Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers.
Mario and the gang travel to bold new worlds as the animated movie series continues exploring the lands of the Mario games and reaches further than ever before.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” opened in theaters on Wednesday. The movie is a direct sequel to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” released in 2023.
Both films are based on the popular Mario Brothers franchise of video games created by Nintendo. The movies were made in partnership with Illumination, the same studio behind movies such as “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.”
The sequel was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and was written by Matthew Fogel.
The movie continues the plot started in the first movie in which Mario and Luigi defeated Bowser and captured him. The villain starts the sequel in a miniature state after an incident in the first movie in which he was shrunken.
Mario and Luigi are brothers from Brooklyn. They get thrust into a magical world called the Mushroom Kingdom by the warp pipe, an item from the games that transports Mario to this new world. In the sequel, both brothers are living completely in the Mushroom Kingdom and have left Brooklyn behind.
The ensemble voice cast returns with most of the main cast reprising their roles. The movie features Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad.
New voice actors included: Glen Powell as Fox McCloud, Donald Glover as Yoshi, Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina and Benny Safdie as Bowser Junior.
In particular, Powell’s performance as the space mercenary Fox McCloud is one of the highlights of the movie. He provides a refreshing take on the character.
One interesting note about this is the fact that Fox is not a Mario character, coming from the Nintendo franchise “Star Fox.” This was an interesting decision and opened new possibilities for the future of the movie franchise.
Another main highlight was the stunning visual effects and action sequences in the movie. Illumination continues to shine with its very pretty visual effects. The movie had many bright colors and the different characters were done well with great color shading and lighting.
Furthermore, the special effects were well done and believable, perfectly blending the fantastical sea of the Mushroom Kingdom and the futuristic tech of the Mario Galaxy games.
However, these changes do bring to light that although the movie shares a name with the 2007 game “Super Mario Galaxy,” its plot is original.
The movie draws inspiration from a variety of sources including Super Mario Odyssey and other Mario games.
The movie follows Bowser Jr. as he tries to rescue his father from the Mushroom Kingdom and restore the Koopa King to his former glory.
To do this, Bowser Jr. kidnaps Princess Rosalina, the mysterious guardian of the mystical star-shaped Lumas, to absorb her power to become stronger.
This leads directly to one of the most shocking revelations and soft retconning of Nintendo lore. It is revealed that Princess Peach is actually Rosalina’s long lost sister.
This twist was surprising because in the games there was never an explicit relationship between the two characters, although it was the subject of fan speculation. This new revelation is sure to make promising changes in future titles and movies.
Besides this change, the addition of a non-Mario character was a stunning and shocking move. Before this, outside of battling games, the characters of Fox and Mario had never really had a connection in the games. His addition to the movie provided a unique and unexpected twist.
However, this leads to one of the movie’s biggest challenges: The large cast of characters makes the story muddled and confusing.
While many of the characters were fun, the sheer number made it difficult for viewers to follow and for some characters to get a more complete story arc.
One of the biggest examples of this was Princess Rosalina, who had less screen time and presence within the film than expected based on the trailer and use of the Galaxy branding as Rosalina is a major component of those games.
Overall, the movie provides some fun and exciting moments, such as fight scenes and world traveling.
This leads to one of my favorite character moments in which Bowser transforms into Dry Bowser after falling into a lava pit. This version of Bowser is made of bones and is immune to fire. Seeing the character this way was exciting.
While Black’s version of Bowser was overly goofy and emotional at times, seeing him as Dry Bowser gives the character more of an edge. This was refreshing as it highlighted the character’s depth and versatility.
Another interesting twist was a post-credit scene featuring Princess Daisy from the games, often seen as Luigi’s love interest.
If you are looking for a fun and exciting time, and to see some of your favorite Nintendo characters in action, then this movie is worth watching. I’d give it 8/10.