loved the Super Mario Bros. movie when it first came out - I’m not sure why, I just did. I’ve watched it several times since, and I can say that while I notice it’s glaring faults more and more, it is still one of my favorite movies - maybe just for being so bad.
I have been sorely lacking in watching the other gaming movies, however. Mortal Kombat is the only one out of your list I can remember seeing - absolutely awesome, of course.
Thanks for the fun post - will read again. Lex
March 4th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I really enjoyed the SH movie. Being a big SH fan, I really loved the amount of detail they had put in the movie. Sure, they changed the plot details and characters to suit people who know nothing of the games, but there were lots of those “nods” to the gaming community which made me feel happy inside.
Plus the monsters, and especially Pyramid Head, were beyond awesome and they did justice to the game series. ?
Tomb Raiders weren’t too terrible, I just wish they hadn’t altered the character of Lara Croft so much for the larger audience.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Mortal Kombat was an awesome movie for its time. It did justice as best a big budget game movie could do, and it did it well. The second movie was so outlandish because the second and third games’ plots were equally convoluted. I also completely agree with you on the RE movies. Actually, scratch that. I agree with this entire post, except the parts about the Doom movie. That whole idea just bothered me enough that I never saw it. Maybe I’ll give it a chance.
You put forth your opinions well, I definitely dig what you’re saying. StumbleUpon brought me here but I’ll be back all on my own. Kudos!
March 5th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
You are tired of seeing Milla Jovovich naked but you swoon over The Rock? I think I see some sort of innate bias in these movie reviews
As a man I would like to say the following:
More Milla Jovovich naked please. kthxbai
-Cameron
March 5th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I enjoyed Mortal Kombat and the first Tomb Raider movie, but then, my expectations for them both were pretty low. I enjoyed both games, but there is that stigma of “video game movie”… I got what I wanted out of both movies, so I was happy.
A friend bought me the SH movie for Xmas this year; I’ve never played the games, so I didn’t have that point of reference, and I thought it was a really interesting movie.
And I’ll watch Resident Evil movies when they have Leon from RE4 in them. *Rawr*
March 5th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
DOOM was bad because it didn’t just miss the plot, it butchered it. The premise of Doom is retardedly simple, Scientists on Mars open a gateway to hell.. That’s it. How hard is it to screw that up? It’s not about a damn virus, it’s about demons. It’s like they took the plot of Resident Evil and placed it on Mars.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am
DOOM was a nightmare.
They didn’t have to stick exactly to the level by level basis… haveing a squad is fine, having changes is fine…
Making a resident evil on mars is fine, just call it “Resident Evil: Mars”, and don’t waste a good title on crap. The DOOM movie would have been great.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I agree about MK being an awesome movie for its time. The best part about it is that I can watch it now when it comes on the daily block of TNT or whatever and still be entertained by it.
The sequel, not so much. I honestly can’t even remember much about it, either.
What I loved about the SH movie was that when the original producers of the game saw the movie, they said, “This is perfect, can we use some of the monsters for the next game?” and sure enough, in SH5, they’re using the deformed janitor, etc.
My brother absolutely adored the SMB movie when he was younger. He would watch it every weekend. But he also did the same thing with Titanic…so…take that as you will.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I think the thing that makes Mortal Kombat ‘timeless’ is that it embodies the early 1990s very well. That and it has an awesome theme song
I think the one movie that really has a chance of breaking the curse of videogame movies is the Metal Gear Solid movie. There’s rumours that Sony gave Hideo Kojima free reign to write and direct it for Metal Gear Solid 4’s PS3 exclusivity. One can only hope that Hideo Kojima is writing and directing it, anyway.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I thought RE3 wasn’t that bad.. Street Fighter was butt-ugly though..
April 9th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Wow, where to start… SH the move was BY FAR one of the best horror movies I have ever seen.. Personally I have never been a fan of the survival horror genre of videogames. Could not stand Resident Evil the game, Movies 1 and 3 are watchable, 2 well sucked rabid wookie ***is, be that as it may, SH the movie was sweet, my girlfriend at the time went and watched this with me. She was all set to be disappointed because she was a huge fan of the games. In all honesty she came out of the movie praising it more then I did.
Mortal Kombat…..
Where to begin, again, a series of games I never really cared for, mostly because I sucked at them, period.
The movie was a pretty good adaptaion of the games, and it had a BITCHIN soundtrack. To this day I still listen to that soundtrack and see the movie in my head. Just great, can’t beat Cristopher Lambert as Rayden, I loved Highlander the movie.
In all honesty i can not remember if I have ever seen Super Mario the movie, I remember that it sucks and that is about it. I loved the Mario games from Mario Brothers all the way up to Luigi’s Mansion, played them all.
I never watched DOOM and never will it
A. has Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in it,
B. it is possibly the worste adaptation of a game plot to a movie EVER made. Just like most movies these days it had great SFX but nothing else.
Great article, keep it up…
May 15th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Mortal Kombat yay two thumbs up.. I’d still watch it to this day if I had the DVD. =D
And don’t forget the DOA movie.. I want reviews on that! XP
September 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
The way I see it. If the Super Mario Movie was just a movie excluding any game relation. This movie could have been good. But because it’s a Super Mario movie we can’t help but frown on such a stupid movie.