I’m not sure what to say about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but one thing is for sure: I don’t know that I like Chris Pratt that much anymore. I find that strange because his character on Parks and Recreation, Andy Dwyer, is one of my all-time favorite sitcom schlubs and he was one of the funniest characters on the show. I still somewhat like him in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies (although I’m finding Peter Quill to be a somewhat dramatically stagnant superhero over his last few MCU appearances), but his attempts at “heroic badass” in the Jurassic World movies don’t work for me at all.
What does that have to do with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie? Probably not much because it’s somewhat easy to ignore Pratt’s vocal work as Mario, an Italian American plumber from Brooklyn who, along with his brother Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), saved the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Koopa Bowser (Jack Black) back in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
As someone who thought he was the target demographic for a Super Mario animated adventure, I found the 2023 original to be somewhat deflating at the time, as my problems with it made me sound like an old man yelling at the clouds. In fact, my Letterbox review only said, “It’sa me, a middle-aged man, wondering why this wasn’t FOR me and then slowly realizing that it never could be. That all we are is dust in the wind and that age is a slowly creeping necrophile defiling all that we once loved.” I was 6 when Super Mario Bros. came out for the NES, so I selfishly hoped the first animated adventure would scratch that nostalgic itch I was searching for and dial me back into that kid discovering video games for the first time.
Instead, the non-stop barrage of action, jokes, and hyper-colorful imagery felt designed more for the TikTok generation than for my elder millennial ass. Somehow, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is even faster paced than the last, with frenetic editing, more references, more jokes, and endless chases. Still, it worked better for me than the last one simply because I knew what to expect. While the animation is always gorgeous (and honestly more impressive than the unimaginative designs from the newest Pixar film, Hoppers), there’s no substance to the story, which I suppose isn’t needed if kids are just looking for chases, jokes, and characters they recognize from their Switch.
Filmmakers Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic bring the same non-stop adventure vibes they brought to the first one, but also a quicker wit reminiscent of the work they did on Teen Titans Go! While I missed the presence of Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong (from the last one), I fell for Benny Safdie’s adorable Bowser Jr. and Donald Glover’s goofball dinosaur Yoshi. In fact, there’s a sequence of Yoshi strutting around to Biggie’s “Hypnotize” that was easily my favorite moment of the franchise so far.
What’s the plot? Bowser Jr. kidnaps Princess Rosalina to impress his father, so Princess Peach and Toad head to rescue her while Mario and Luigi meet Yoshi and team up to rehabilitate Bowser and protect the Mushroom Kingdom in Peach’s absence. The film is insanely convoluted yet under-plotted, but Jack Black’s work as an emotionally conflicted Bowser is pretty classic, giving the relationship between him and Bowser Jr. an affecting heart I wasn’t expecting. The character work is surprisingly much better here than in the first one, even as the hollow weightlessness of the storytelling is more glaring.
The film also introduces Glen Powell as Star Fox in such a blatantly obvious attempt to set up a spin-off movie that it reminded me of why it’s so easy to be cynical about this type of franchise filmmaking. As much as I love the character of Star Fox and would probably enjoy a series of movies about the cocky space pilot, all I could think of is how much cooler Star Fox would be if voiced by Sam Rockwell. Powell’s range seems to only encompass self-deprecatingly smug over to obnoxiously smug fighter pilot and I’m curious if we’re ever going to see (or hear) the actor try something different.
Still, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was entertaining and visually impressive, if exhausting in its desperation to keep the audience from checking their phones. Seeing it in 3D ScreenX kept my eyeballs constantly overwhelmed, even as my brain checked out whenever I heard Pratt attempt his lazy Brooklyn accent. Kids will get exactly what they want out of this and I’m sure the Super Mario Cinematic Universe will earn billions and billions more. Cynical? Absolutely. Let me turn on my Nintendo 64 and search for that sense of wonder once more.
Grade: C-