The Super Mario Bros. Movie is one of those watches where it is best not to get too bogged down in the lore of the whole thing — after all, this is a goofy intro to the Mario universe and not some David Attenborough deep-dive into the inner workings of the Mushroom Kingdom. But that hasn't stopped there from being some questions that need answering, such as, how on Earth do those brick blocks float?
Fortunately, one of the film's directors, Aaron Horvath, has offered an explanation for that very topic in a recent interview with Variety, and it's all thanks to an in-universe substance called "Floatanium" (thanks, Go Nintendo).
While the explanation never made it into the final movie script (don't worry, there are no spoilers here), Horvath outlined the basic principle to Variety, stating the following:
"Our idea was that there’s a mineral that’s natural to the Mushroom Kingdom, which we call ‘floatanium,’ because it sounded funny to us,” Horvath says. “The Toads mine it and transform it into these blocks and use them for construction purposes."
Now, can we really consider Floatanium 'canon' to the Mario Universe? No way — don't expect to see it mentioned in a 'Mario Historia', should we get one somewhere down the line — but it is a pretty neat explanation all the same. The thought of how certain blocks can float had never really entered our minds, so we can totally believe that there is some kind of rare mineral trade going on behind the scenes, with the Mushroom Kingdom's mining operation shipping out the goods to the Jungle Kingdom and beyond.
The Variety feature also contains insights from Shigeru Miyamoto, Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and the film's cast. You can check out the full article here.
What do you make of this explanation? Let let us know in the comments.
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[source variety.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 56
That is very cute. I'd love to see Toad mining
Xenoblade Chronicles thought up a similar bit of world-building for their game.
https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Floatstone_Shard
It's how their imperial city of Alcamoth floats in the sky.
Can't wait to get past all the Mario Movie marketing/updates.
Cute they try to add their own fannon logic ... It's not canon tho
I'd like an explanation for why the power-ups work the way they do. Peach tells Mario in the movie that "If you get hit, you lose the power." ...Okay, but why? Video game logic doesn't really matter when you're playing, but since this is a movie, I feel like they should've given some sort of explanation. My ability to practice suspension of disbelief has its limits, you know.
Also when Peach says the Toads found her as a baby, raised her as their own, and "When the time was right, they made me their princess." Okay, but again... WHY!? If the monarchy isn't inherited through blood, did they hold--like--an election? Did she have a say in the matter? Did she have to prove she was the most qualified, or was the title just kind of forced upon her?
Is anyone else tired that every damn thing has to be explained these days? Why can't people just live in ignorant bliss? Who cares what makes them float, they just do. We don't need an origin story of every single person or thing in every universe
Lord, that is a naff idea (on a par with unobtainium from Avatar.). I'm happier just suspending my disbelief than having to listen to drivel trying too hard to explain something lol. I dunno. Where has all the magic gone these days? Remember Highlander? When it was a kind of magic, it worked. The moment they became aliens in the sequel, it was rubbish. It's not real. It doesn't need explaining. Stanley Kubrick understood this. It's where a lot of his tension comes from. Ah well.
I'm largely OK with not everything being explained but this is something that could've easily been shown briefly in the movie. It would've improved the movie's worldbuilding, which is one thing I think the movie does fall short on.
This is a movie where we have two plumbers, a Princess, and a talking Gorilla trying to take down a fire breathing turtle. There is no logic in this, floating blocks don’t need an explanation.
@GrailUK
The original Super Mario Bros game explained that the stones and bricks that make up the game world were actually Mushroom People transformed under Koopa Black Magic, for real.
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAAAE.pdf
It's an explanation that doesn't really hold water when all of the subsequent games feature brick blocks.
Not everything needs to be explained. This is something I hate so much about modern fiction. Everything needs to have a scientific explanation. No wonder a lot of these miserable, nihilistic, cynical critiques review-bombed the Mario film.
@RareFan
This feels like such a knee-jerk reaction to me though.
"Why do the blocks float in this magical mushroom kingdom?"
"They're made from a magic floating stone found in that kingdom!"
This isn't purporting to be some huge thing, and it amounts to little more than when a new author contributes to an on-going story or franchise from decades ago. Really it's a "that's how things are" sort of explanation, as to not over-think a fairy tale world. (If you want to do that, go watch The Flight of Dragons 1982).
If anything, this shows to me that the film directors and script writers put thought into the world building for their film, even if they didn't put the explaination into the film itself.
@RupeeClock Yeah, I'm happier with magic as opposed to psuedo-science. I lost insterest in Jedi when it went from something spiritual in the originals, to a quantifiable substance inyour body in the prequels lol. I don't remember anyone bothering to ask Warner Brothers how they managed to fit 20 loony toons into a car...
All I can say is, ITS A FILM!
You don't have to explain everything
@Bunkerneath Amen
I never asked, considered nor cared why the blocks float 🤷♂️
Float like Kirby. We need a Kirby movie please!!
I guess normies don’t understand videogame logic
So in periodic table, what kind of element is Floatanium ?
Metal or Non Metal ?
Is the symbol Fl for Floatanium ?
Agree that the explanation isn't needed, but I think it's a cute one and so wouldn't be against them putting it in the next movie, hopefully not just by saying it but by showing Toads mining etc.!
See, I always figured that, because it's another world (maybe even a parallel dimension or universe), it has its own laws of physics, different from our own. That's why blocks can float in that world.
One of the things that pleased me the most about this movie was that they didn't waste time trying to explain things that don't need explaining.
A great way to halt enjoyment is to get bogged down with explanations for things. The movie was great as is. It's not a documentary.
That’s neat. Wouldn’t want to live in a house made of the stuff though.
@Pillowpants It's a story writer's job to at least have thought about stuff like that, even if they don't put it into the story, or even write it down.
You are right that there was no use in explaining it in the movie. I think Mario even questioned floating blocks at one point, but no explanation was given and he was just accepting it as part of this world in seconds. Which is very in-character for Mario too.
But it still helps in story-crafting if you at least have a concept for questions that could arise with viewers. E.g. if you define that Movie-Kamek raised Bowser since he was a kid like in the games, it heavily influences how their interactions are written, opposed to if Kamek is just a general in Bowser's army.
It also prevents deus-ex-machinas
Wait, so the blocks aren't attached to the background of the level?!
...Anyway, I don't think this has to be explained. The world of Mario doesn't have to follow the rules of real world psychics. Not that this really counts as a logical explanation... Sharing this was pretty unnecessary and might just encourage people to ask for more unnecessary explanations to explain Mario logic.
@BowtieShyGuy I am a writer myself, but that doesn't mean you have to share every detail of your world with everyone. Don't get me wrong, it's "cute" to have stuff like floatanium and whatnot, but it's not something that needs to be shared per se. That's all I'm saying.
All the people getting uptight about this are completely missing the point. The crux of this article is not the idea itself but “because it sounded funny to us,” which is an awesome explanation. I love it when there’s no other reason for thinking up something than “it’d be funny.” It’s quite literally just a joke!
Explaining why fake objects behave the way they do in a fake world is overthinking this way to much. Just enjoy the creative aspect of it.
Not sure who came up with this, but it certainly got approved by Nintendo (without the seal of quality), so...
@boatie cant wait for people who claim are not interested in certain topics stop commenting on articles about that same topic…
Fan fact:
The real reason they can float in the first game (and second game, in Japan) is that they are possessed with the tormented souls of the inhabitants of the mushroom kingdom!
In Mario 2 in the US, they float because it's a dream. In almost every other title, they float because they are literally nailed to a background. For the core titles, that's because they are all plays taking place on a stage. For the paper titles that how the paper world works.
It's only the 3D titles and the RPG series that don't have a cannon answer, but the RPG titles have magic so that's a fair assumption about what's going on there.
And of course Wario makes Shy Guys mine for gold, when there's probably plenty of floatanium down there. Wario had a choice between contributing to society or contributing to himself, and took the predictable option.
Floatanium?!
XD, maybe, this a reference to a old meme of Nintendo, the famously "Nintendium", yes, the mythical material that Nintendo used to use for its consoles, controllers and cartridges, and have a very high resistance to damage
I think I now know how long time OG Star Wars fans felt when they first heard the word Midichlorian....
I also kind of feel like this shows how dangerously close we could have been to another video game movie disaster had Miyamoto not heavily involved himself in Hollywood's process
To quote the great Patton Oswalt:
"I don't give a **** about where the stuff I love comes from, I just love the stuff I love."
Yeah… that’s a very contrived and unnecessary reasoning. It floats because it does, it doesn’t need explaining.
Yeah, the good thing about games is this is a fantasy world and these things don't need answers. Stuff like this just breaks the immersion.
I never question it once not everything needs answer leave as mystery.
@Not_Soos I feel like Nintendo probably severely hamstrung the movie's script writers on a lot of these points - sort of like how after Thousand Year Door, Intelligent Systems hasn't been allowed to introduce any new types of creatures or characters in the more recent Paper Mario games, so all the NPCs are just different colored Toads, and the enemies are all just palette-swapped versions of existing enemies from mainline games.
Next up: How do Toads reproduce? The old-fashioned human way? Through spores just like other fungi?
@boatie I’m afraid that’s going to take a while
@SakuraHaruka Should have used some in those joy-con that have been breaking down since launch and never got replaced by Nintendo.
@Not_Soos That’s what I’ve been saying. People excuse this movie for not having logic, because it’s Mario. But even the most illogical things should work within a world that has established its own logic and it should make sense. Otherwise it’s just our beloved characters bouncing around from point A to point B.
Excuse some of us for wanting more than that, right?
@RemembersGems The tingly feelings in your back are a reference to something in real life, though. Only a martial artist would know.
I'll sleep better tonight knowing this.
Stupid nerds.
Why this need an explanation ?!?! ITS A VIDEOGAME MOVIE
I never really thought about it.
@SonOfDracula Nerve damage from long term fighting?
@Tempestryke Hahaha, no, not at all. It's a feeling we get when we train Chi Kung (Qi Gong.) When you become very in tune with your body's energy, you feel things like that. It's actually very wonderful.
@SonOfDracula oh
Pretty sure he meant this as a joke, and particularly a dig at Avatar's "Unobtainium"
@HylianFox Hey! I think I know you from Gamesfaq!
@RemembersGems lol no.
@Pillowpants It's something they shared after being asked. It's just banther that develops in a conversation.
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