The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - Review: Spaced Out

 

Expectations are the death of criticism. For as many genre bending, high quality works of cinema that release each year, there are arguably even more films that come out that are seemingly critic proof. You get what you pay for, as they say. 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was, like plenty of Illumination’s others, one such film. It was fun and breezy, brightly colored and high energy. But also riddled with its own myriad of problems that prevented the first animated film featuring Nintendo’s overall wearing Italian super star from being a slam dunk quality wise. I say quality wise because none of that prevented it from leveling up to a cool $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office. So, inevitably, here comes the sequel.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” starts with a bang, as the son of Bowser, aptly named Bowser Jr. and voiced by Benny Safdie (“Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Oppenheimer”), kidnaps the queen of the cosmos Princess Rosalina, voiced by Brie Larson (“Captain Marvel,” “Short Term 12”). Soon Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy (“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Menu”), hears of this and she and Toad, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key (“Key & Peele,” “Schmigadoon!”)), venture into space to find her. This leaves Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt (“Parks and Recreation,” “The LEGO Movie”), Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The LEGO Movie”), and their new dinosaur friend Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover (“Community,” “Atlanta”), to look after the Mushroom Kingdom and the somewhat reformed and still shrunken villainous Bowser, voiced by Jack Black (“School of Rock,” “Kung Fu Panda”). That is, until Bowser Jr. shows up to take his father back, sending that trio on their own galaxy spanning adventure as well.

For all of its criticisms, the first “Super Mario Bros.” movie produced by Illumination had a basic but still functional arc at its core. The brotherly relationship between Mario and Luigi served as a decent enough arc, providing something to get invested in for the moments between the game references. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to provide some kind of catharsis in the third act, earning a bit of pathos. The same cannot be said on this second outing. Despite retaining the first film’s directors, Aaron Horvath (“Teen Titans GO! To The Movies,” “Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas”) and Michael Jelenic (“Teen Titans GO! To The Movies,” “Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas”), and screenwriter, Matthew Fogel (“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part”), it’s as if any desire to do anything even perfunctory with the plot had gotten lost in the cosmos.

The film doesn’t exist as a straight narrative, but rather a series of scenes strung together to form the loosest sense of plot. The Mario games aren’t known for having grand stories, but they at least have some sense of momentum. The act of watching “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” feels more like having someone show you their favorite clips of a movie on YouTube: scenes that just begin and end, sometimes feeling like they’ve cut themselves off before they’re supposed to, and giving the impression that there’s a narrative you simply aren’t being shown. Again, you might ask why one would even expect anything else from this kind of movie, but the first film at least had a basic enough plot to build things off of. This feels like characters go where they need to simply because the movie has to continue.

Thankfully, even if the narrative is almost complete mush, the film’s technical elements are truly wonderful. Just like the first film, it’s obvious that these movies are the exception to Illumination’s usual cheap budget rules. Each location is vibrant and gorgeously detailed, with color popping from every frame. It’s a beautiful movie, and Brian Tyler’s (“Now You See Me,” “Transformers One”) musical score gets to breathe new cinematic life into a wide collection of musical motifs originally crafted for the Mario Galaxy games by composers Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo. In one of the clear lessons learned from the first film, the number of 80s needle drops have been significantly reduced (but not eliminated), allowing that classic music to exist in its own right.

The vocal cast is also resoundingly excellent. While Pratt’s Mario is still the weakest link here, it’s certainly an improvement over the first film. Day and Black are still the complete highlight of the package, and Taylor-Joy and Key keep their buddy movie banter going strong. Safdie is a wonderful new addition, playing with some excellently nasally pre-teen angsty as Bowser Jr., and Larson is perfect as Princess Rosalina, utilized far less than one would hope given her excellent performance. A smattering of other notably celebs pop up in minor roles, such as Glen Powell (“The Running Man (2025),” “Anyone But You”) in a role I won’t spoil here, and Luis Guzmán (“Narcos,” “Wednesday (2022)”) as Wart, a character that originally debuted in the much maligned U.S. release of Super Mario Bros. 2.

The fact that a character from that game is featured here is an indicator of just how weird Nintendo has allowed Illumination to get with this sequel. If the first film felt almost too safe by sticking to the most basic elements from the original “Super Mario Bros.” and “Mario Kart” games, this one goes so crazy it’ll make a non-gamer’s head spin. There are a huge number of easter eggs and plot beats pulled from almost every Mario game released over the last three decades like “Odyssey,” “Sunshine,” “Wonder,” “Yoshi’s Island,” “Galaxy,” and “World.” It’s an Amos Bouch of the weirdest and wildest bits of this franchise’s best games, all thrown together in highly detailed and gorgeous Hollywood animation.

And yet… it all feels paper thin. Even if the first film wasn’t perfect, it felt like it was trying to prove something. It had moments of calm, arcs for the titular brothers, and a genuine sense of love for the franchise. That love isn’t gone from “Galaxy” but it feels misplaced. Now that these filmmakers know just how successful this film is almost guaranteed to be, it’s as if they don’t even want to try. As a perfect example: the first film had the wonderful surprise that was Bowser’s “Peaches” song that took the internet by storm. Not only is there no such moment of oddball creativity here, it feels like the team that made “Galaxy,” despite being the same people, would never even attempt something like that. A moment that slow, that takes time away from referencing another Mario game? Why would they bother?

And why would one bother caring? This film is destined to make buckets of cash for Nintendo, Universal, and Illumination, and if the post-credits teases are any indication, they have no intention of slowing down anytime soon. And why should they? Even in its lessened state, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” should prove easy entertainment for kids and almost anyone who’s held some form of a Nintendo controller over the last thirty years. Its plot might be paper thin and lacking in any sort of substance, but its gussied up in some truly gorgeous art, music, and vocal performances. Expectations are the death of criticism. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” won’t be hurt by its less than stellar quality, but these fans, young and old, deserve more than some expertly polished space junk. 2.5/5