Aired during the NFC Championships, a new commercial for The Super Mario Bros. Movie was shown that features Cat Mario and a look at Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. At first glance, the thirty-second preview seems to use clips already shown, but the second part is entirely new scenes.
From the very beginning, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been rather open about using multiple Mario games as its inspiration. In the first teaser trailer focusing on Jack Black's Bowser, the King of the Koopa's castle was recognized as being very similar Bowser's floating in the classic RPG Paper Mario. The next trailer after that revealed that there would be an entire Mario Kart-inspired sequence complete with a literal rainbow road. Now, Super Mario 3D World's Cat Mario is going to join in on the fun when the movie hits theaters this April.
Shortly after, fans see Donkey Kong laughing about Mario getting the Super Bell of all the possible power-ups as someone says "you got the cat box." It's almost done in a way to make viewers question if that's the crowd or Donkey Kong himself. A moment later, it shows Mario's perspective as DK regains his composure and looks directly in the camera and outright saying "now you die" before punching at the viewer. After months of leaving fans wondering, this is the first preview of Seth Rogen's Donkey Kong that's been released so far.
Super Mario loyalists are notably excited about both aspects of this trailer. Many didn't expect Cat Mario to make an appearance due to how the Super Bell is a relatively new power-up, and some future viewers are even more excited to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie after hearing Seth Rogen's Donkey Kong.
However, not everyone is ecstatic about what's been shown. Rogen's performance as DK has already garnered some criticism, much like Chris Pratt's Mario, for being "just Seth Rogen talking" and nothing more. On the other hand, while Cat Mario making an appearance is welcomed, the movie already has a fair bit of Mario references and cameos in it. This is leading to fans believing that the movie may burn itself out on content for any sequels as it aims to fit everything it possibly can into one film.
There's still quite a lot to see before The Super Mario Bros. Movie hits theaters, and with roughly three months left before then, fans can expect even more previews to come out as the movie continues to be promoted in advance. There'll likely be even more glimpses of Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and other fun details in the movie to come in later trailers, so fans should keep their eyes out for more.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie releases theatrically on April 7.
