Moviewatchin' Psychopath!

THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE:

NINTENDO FAN-SERVICE GALORE IN THIS VIDEO GAME MOVIE SEQUEL!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND NINTENDO

Bowser Jr., Rosalina, Bowser, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Mario, Luigi, and the rest in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Everyone’s favorite Italian plumber brothers are back in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the latest animated feature from Illumination and the highly anticipated sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie based on the Nintendo video game franchise of the same name. I enjoyed the previous Mario movie and thought it was a significant improvement over the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie (The one that starred Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo), but I felt the plot was rather thin (A standard Mario plot essentially) and the use of licensed music was distracting especially since Brian Tyler composed a stellar score for it.

However, despite those flaws, the world of the Mushroom Kingdom was beautifully brought to life on the big screen with several nods and references to not just the Mario franchise but Nintendo in general sprinkled throughout. Between that and the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies, the future is looking bright for video game film adaptations…at least for these kinds of films (Borderlands and Five Nights at Freddy’s 1 and 2 are still awful and A Minecraft Moviewas mid at best!).

Despite mixed reactions from critics, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive success becoming the highest-grossing film of all time based on the video game and the first one to cross the billion dollar mark at the box-office. Needless to say, a sequel was inevitable after all the “Coins” Mario racked in with his previous cinematic outing with this one being a direct adaptation of the 2007 game, Super Mario Galaxy and its 2010 sequel.

Even though I only liked The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I was excited for this one right when it was first announced, I think Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are among the best Mario games ever made and its sci-fi and space setting opens up a lot of possibilities for an entertaining and engaging movie. Given the critical reactions, I might have a bit of a hot take regarding it, I actually dug the hell out of this movie and prefer it over the first.

I’d say it’s about as good as the second Sonic the Hedgehog movie which greatly improved upon its predecessor and gave fans something much closer in spirit to the source material. That’s basically what The Super Mario Galaxy Movie does, it expands upon the things that worked in the first while toning down the stuff that didn’t (Less licensed music and more Brian Tyler covers of Mario music) plus an overabundance of Nintendo Easter Eggs all throughout the movie, my best friend and I were pointing at the screen constantly during the film.

The film follows Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt-Parks and Recreation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jurassic World franchise) and Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day-It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Pacific Rim 1 and 2, The Lego Movie 1 and 2) attending a celebration at the Mushroom Kingdom castle for Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy-The Queen’s Gambit, Emma (2020), The Menu), all is well. Suddenly, a mysterious Koopa known as Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie-Good Time, Licorice Pizza, Oppenheimer) appears in search of his father, the villainous Bowser (voiced by Jack Black-School of Rock, Kung Fu Panda franchise, Tropic Thunder) who has also captured a princess from outer space known as Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson-Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Room, Marvel Cinematic Universe) who has a connection to Peach thus sending the Mario Bros., Peach, Toad (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key-Key & Peele, Hotel Transylvania franchise, Toy Story 4), and their newest ally and hungry green dinosaur, Yoshi (voiced by Donald Glover-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Lion King (2019)) into space to rescue her and stop the Koopa father son duo.

The film also features the voices of Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man, Twisters) as Fox McCloud from the Star Fox video game series, Luis Guzmán (Carlito’s Way, Magnolia, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F) as Wart in his first appearance since 1988’s Super Mario Bros. 2, Issa Rae (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Barbie, American Fiction) as Honey Queen, and Kevin Michael Richardson (Family Guy, Lilo & Stitch, Ratchet & Clank) reprising his role as Kamek.

Overall, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t really offer much to those unfamiliar with the Mario franchise or Nintendo’s IPs and will likely be best enjoyed by fans of the source material. But as a fan of both Mario and Nintendo, this movie was a blast with just about every Nintendo reference made in the film bringing a smile to my face every time they appeared from various Mario games to R.O.B. the Robot (The latter has one of the funniest scenes in the film).

The animation once again is breathtaking especially with the film’s outer space setting which is just gorgeous to look at on the big screen. Everything is so colorful and vibrant and filled with creative designs reminiscent of what you’d see in the Super Mario Galaxy games, the whole film was a feast for the eyes.

The characters are about the same as in the last film, but some have been improved on in this entry, Pratt’s voice as Mario is better this time around (Though it wasn’t distracting in the first movie), the film explores Peach’s backstory more and shows a connection between her and Rosalina that’s pretty interesting, and Jack Black’s Bowser goes through an arc about becoming a good dad for his son that’s both humorous and touching. Also, I gotta say, Brie Larson was a solid pick to voice Rosalina as far as casting celebrities for voice acting goes, her voice fit the character very well and it was awesome seeing Rosalina be a badass on the big screen.

As much as I enjoyed this film, the plot is still about as thin as the first and does the standard Mario premise except in outer space and a lot more Nintendo callbacks. Both of them are still fun video game movies, but I do think the Sonic movies have more cohesive storylines and can appeal to those unfamiliar with the source material.

As a movie, it probably doesn’t work entirely, but as a love letter to Mario and the Nintendo brand, I ate The Super Mario Galaxy Movie up during my viewing. It gave me more of what I wanted out of the first Mario movie while also getting me excited for future movies based on Nintendo properties, if Universal and Illumination play their cards right, a Super Smash Bros. movie could very much be the video game equivalent of The Avengers, Let’s-a Go!

By the way, the post-credits scene gave me Amy Rose at the end of Sonic Movie 3 vibes!