Super Mario Bros. (1993)
This ain't no game.
Mario and Luigi, plumbers from Brooklyn, find themselves in an alternate universe where evolved dinosaurs live in hi-tech squalor. They're the only hope to save our universe from invasion by the dino dictator, Koopa.
In Super Mario Bros., consciousness is carried by animals — a plane of “dinosaur metropolis”. The story fights on E8/E13 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing evolution, power, technology, class.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Mortal Engines (2018)E8/E13 · rare rung · class, power
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)E8/E13 · rare rung · evolution, technology
Transformers One (2024)E8/E13 · rare rung · power, technology
The Lord of the Rings (1978)E8/E13 · rare rung · power
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)E8/E13 · rare rung · power, technology
Mazinger Z: Infinity (2017)E8/E13 · rare rung · power, technologySame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)E7/E10 · rare rung · power, technology
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · class, power
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6/E11 · rare rung · power, technology
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Southland Tales (2007)E10/E11/E12 · rare rung · power, technologyAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Planet of the Apes (1968)consciousness in animals · ape-ruled Earth
Ratchet & Clank (2016)consciousness in animals · galactic frontier
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)consciousness in animals · anthropomorphic animal galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)consciousness in animals · galactic satire
Scooby-Doo (2002)consciousness in animals · haunted resort
Planet of the Apes (2001)consciousness in animals · ape‑ruled planetSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
Jupiter Ascending (2015)consciousness in aliens · class, power
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)consciousness in machines · class, power
Space Sweepers (2021)consciousness in machines · class, power
Victor Frankenstein (2015)consciousness in monsters · class, power
Stargate (1994)consciousness in aliens · power, technology
Underworld: Awakening (2012)consciousness in monsters · power, technology
