When The Super Mario Bros Movie came out around this time in 2023, I was generous enough to give it a free pass. Yes, it was fan service galore and had as much substance as a happy meal from McDonalds but it was cute and a faithfully surface level adaption of the gaming plumber bros we all know and love while working well enough as a simple story about the powers of brotherhood and how being small can actually be cool sometimes. And with the way the post credit scene gave a glimpse of the potential arrival of Yoshi for the sequel, you would think Illumination would follow through on that teaser by continuing to expand upon this cinematic world with yet another basic and direct adaption of the classic 2D Mario games (most notably Super Mario World) and call it day. However, it seems as though Nintendo and the Minions company had other plans.
Instead, the cast and crew are looking to take things 10X further and jump straight to Super Mario Galaxy! Not only acting as an adaption of some of the most beloved video games of all time but also introducing many more fan favorite characters such as Yoshi, Bowser Jr. & Rosalina (We’ll get to here LATER!), double down on all of the easter eggs, callbacks, references, and even some surprise cameos from not just Mario but also other known Nintendo franchises, AND also acting as a celebration of 40 years of the Super Mario Bros franchise. Oh, and also are looking to do all of this in the spam of just 90 minutes because….god forbid we let children watch a movie that’s more than 90 minutes in the year of our lord and savior 2026!
If what I just told you makes the movie sound too crowded and overstuffed and gives the impression that the actual Galaxy elements feels like an complete afterthought, you would be 100% correct. If this all sounds like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is nothing more than one brief sugar rush that feels more like a collection of cutscenes, gameplay videos, and YouTube shorts of the very best Mario games compiled together than an actual feature film, you would be 100% correct. If that all sounds up your alley, then it will be up your alley. If that sounds like a miserable nightmare to you, then this will be a miserable nightmare for you. But there is one thing everyone will agree on, at least it has Yoshi in it! And Yoshi makes EVERYTHING better!
Premise: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie follows Mario (Chris Pratt), Luigi (Charlie Day), Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), and newcomer Yoshi (Donald Glover) as they journey into outer space to rescue Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) from Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Bowser Jr. captures her to harness her power to fuel a super-weapon, free his imprisoned father Bowser (Jack Black), and conquer the galaxy.
Now, I know what everyone and their Yoshi is about to type away in the comments, “IT’S A MARIO MOVIE! OF COURSE THE PLOT IS GOING TO BE SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD! WHAT WERE YOU EXPECTING, FAM?!” But, I have a PERFECT counter argument to that!
While, YES, the first Mario movie (and most Mario games in general) did have a very simple and straight forward plot, you could at least follow what’s going on and mostly can summarize what happens in the story in one or two sentences. It was a classic Mario tale with a few new modern tweaks to it about a plumber from Brooklyn going on a journey with a powerful princess to save his brother from the clutches of an evil dinosaur and save a magical kingdom on top of that. Was it great storytelling? Heck no! But it was easy enough to understand and get behind without too much hassle!
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t so much have a simple and straightforward plot but rather no plot to speak of. It’s jampacked with so many different characters, coincidences, and contrivances strung together, trying desperately to gloss over any glaring structural issues and give you the impression that it’s perfectly acceptable storytelling…..just because it’s Mario. There’s no coherent end goal, no fully realized character arcs are given time to flesh out, and there’s not a single moment where you will find something you didn’t already find in any other form of Mario media. It’s all about getting certain characters from Point A to Point Z and checking off all the boxes that the filmmakers believe they need to check or else they will get hate mail thrown at them from hardcore Nintendo fanboys for the rest of eternity.
And even if you look at the film from an adaption of the much beloved Super Mario Galaxy, it’s not a very good one. While the Galaxy features does help showcases some of the most gorgeous animation and impressive set pieces that Illumination Animation has EVER shown on the big screen, it’s only faithful on the surface level and NOWHERE else. The Lumas don’t serve much purpose other than being cute little star children that will make for great merchandise to sell and the traveling through planets sequences only exist to get characters from one location to another, almost feeling like you could’ve replaced it with any other detour from any other game and there wouldn’t be much difference.
The most wasted element however has to go to Rosalina. Despite being a fan favorite character and casted by longtime Nintendo superfan Brie Larson (THE MVP of the film’s marketing btw), she barely has any presence in the actual movie. She only exists to be a plot device and be a driving force to motivate the main characters (mostly Peach) throughout the entire movie….and nothing else. There’s even a SUPER long stretch in the movie where the character doesn’t even get to appear on screen. If it wasn’t for the fact that the characters kept mentioning Rosalina by name during that long stretch, I would’ve COMPLETELY forgot she was even in the dang movie until the last 20 minutes.
While some would argue that Rosalina’s role in the Galaxy games were also in small doses, you at least felt her presence throughout the entire experience. You still had Mario checking in on her every now and then with friendly exchanges once you completed each world that made you remember she’s still around whenever you might’ve forgot where she was. Because The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t seem to be that interest in the Galaxy elements that it’s suppose to incorporate (until it suddenly does towards the tail end of the film), Rosalina ends up being casted away harder than even Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away!
It makes me wonder why Illumination thought they had to make Princess Peach a “girlboss” in the first movie because the damsel in distress trope is so problematic and outdated….only to then turn around and make Rosalina a damsel in distress in the very next movie. It’s like they just swapped the characterizations of Peach and Rosalina just because one might be more marketable than the other. (And don’t even get me started on the bizarre retcon between them that gave me the same reaction I had when it was revealed in the Wade Whipple show that Knuckles now has the flames of destr…..I mean disaster!)
On the other hand, at least they did my boy Yoshi justice. (And I’m not just saying that because I’m the biggest Yoshi shill in the world!) He has a very unique and welcome presence on screen with a surprisingly good vocal performance from Donald Glover (Easily the best “WTF!” casting in any movie since Vin Diesel as Groot!). He’s not treated like a dumb animal or an incompetent dog that Mario and Luigi has to take care off. He’s cute, funny, useful, resourceful, gets plenty of great moments, and he constantly proves throughout the movie that there is NOTHING he wouldn’t do for his friends. If there’s one thing that even the worst of Mario franchise gets right, it’s Yoshi and that is no exception here.
If we are to go more into the positives. The visuals are as amazing as they were the last time around, if not even better. There’s so many stunning sequences that you can tell the animators went to hell and back for to make them look as good as they did. The best moments are easily the ones where the characters are flying through outer space and any scenes that take place on the other planets separate from the Mushroom Kingdom. There’s so much love and care put into every single detail throughout the film that it makes you wish there was anywhere near as much passion from the writers of the film as there was from the animators.
The soundtrack from Bryan Tyler is still as stellar this time around with plenty of new and unique remixes to classic Mario toons, helping give the film it’s own unique beating heart and theme that you wouldn’t expect from a composer. The licensed music is (thankfully) used much more sparingly this time around and only when the scene absolutely calls for it, the voice cast are as adequate as they were before, and there is one surprise extended cameo, while gaining more screentime than Rosalina (Seriously, Illumination! WTF!), that makes me SLIGHTLY curious to see them in their own future film in the hands of a more capable studio (Please DreamWorks! Find a way to make it happen!).
Say what you will about the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies from Paramount but at least those films work perfectly well from a “have your cake and eat it too” perspective. They stand well enough as not just faithful adaptions of the games but also as cinematic experiences for mainstream audiences who are not aware of prior Sonic material. It’s got filmmakers who clearly have a huge passion for the speedy blue blur, doing everything they can to make each new installment better than the last one while addressing fan feedback and criticism in satisfactory ways.
With The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it’s clear that Illumination cares more about milking as many sequels and spin-offs to beloved Nintendo properties as they can before the will runs dry instead of making movies that work in every way a video game adaption should. I will most certainly NOT say that the passion from the cast and crew aren’t there or they didn’t at least have a huge amount of fun in making these films, you just don’t get the sense that the higher ups at Illumination see this series as anything more than water down jokes and paper thin storylines for little kids and key jingling and nostalgia bait for grown adults. And….that kinda sucks.
But again…it does have Yoshi in it!
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is not trying to win anyone that wasn’t won over by the first film nor is it trying to make a new Mario fan out of anyone. It’s just trying to scratch the nostalgic itch out of longtime fans and scratch the easter family movie for kids that will drag their parents to see the film this weekend and nothing else. I just wish we can expect better from not just one of the most popular characters in all of gaming but children and family films in general. And considering, we currently have two other very good animated kids films in GOAT and Hoppers that are still playing in theaters right now, there simply shouldn’t be an excuse for this.
Still, I can’t say I was bored by the movie nor found anything overly offensive from it. And with all the chaos and mayhem that is going on in the world right now, it never hurts to be drowning in pure cartoon delight as pure escapism. And again, it has Yoshi in it! And Yoshi makes EVERYTHING better!
I sure can’t wait though until Sonic The Hedgehog 4 sidelines Amy Rose for 90% of the film and reveals she’s actually Sonic’s *SPOILER*, while giving more screentime to Ryo Hazuki of all characters. **
Unfortunately, Yoshi will NOT be there to save the day! (Or will he?!)
** That’s actually gonna happen in Sonic 4, isn’t it?! F**K!
Adam's Blog 