With The Super Mario Bros. Movie out today, fans have finally been able to experience Mario’s first big screen adventure in 30 years, this time in CG animated form thanks to a collaboration between Nintendo and Illumination.
You can read our full review of the film here, but if you’ve been keeping up with any of the marketing in the run-up you’ll already know that one of the major featured characters in the movie is none other than Donkey Kong. Only recently, Illumination, along with Donkey Kong’s voice actor Seth Rogen, have been teasing the inclusion of the infamous “DK Rap” from Donkey Kong 64 in the film – a fact that initially came as a great excitement to that song’s original composer, Grant Kirkhope.
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Fast forward to now though, and people have quickly discovered that while, yes, the song has indeed been used in the film there’s been one crucial and disappointing omission, and that’s a credit to Kirkhope’s name. The famed composer behind iconic gaming soundtracks like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and even the recent Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope had to learn about the lack of a credit via tweets from fans after having seen the film:
Yo @grantkirkhope the wife and I were like awww when we saw the credits for Mario Movie, DK Rap was just credited to "From Donkey Kong 64" sorry dude. We know who the real OG is!
— James Burt (@TechnoKoi) April 5, 2023
I was really looking forward to see my name in the credits for the DK Rap, but alas as expected it's not there …….. fml
— Grant Kirkhope (@grantkirkhope) April 5, 2023
It’s unfortunate news, and no doubt a sting for Kirkhope whose public excitement for the movie, Rogen’s Donkey Kong and the inclusion of the DK Rap has been very visible up to this point.
Hopefully it’s something that the folks at Nintendo and Illumination can rectify going forward.
Watch us review The Super Mario Bros. Movie on the Press Start Podcast
