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The Rotten Tomatoes critic score for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has sparked debate over the gap between critical and audience consensus.
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But Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t capture any nuance, and is bad for the movie business.
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In reality, more critics liked the first movie better than the sequel — part of a trend that extends to the average moviegoer as well.
Another blockbuster movie has sparked another debate about the supposed chasm between professional critics and “what audiences or fans care about.”
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” debuted over the weekend with a 41% Rotten Tomatoes critic score as well as $190 million over the five-day Easter box office. Obviously, the general audience consensus doesn’t quite align with the critical one, which has inspired a myriad of takes on social media from supposed film “community champions” on Threads, LinkedIn “thought leaders,” and everyone in between (I don’t know what’s going on on X and don’t need to).
This is not a new phenomenon, but it still boggles my mind that people who are apparently fans of movies don’t respect film criticism. Based on my social feeds, “Super Mario Galaxy” gets a pass on any critical analysis because it’s a “kids movie” “based on a video game” that “isn’t trying to be Citizen Kane.”
But that’s not what critics judge a movie on, and a lot of the criticism against the criticism sounds pretty disingenuous. When did we lower our expectations so much for kids movies? Or video games? Or thoughtful critique in general? People assume that film critics don’t have kids or don’t like kids movies or don’t play video games? Sure, some reviews can sound like crotchety old men. But I saw the movie, and I would align with the less-than-positive takes: As I wrote on my Letterboxd, it’s a disorienting and jarring experience made for the lowest of attention spans. Kids movies didn’t used to feel this hollow.
But yes, it’s also a fun movie that kids will like. Rotten Tomatoes scores don’t capture any such nuance, and if the bad outweighs the good for most critics, it will get a “rotten” score. The first “Super Mario Bros. Movie” has a 59% RT critics score, which means that 59% — over half — of critics actually liked it. But to RT, that’s “rotten.”
It’s bad for the movie business, but RT won’t fix it because it generates headlines, social media debate, and Substack posts.
In reality, rating aggregators across the board suggest that while “Galaxy” is beloved by those who saw it, it’s not as beloved as the first movie. The RT audience score is 89% compared to the first movie’s 95%; the Metacritic user score is a “generally favorable” 7.8 out of 10 compared to the first movie’s 8.1; on Letterboxd, it has a 3.0 score (that will probably drop) while the first movie has a 3.2; and its CinemaScore, which surveys moviegoers on opening night and is a better indicator than either of those, is an A-. Stellar, but a step down from the first movie’s A.
So yeah, audiences clearly like the movie, but I would look at the critics reviews as part of the above trend rather than some sort of offensive outlier: More critics liked the first movie than they did the sequel.
Even the weekend box office came in below what the first movie earned in its opening five days. This is a highly successful movie, but when all is said and done, will it be as successful as the first one? Maybe not.
But it is still bound to be one of the biggest movies of the year and likely the third-biggest animated sequel ever when all’s said and done, behind “Zootopia 2” and “Inside Out 2.” Critics be damned!
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I am finally watching HBO’s “Euphoria” for the first time ahead of its upcoming third season. This show is insane, to put it mildly, but I can’t look away.
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The physical media spring sales drained my wallet: Picked up Arrow’s “RoboCop” 4K; Criterion’s “Network” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”; and a bunch of stuff from Gruv.
💰 Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s “The Drama” earned $14 million over the weekend, A24’s third-biggest opening ever.
🧙♀️ Zach Cregger is officially working on a script for a “Weapons” prequel about Aunt Gladys.
✍️ The WGA reached a deal with studios for a new four-year contract ahead of schedule.
⭐️ “Project Hail Mary” author Andy Weir apologized for calling Paramount+’s “Star Trek” shows “shit.”