Warning: contains spoilers.
The new “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has been blowing every other movie released thus far in 2026 out of the water. It is fun, nostalgic and truly out of this world. This interstellar film has made nearly $400 million at the box office so far, and with good reason. I know I sound like a geek, but I can’t shut up about how much I love this movie. I cannot wait for the DVD release.
For someone like me, this movie was a dream come true. I have been a Mario fan all my life … the Mario series is what introduced me to video games, and what made me fall in love with them. When I found out they were making the first Mario movie in 2023, I went with a group of friends (fellow Mario nerds) to the movies. When this movie was announced, I had low expectations – the first movie wasn’t bad by any means, but some elements really irked me. I did not have this same problem with the sequel … it was truly a shining star.
For starters, it was already light-years better than its predecessor. One reason was the soundtrack – the first movie often had random pop songs placed throughout the film that often jolted you out of the universe. Luckily, in this movie, the music was reminiscent of that from the Super Mario Galaxy video game – you stayed in-universe the entire time. On top of that, Peach was way less obnoxious this time than she was in the last movie. Her personality was toned down a lot, and she felt a lot more like the authentic Peach that we all know and love. Even though she wasn’t the one being rescued this time, she still felt like herself which helped the movie massively.
Besides the improvements, there were some other moments that really helped the movie shine. Firstly, I loved the dynamic between Bowser and Bowser Jr.; they were such a cute duo. Also, I’d have to say that Yoshi was absolutely adorable. Yoshi being iconically Yoshi was everything. Every time he was on the screen, he stole the show. Further, it was awesome seeing Rosalina and the Lumas on screen again for the first time in what felt like forever.
What was interesting was that the movie assumed you had a strong knowledge of the characters already – if you didn’t know who Rosalina was prior to this or much about the other characters, it might be a little difficult to follow along. With that being said, this film felt more of a sequel to the game itself rather than of the first movie, which was (in my opinion) an awesome touch.
Despite the title, it involved many elements from other Mario games in the franchise, such as “Yoshi’s Island” and “Super Mario Odyssey.” I expected this going into it, as the previous movie was basically a conglomeration of many of the installments of the Mario franchise. It was really neat watching elements from several Mario games fit together perfectly in the storyline – it was a little random at times, but it was awesome. Although, there was one major part that felt very forced and a little too random (spoiler incoming).
In my humble opinion, the introduction of Star Fox, a character from the space flight shooter game of the same name, was wildly unnecessary. First of all, he is very obscure and I was confused when I first saw him. Also, this is a Mario movie … not once has Star Fox appeared in a Mario installment before. In addition, I honestly felt like he just appeared because they needed a Star Wars-eque character and Hans Solo (whoops, I meant Star Fox) was perfect for the role. I will say that after watching this movie, my fiancé Sam took me to his house and we played Star Fox together. I finally understood what was going on, but even then, I still don’t understand the necessity of him in the movie. Take my opinion with a grain of salt though, Sam loved seeing Star Fox on the big screen!
Despite many negative reviews, this movie was out of this world. I loved the “Super Mario Galaxy Movie”; I’m not sure I stopped smiling once through it. I loved the first movie, but this one is hands down better than the previous one, which is almost unheard of for sequels. Maybe it wasn’t a deep enough movie for critics and many other Mario fans, but I thought it was amazing … from the lightheartedness of it to answering the questions about Rosalina that we’ve all been waiting for, it was an absolute blast to watch. Plus, the lack of a super coherent storyline made it so easy to just sit back and watch just for the fun of it, and enjoy the chaos that ensued along the way. I rate this movie 5/5 stars – it truly exceeded my expectations.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of The Torch.