Screenwriter's 436-page Super Mario Bros. script 'really sucks'

At age 18, Max Landis — the writer behind film Chronicle and short The Death and Return of Superman — wrote a movie script for a Super Mario World movie. It wasn't very good.

Luckily for Mario fans everywhere, Landis released the script in all its 436 pages of glory on his website. The weighty saga includes references to more iconic franchises than you can shake a Nintendo at, such as Metroid, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, Banjo-Kazooie and Earthbound, and is packed with action, drama and some surprising gore.

The script also includes a brief note from Landis himself, wherein he takes the time to point out a few problems — such as its bad dialogue, tone and pacing, entire sections of songs and the fact that it's based on an existing property, which you can't really sell. But more importantly, "this script really sucks."

"Looking back, there is nothing to elevate this above fan fiction," Landis wrote.

"In all honesty, I would love to play this script as an Uncharted-style new, grounded Mario Video-Game. I'd love to see art of certain scenes. But I can't imagine, literally cannot imagine that any of you who so ambitiously venture into this script will actually be able to finish it."

The script is available to download through Landis' website. Is it worse than the existing Super Mario Bros. film released in 1993? That's a tough call.