Penelope Cruz is Super Mario in New Ad (VIDEO)
Penelope Cruz was Super Mario in a new ad campaign for the popular video game. The latest version, New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL, features the actress and her sister in a commercial.
Penelope Cruz's Super Mario costume came as a result of the two sisters' playing the game together. Nintendo chose to highlight the cooperative aspects of the game by having Penelope and Mónica Cruz finish a level together, which involved a lot of jumping and coin-grabbing.
"Let's play together," Mónica challenges Penelope in the ad.
"You want me to remind you who's the big sister?" Penelope shoots back. "The last one loses the bet, remember."
As it turns out, the bet is none other than the 38-year-old elder Cruz dressing up in a Mario outfit complete with blue overalls, a red shirt, and a red hat with the classic "M" on it. After losing the game to her sister, the 35-year-old tells her "you know what you have to do."
The "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" star showed up at a grocery store fully dressed as Mario, complete with large fake mustache. With her sister laughing in the background, she sets out on her embarrassing mission.
"Buongiorno!" she cried at the grocer in her best imitation of an Italian accent. "Let me have a mushroom please."
While the commercial is anything but ordinary, many still enjoyed the unusual nature of Cruz's cosplay.
"Penélope Cruz's latest project? Serving as spokeswomen for Super Mario Brother along with her sister, Mónica. Random, but totally adorable," wrote People.
"Odd? Maybe. Adorable. Definitely," agreed the Huffington Post.
However, not everyone enjoyed the new advertisement. For those more interested in the nature of the game- the main point of the commercial- they found it "lengthy" and "dry."
"The advertisement you're about to see is lengthy, dry, and makes the title out to be just about as dumbed-down a video game can be, with jumping and coin-grabbing as the two objectives the whole way through," wrote Chris Burns for Slashgear.
Despite the criticism, New Super Mario Bros. has been decently-rated by critics, with a 77.76 percent on GameRankings and 78/100 on Metacritc. The handheld game is available in stores now.
