As beloved and wide-ranging as the Super Mario franchise is, I understand that story has never been one of the hailed hallmarks. The world knows Mario and Luigi are plumbers in a world full of mushrooms and turtles, and they avoid obstacles and defeat Bowser so that they can rescue Princess Peach. Complex character arcs (nor even complex personalities) have never been a priority, with the focus being more on iconography, be it with weird new bad guys or buddies for the protagonists.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Release Date: April 3, 2023
Directed By: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
Written By: Matthew Fogel
Starring: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Brie Larson, Benny Safdie, Glen Powell and Donald Glover
Rating: PG for action, mild violence and rude humor
Runtime: 98 minutes
In the making of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel did what they could to make something from nothing – and while my review of the work noted that it was more a checklist of references than a film, I will give it credit for that work in retrospect: the blockbuster crafted an origin story for the titular characters and take them on a journey from their home in Brooklyn to the Mushroom Kingdom.
That’s far more than I can say for the filmmakers’ follow-up, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It can be said that the sequel has a plot and it introduces a few new characters, but that’s where the creative energy halts. The film has virtually nothing else going on beyond what’s going on in the overarching narrative, which results in the protagonists simply moving from place to place so that easter eggs and references to the games can be inserted. With the (only minimal) exceptions of Jack Black‘s Bowser, Anya Taylor-Joy‘s Peach, and Benny Safdie’s Bowser Jr., there are no real wants or motivations or evolved relationship dynamics. It’s mindless.
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Set in the aftermath of the first movie, trouble begins when the aforementioned Bowser Jr. arrives on the scene with two goals: to kidnap a princess – specifically Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) – and rescue his father, who has been shrunk and kept imprisoned. Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) go after the diminutive villain when they learn about the former; and Mario (Chris Pratt), Luigi (Charlie Day), and the newly discovered Yoshi (Donald Glover) get pulled in because of the latter.
As Peach and Toad travel across the universe hoping to find answers to the royal’s mysterious origins, the plumber brothers, their dinosaur pal, and Bowser follow a few steps back – with the The Super Mario Bros. Movie villain claiming to be wholly rehabilitated and wanting the chance to reconnect with his estranged son.
It’s wild how little effort was put into trying to develop these characters.
Some of you may be reading this take and thinking, “What do you want? It’s just a kids movie” – but that’s a rather insulting sentiment considering that we are only weeks/months removed from the critically acclaimed releases of both Pixar’s Hoppers and Walt Disney Animation’s Zootopia 2. And while I have no expectations that the Super Mario sequel will explore themes of stolen land, oligarchical power and gentrification like the aforementioned 2025 title, I do expect at least some effort from the storytellers to engage more than just the simplest members of the audience.
A perfect example of how lazy the movie is can be seen with the introduction of Yoshi (side note: huge congratulations to Donald Glover for probably being paid millions of dollars to squeak “Yoshi” into a microphone a dozen or so times). Mario and Luigi find him in a warp pipe, there is a brief montage showcasing how he came to be in the warp pipe, and then he’s just… there. He’s along for the adventure and he does his thing – by which I mean eating things with his frog-like tongue and laying eggs – and there is exactly nothing more to it. There easily could be a sub-plot exploring what he is and where he came from, but why bother when his appearance is purely based on familiar character utilization and toy/game sales?
All that being said, not providing Yoshi any depth can be given a full pass in light of the film’s biggest sin: the absolutely staleness of Mario and Luigi. Beyond going after Peach and figuring out what Bowser Jr. is up to, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has no idea what to do with its main characters. Mario is distrustful of Bowser’s rehabilitation, and Luigi eggs his brother on a couple times to ask the princess on a date, but that’s the end of the list when it comes to emotional conflict for protagonists, and neither of them actually end up getting a satisfying conclusion. Nothing matters beyond the adventure.
Star Fox is easily the MVP of the film, but without much competition.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a movie mostly a chain of sequences that feel designed to someday be paused so that fans can count how many recognizable characters they can find, and it’s mostly shallow fan service. The lone exception to this, however, is the introduction of Star Fox, voiced by Glen Powell. Without giving away too much, he is a scene-stealer thanks to his cool attitude and awesome space ship – plus his presence (specifically a montage with his backstory) allows the animators to briefly break up the monotony of the film’s aesthetic to try something new. The big downside is that you very much end up wishing you were watching a Star Fox movie instead of a Super Mario sequel.
Beyond Star Fox’s role, there are some other fun action moments, including a Peach-centric battle royale in a casino with multidirectional gravity – and discussing the second best sequence in the would be veering too far into spoiler territory, but it can be said that it’s a neat homage to the classic games of the 1980s. But these highlights come few and far between with everything else about the movie that drags.
It’s not very often that a bad movie makes a $1 billion at the worldwide box office and then makes serious efforts to improve quality in the sequel, so I can’t say that I’m ultimately surprised at the film that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is. At the same time, though, I can lament that nearly everything about it is lowest common denominator and that most won’t think twice about how contemptible it is of its audience.