Without overplaying its hand, it hits all the major notes within the wild, inventive universe of block-breaking and Goomba-stomping.

This lively computer-animated take on the video game just opened and it’s already the biggest box-office smash of 2023. Despite lapses into dull and disposable, it’s also a godsend for parents seeking family entertainment for the 5-year-old in all of us.

Among the many errors of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, screenwriter Matthew Fogel plops him and his brother Luigi into a milquetoast Brooklyn family that doubts them and disrespects their small-business dreams.

But hey, if you’ve ever lied awake at night wondering how many individual threads there are in Mario’s monogrammed cap, then this is definitely the film for you.