The latest Nintendo Direct was only a few hours ago, and boy, was it a special one. There were no farming sims this time; in fact not a game in sight. This stream was only about one thing: the first trailer for Illumination's Super Mario Bros movie.

It kicked off with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto talking up how proud he is to present the trailer, before handing off to Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri. Meledandri said he and the rest of Illumination were priviledged to work with such an iconic franchise and put their all into it, working closely with Miyamoto, composer Koji Kondo and the rest of Nintendo to make it as true to the games as possible. So far, so good. 

Back to Miyamoto and he introduced two of the stars: Chris Pratt appeared on a Zoom call looking genuinely excited to be there, sharing his childhood memories of playing Mario at arcades and on the NES. Then we went over to Bowser himself, Jack Black in full-blown wacky Jack Black mode cackling about his villainous performance. He also seemed pretty psyched; after all he's on the record as being a gamer as well. Finally, the trailer itself:

Now I haven't seen a full Illumination movie since the first Despicable Me (or maybe the second), but I have to say it looks far prettier than even the recent ones. Bowser is the first major character to appear, stepping off an immense ship after his Koopa army as they prepare to sack a kingdom of penguins. Thankfully, his voice isn't the typical Jables wackiness many were expecting. There's a glimpse of it beneath the surface, but those roars make you believe this is a monster that lays waste to kingdoms on a regular basis, not one that goes go-karting with plumbers on the weekend. 

Speaking of plumbers, we get our first snippet of Chris Pratt as Mario, looking like he just got isekai'd into the Mushroom Kingdom. And he sounds like... Chris Pratt. After all the effort Jack Black put in, it's honestly a little disappointing to hear him doing his typical "lovable goofball" schtick. Then again, the "here we come!" line has a bit of a Brooklyn accent about it. On the other hand, Keegan Michael Key's Toad is predictably the comic relief sidekick, but at least he's not as shrill as Toad in the games. It ends with a few frightened gasps from Charlie Day as Luigi running from dry koopas. I would've liked to see more of him, but that's all we got. Not even a look at Anya' Taylor Joy's Princess Peach or Seth Rogen's Donkey Kong.

I'll admit, it's a lot better than I was expecting for the most part. I'm at least grateful the tone isn't going for dumb Minions fare and Bowser seems to be taken seriously as a villain instead of twerking to viral Tiktok music or whatever studios think kids are into these days.

The Super Mario Bros movie hits theaters next April. Do you think it'll be any good based on this trailer? Let us know below!