You might think I’m joking, but the depressing feeling one has in watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie might prompt you to end up with the same conclusion as I: have movies, as an art form, lost all of their meaning? Certainly not. However, titles such as Super Mario Galaxy Movie give cinema a bad name, even if it will probably gross $1 billion worldwide. Worse yet, that success will inevitably cause Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment to greenlight a third installment that begs their audience not to ask questions, but instead just consume product and get excited for the next product.
I didn’t think of this while watching 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While imperfect, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s adaptation of the hit Nintendo franchise remains a joyful and dynamic celebration of one of the greatest video games ever crafted. Its plot might be thinly developed, but who cares? Have the Mario games ever had a sophisticated synopsis? No! It’s always “Bowser kidnaps Peach. Mario has to rescue her through an array of intricate levels and worlds.” It’s all about the music, the visuals, the set pieces, the charm one feels when seeing Mario hit a surprise box and transform into something beyond our imagination. For a first film, it’s more than excusable if you simply retain the core spirit of the games.
The Sequel
For a sequel, one that touts itself as an adaptation of two of the greatest platform video games ever made (i.e., Super Mario Galaxy and its 2010 sequel), the status quo doesn’t work, and you need to elevate almost every aspect of your universe. Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t care. They’re using these films to make more money and sell more products to greenlight a sequel that will do the same thing. They’ll also hope you’ll recognize that this movie has little to no artistic and thematic value, because all it does is shove references (and Easter eggs) down your throats so you can mindlessly point and clap at the screen in recognition to get a minimal dopamine hit.
If that’s all you’re looking for, then maybe this film is for you. Yet, I’m a fan—someone who religiously played every single Mario console game that I could find, sometimes even more than once—and even enjoyed the first film. This sequel did nothing for me. It’s an amalgamation of vignettes that can be fun at times of inspiration, but have very little to do with Super Mario Galaxy and the feeling one has while playing the game. Of course, music composer Brian Tyler’s soundtrack will fleetingly recall the emotive experience of discovering the game’s multiple galaxies and ingenious controls. Even then, there’s very little the music can actually do when the movie itself feels narratively disjointed and instead filled with nothing but “hype moments and aura.”
Making Sense of the Movie
These hype moments worked at a packed 7:00 pm IMAX opening-night showing of the film. When Fox McCloud (voiced by Glen Powell) showed up—something that shouldn’t have been revealed in its promotional materials—, people clapped. When Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt), Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day), Yoshi (voiced by Donald Glover, fantastic), and Bowser (voiced by Jack Black) land in the Honeyhive Galaxy and meet the Queen Bee (voiced by Issa Rae), people clapped. During the two post-credits scenes (no spoilers), people clapped. If Point and Clap: The Movie is your thing, then The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will work well for you, because Nintendo doesn’t want you to think about what you’re watching.
“But this is for the fans!” “You hate fun!” “They don’t make statues of critics!” Hello, you’re talking to a fan and someone who studied the games (specifically, Super Mario Bros. 3) as part of my university degree. Moderately looking at the dazzlingly created images on the screen and thinking about what they mean is the ultimate intellectual exercise in film appreciation. This film isn’t made for critics because there’s nothing there. It’s a succession of fast-paced action sequences meant to be clipped for TikTok videos, but without any substance or narrative forward momentum to warrant any emotional attachment to what’s happening on screen.
The (Invisible) Plot to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
I couldn’t tell you what The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is about, and I don’t care. All I know is that it involves Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie) kidnapping Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) to…take over the world? Or destroy it? Is that it? Nothing is properly defined in a movie that cares very little about telling a story, other than “Look! It’s something you recognize!” The first film featured these sequences on occasion, but they didn’t diminish the feeling of pure joy each frame imbues. The sequel is only concerned with jingling keys in front of people’s faces as if you’re watching Cocomelon instead of something, anything, with a bit more substance.
There’s no anchor to anything on screen that the audience can actively latch onto. The stakes are non-existent, even though the film is bigger than the last and threatens an entire galaxy. Also, there’s no connective tissue tying all of the separate quests undertaken by Mario and Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) together. It’s a pure, unabashed commercial with very little active fun and imagination offered for audiences. Sure, it’s a guaranteed moneymaker. Although, there was a time when blockbusters hid their cash-grab nature more successfully than this.
Capitalizing on Intellectual Property
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie offers nothing beyond advertisements for Nintendo products. There’s no desire to adapt—or even do something original—with the Mario Galaxy IP. Of course, the occasional set pieces and musical beats are fun, but not in service of its grander story. Wait a minute, what story? Unlike the previous film, which retained the traditional beats of a Mario game, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie thrives on not giving anything substantial to the audience. It’s sickeningly boring, and fans deserve so much better than to be fed such gobbledygook.
The only reason why the star rating in this review isn’t lower than two is that one cannot fault Illumination Entertainment for its staggering animation. How Horvath and Jelenic move the camera and create sequences of dizzying grandeur is honestly very commendable. In an era when Hollywood animated movies strive for hyperrealism, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie aims to overstimulate the audience with bright colors, note-perfect visual comedy, and action sequences so immense that a large IMAX screen can’t contain them.
In isolation, some of these set pieces are quite fun. Everything involving Yoshi is a thrill. Donald Glover is an inspired casting, and he does a terrific job repeating the same line over and over again, perhaps even better than Vin Diesel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The T. Rex from Mario Odyssey chasing the Baby Marios? Hilarious! Glen Powell as Fox McCloud? Amusing! They essentially make him the Han Solo of the film, and it works! It’s not all bad, but the overall picture is still incredibly grim, because these isolated sequences amount to very little.
Final Thoughts on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the perfect film for our collectively (and cinematically) illiterate generation. This movie requires no critical thinking from the audience and coddles them into believing that scrolling on social media all day is beneficial for their mental and physical health. It barely qualifies as a Super Mario Galaxy adaptation in the first place, other than the occasional presence of Rosalina and the Lumas, because everything else feels more like an on-screen transposition of Super Mario Odyssey than the intergalactic adventure promised by the movie’s cold open.
However, since the movie will make money and the usual suspects will go after film critics who dare hold what they’re watching to minimum standards, we’ll get a third installment that will fit our incurious, nostalgia-driven “don’t ask questions” era even more. Why make something good when you can settle for slop instead?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters!
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