Chris Pratt has a strong case for being one the best movie stars of his generation. His career started small with being cast in “Parks and Recreation” (2009–2015) as Andy Dwyer and in Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball” (2011) as real-life former Major League Baseball first baseman and catcher, Scott Hatteberg.
In 2014, Pratt’s persona as a performer catapulted into a new level of popularity. He starred as Emmet Brickowski in “The Lego Movie” and as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
The following year in 2015, Pratt was in “Jurassic World” as Owen Grady and went on to play that character for two sequels, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” (2018) and “Jurassic World: Dominion” (2022).
Pratt as Star-Lord has also appeared in his fair share of sequels, too. Not only that, but Star-Lord also serves a role in other Marvel Cinematic Universe films like “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) and “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022).
His skill as an actor isn’t limited to him being just a funny guy. Pratt is fully capable of playing a role in a more serious film. His performance as James Reece in Amazon Prime Video’s “The Terminal List” (2022–Present) proves this notion.
However, in recent years Pratt has been making some head-scratching career choices. He starred as the iconic Monday-hating, lasagna-loving cat, Garfield, in Mark Dindal’s “The Garfield Movie” (2024), to which he received backlash online.
Pratt was also cast as the popular Nintendo character Mario in the animated “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in 2023.
He’s been involved with films that have not only underperformed financially but have also been criticized to death on the internet from the likes of film critics to average moviegoers.
Examples of films like that are “The Tomorrow War” (2021) and “The Electric State” (2025).
This year, Pratt was in Timur Bekmambetov’s “Mercy,” which was underwhelming to say the least, and recently starred again as Mario in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” Although it’s not happening consecutively, Pratt is making rather bizarre choices with the recent films he’s appeared in.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is no different in this instance. This film is a direct sequel to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and it follows Mario and Luigi (Charlie Day) as they face a new threat in the form of Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie).
Bowser Jr. is determined to break his father, Bowser (Jack Black), from captivity and restore their family legacy. Alongside friends of old and new, such as the inclusion of Yoshi (Donald Glover), the brothers travel across the galaxy in order to stop Bowser Jr.’s crusade.
For what it’s worth, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is by no means a train wreck. There have been far worse films of their kind. The issue with it, and with its predecessor, is that there’s nothing inherently special or memorable about it.
Therein lies the true problem with the film and with Pratt choosing to be a part of it. Like some of the ones just mentioned, they don’t have a soul to them. A few months from now, many people won’t be remembering how good “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” was.
Film lovers are more likely to recall how good “The Lego Movie” or any of the three “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies were. Sure, both of these Mario Bros. movies may look nice in terms of animation and may have a few funny one-liners here and there, but that’s all they have to offer.
Pratt needs to redirect his career from being an actor who chooses to star in films that are mediocre and start being involved in more creative projects. It seems as if he’ll take any part as long as it comes with a handsome paycheck nowadays.
For his sake, Pratt needs to fix this as soon as possible. He’s a better actor than to just star in something like “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” and he probably knows that.
Rating: 2/5