The Super Mario Bros. Movie Retcons Princess Peach's Video Game Origin Story
This post contains mild spoilers for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" presented a rare opportunity for Nintendo, who usually keeps storytelling a low priority, to reacquaint us with the "Super Mario" characters we've grown up with and know very little about. That's why it's unfortunate that the animated film mostly maintains a break-neck speed throughout its 90-min runtime, explaining the bare minimum about the lore and the mechanics of this universe, much like the games themselves. However, if you pay attention and look in the right places, you'll find quite a significant amount of retcons and modifications to these characters' origin stories.
Surprisingly, the animated film opens not in the colorful and playful Mushroom Kingdom, but in an alternate reality version of Brooklyn, New York, where the titular brothers (played by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) are pursuing a career as aspiring plumbers. Failing to meet his parent's expectations, Mario yearns for an adventurous and fulfilling life. When the brothers come across a mysterious green warp pipe, they are transported into the charming, mushroom-infested world that we're more acquainted with. Mario, however, isn't quite the mighty superstar we usually play as quite yet — despite his fighting spirit, he has a long way to go until he's a true platforming hero.
Under Princess Peach's (Anya Taylor-Joy) patient training and guidance, Mario gradually becomes the Jump Man we know and love. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" takes many creative liberties with its portrayal of Peach compared to the damsel-in-distress we usually see in the games, often to mixed results. But, for the first time, Nintendo has given Peach an explicit backstory that changes a lot about the character.
Why is Peach a human?
Also known as "Princess Toadstool," Peach's position as the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom in the video games has always been somewhat of an oddity since unlike her legion of Toads, she's humanoid like Mario and Luigi. If the prequel "Yoshi's Island" series is considered canon, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Baby Peach were all delivered by Storks and raised by a Yoshi clan. As they all grew up, Peach became Mario's main love-interest, and also the object of affection of the King of the Koopas, Bowser (Jack Black). It's all pretty weird, right?
"Super Mario" is a nearly 40-year-old franchise, and in that time we've accepted as a society that it's best not to think too much about it. But, with original series creator Shigeru Miyamoto heavily involved as a producer, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has filled in the blanks with a brand new retcon.
In one of the film's rare quiet moments, Peach gazes into the stars and explains to Brooklyn-born Mario that there are infinite galaxies and worlds to explore out there. Though she knows in her heart she was not born in the Mushroom Kingdom, her earliest memory was arriving through the warp pipe as a baby and being raised by the Toads as one of their own. As she grew up, the Toads appointed her as their princess. If we must have an explicit explanation for why Peach is a human, I'm glad they rooted it in a sweet story of a found family.
A parallel to another Mario princess
If you're a hardcore Mario fan, however, this might sound familiar, especially with the subtle notes of Koji Kondo's original score that accentuates the flashback scene. It seems as though Peach's new backstory is a deliberate parallel to another Mario universe character, the intergalactic Princess Rosalina.
Arguably, Rosalina has had more of a filled-in backstory than any Mario character that precedes her. It's an optional quest, but in-between collecting Power Stars and exploring the many planets of 2007's Super Mario Galaxy, there's a library in which Mario can read pages from a storybook (shown above) that tells the story of a young girl who meets a Luma and travels to space to find her long-lost mother. Heavily implied to be Rosalina's origin story, the girl eventually reunites Luma with their friends and family. Realizing that she's trapped in space without her family, the Lumas build her the Planet Observatory and accept the girl as their family. It's one of the rare pieces of consistent storytelling throughout the Mario lore, and it seems to have inspired the new film's writing as well.
Some aspects from "Super Mario Galaxy" make an appearance in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," such as the original Luma character, Lumalee, and some notable tracks, but Rosalina is nowhere to be found. However, with the massive box-office earnings and audience praise the film is already receiving, we wouldn't rule her appearance out in a future sequel.
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is now playing in theaters.