‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ review: Game on

Nintendo and Illumination bring more intricate set pieces, more gorgeous animation, and less bland voice acting to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

The Mario franchise is a bit of a contradiction, in that it has a very basic central character with endless possibilities for adventure. Mario jumps, flies, races, golfs, and even flies through outer space. Anytime you need Mario to do something new, you better make sure it’s something wild enough to compete with the 40+ years of other eccentric adventures he’s been on. That’s why The Super Mario Bros. Movie was so disappointing: Illumination took decades of creative settings, iconic music, and colorful characters and made one of the blandest, most unoriginal animated movies to call itself a blockbuster. Given that it had a low bar to clear (see the 1993 live-action movie) and the endless creative possibilities afforded to animation, that says a lot. It also made money, and intellectual property is still king in Hollywood, so of course Illumination gets to do another one.

We open on Rosalina (Brie Larson), magical queen of the cosmos reading a bedtime story to her little Luma children. Unfortunately, Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) interrupts story time by kidnapping Rosalina with plans to use her to power a super weapon on Planet Bowser. One lost Luma crash lands in the Mushroom Kingdom where Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) shoot into the stars to rescue Rosalina. Meanwhile, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) have made a new friend; the bright-green lizard of one word, Yoshi (Donald Glover). After Bowser Jr. tries springing his miniaturized dad (Jack Black) from the trio’s grasp, they too jump into the cosmos to save the galaxy from annihilation.

A gorgeous galaxy.

For all the complaints you can throw at these Mario movies, “ugly” isn’t one of them. Mario Galaxy is another visual splendor with eye-catching set pieces that blend more of Mario’s wackiest game adventures into vibrant bliss. Whether it shows Peach and Toad throwing hands in the a cubic casino or the Bowser boys visiting their eponymous planet, Illumination’s team layers it all with eye-catching color palettes and zippy animation. There’s even a scene where Bowser uses felt hand puppets and it’s genuinely hard to tell whether it’s animated or the team somehow merged live-action with its animation. That detail is also in the score, with Brian Tyler mixing themes and sections from classic Mario games with movie-ready orchestrations. Those pieces and the visuals are irreplaceably tied to the games that came before it, meaning that there isn’t an original bone in the movie’s body. It’s an advertisement for the Mario brand (and a tease for a Nintendo Cinematic Universe), but at least it has more than enough visual flare (and references for fanboys) to block out its most grating elements.

And those elements come from yet another dull screenplay with a lack of imagination. We have the typical journey to a far away land, wacky characters throwing our heroes for a loop, your princess is in another castle, etc. At least Matthew Fogel, who wrote the last movie’s script, is free from having to introduce Mario to a new generation and has more room for slightly-above-average family movie jokes. But still, Mario Galaxy has the same problem as Mario Bros. in not embracing the creative possibilities of a Mario movie. For all the momentum Mario Galaxy builds from an energetic fight scene or a big chase, it stops itself dead by having the characters deliver their schtick or do plot exposition. The world of Mario is so loud and vibrant that you wish all the characters (or at least the main ones) were mute because the surrounding action speaks so much better than anyone with speaking lines.

Boring bots.

The amount of talented actors in this cast makes it all the more shocking that barely anyone registers as an engaging presence. There’s a noble attempt to make Princess Peach not a damsel in distress, but Taylor-Joy does not rise to the occasion. Her bland delivery of every line makes it clear that she’s just here because Robert Eggers movies don’t pay the bills. Same can be said for Larson who, despite being an open fan of Super Mario Galaxy, leaves little to no impression in the few scenes Rosalina is actually in. The only actors who rise to the occasion are the ones remembering they’re in a cartoon. Safdie is fun with Bowser Jr. and his helium voice to go with his dastardly deeds, giving him the aura of a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Key’s cartoonish energy works with most animated roles, so he’s a near-perfect fit for the screeching sidekick of Toad. And good for Glover getting the full “Vin Diesel as Groot” treatment; getting tens of millions of dollars to do one day of voice work saying one word in different tones.

He may not say much, but Mario is know to be an expressive, energetic, upbeat presence in any game he’s in. Even if you don’t have Charles Martinet behind the mic, you can get any other super talented voice actor to meet Mario’s energy. Now I must ask this question again…why is Chris Pratt voicing Mario? Is it because he was in The LEGO Movie? Pratt being a blank slate of a protagonist was actually part of the joke/theme of that movie. Is it because he was in Guardians of the Galaxy? Do you really want to hear childhood video game icon Mario have the same voice of the guy who makes sex jokes? Is it because he was in Jurassic World? People go to see those movies because of the DINOSAURS, not the guy schilling for Triumph motorcycles and minuscule facial hair. Is it because you need the star power? Even in an era where producers think people will go to animated movies because of the stars voicing them…it’s MARIO. MARIO IS THE STAR OF THE MOVIE. YOU DO NOT NEED STAR POWER TO SELL A MARIO MOVIE.

The bottom line.

If we are indeed going to be subjected to more surface-level big screen entertainment from Nintendo’s vast catalog of characters, at least The Super Mario Galaxy Movie remembered to be more of a movie and not a 90-minute trailer this time. All credit goes to the animators and musical composers for strapping a rocket to the bland script and lifeless voice actors to carry them over the finish line. It’s sad to call a movie booming with decades of imaginative characters and settings “disposable,” but there aren’t enough Pikmin in the world to distract you from the blatant franchise baiting here. So whatever, bring on the solo Yoshi movie and the Star Fox trilogy and the Mr. Game and Watch mini-series on Peacock.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy if Nintendo and Illumination. Read more articles by Jon Winkler here.

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