The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the latest Mario franchise film from Illumination, is a colorful expansion that takes us deeper into the Mario universe (literally). It's a rapid-fire delivery system for Mario Easter eggs and references with solid voice acting, but it gives far too brief a treatment of everything for any of it to shine.
2023 box office phenomenon The Super Mario Bros. Movie reintroduced the silver screen to Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), a pair of Brooklyn-based Italian plumbers who find their way into a warp pipe and are thrust into interdimensional realpolitik.
Emerging in the Mushroom Kingdom, they meet Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), a fearless and wise leader abducted by the Koopa king Bowser (Jack Black). Bowser wants her hand in marriage, and it's up to the Mario brothers, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), and assorted allies to stop him.
It was only a matter of time before a sequel hit the big screen, given that the original grossed well over $1 billion worldwide. Based on Nintendo's 2007 Wii platformer Super Mario Galaxy, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie sends our heroes to the stars, evolving franchise mythology with bold colors and lots of action.
It's a celebration of Mario lore, boasting a stellar voice cast, but it rushes through its new additions, plot elements, and locales. There's potential in Galaxy, and it successfully sets up Super Smash Bros., but otherwise misses the mark.
A Mario Adventure That Needs a Tighter Story
The Princess Abduction Industrial Complex is at it again! The Super Mario Galaxy Movie begins with Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson), the caretaker of the star-like Lumas, who one day gets abducted by the space-faring Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie).
Bowser Jr. hopes to use Rosalina's latent power to fuel a planet-destroying cannon in honor of his father, Bowser. The latter has been somewhat rehabilitated, shrunk to a pocket-sized version of himself, and imprisoned following the first movie.
Peach discovers Rosalina's kidnapping and that the princesses are long-lost sisters, and she heads to the stars to save her with Mario, Luigi, and their newfound dinosaur-esque friend Yoshi (Donald Glover) trailing close behind. The sets of protagonists unite on board Bowser Jr.'s massive space base with their newfound friend, the rogueish pilot Star Fox (Glen Powell).
From a narrative standpoint, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is surprisingly muddled despite its scant runtime. The princesses are united with a backstory that largely works, but it doesn't quite make sense.
Rosalina sent Peach away, misses her, and is spacefaring, but never goes looking for her. Bowser is so rehabilitated that he's willing to sacrifice himself for the brothers (Luigi especially), and he genuinely cares for them to some degree, but he abruptly returns to his old ways.
Many of the stops along the protagonists' way also feel too much like shoehorned Easter eggs rather than necessary elements of a journey. The mile-a-minute visit to the Honeyhive Galaxy is visually interesting but inconsequential.
The trip to Wart's casino is fun, but it feels random and inconsequential. It isn't until all the protagonists meet up with Star Fox and concretely set their sights on Bowser Jr.'s space base that there's some semblance of a tight narrative.
New Characters Need More Context & Screentime
As a whole, the performances work but are a bit hamstrung by the number of characters the film has to balance in a thin runtime. Anya Taylor-Joy gets a solid showcase and delivers a memorable performance, while Brie Larson is stellar as Princess Rosalina (though she is underutilized, as she spends most of the film away from the action). Jack Black again proves comically menacing as Bowser, while Charlie Day is great as Luigi.
Beyond Larson, many of the other additions strengthen the world. Glen Powell packs loads of personality into his iteration of Star Fox, fitting him well into that Han Solo-esque vein.
It shows that he'd do well in a spinoff, though the character could benefit from any relevant context or character development. Donald Glover gives a surprisingly perfect voice to Yoshi, though our green dinosaur friend needs increased screen time to leave a true mark.
The way The Super Mario Galaxy Movie balances so many characters and locations largely does a disservice to all of them. There's a talented cast here, but it flits so quickly between them that they rarely get enough interesting or memorable moments.
The locations are big and flashy, with Easter Eggs aplenty for Mario franchise fans, but the new locales are barely introduced before we're somewhere else entirely. There isn't a lot of story, sure, but why not allow an extra 10 minutes, if only to develop what's already there?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is many things. It's a mile-a-minute parade of Mario references (for good and ill) that celebrates the franchise, but in a jumpy, overcaffeinated way that needs to stop and settle into its material.
There are good performances throughout, but they're regularly in need of lengthier scenes and increasingly evolved material. Ultimately, it feels like there's a decent movie in this hodgepodge of ideas, but that better movie is in another castle.
Final Rating: 5/10
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is playing in theaters now.
