Film Review: ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Has Lots of Fun Easter Eggs for Fans of the Games But An Unsatisfying Plot

Well, they’re on their way to making the Super Mario movie I’d like to see. Last time around, I wrote here that The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a kid-friendly commercial for the video games. Now, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, I again find myself wishing that the action and plot were less focused on the youngest of audiences, though this time. I enjoyed all of the Easter Eggs. Fans of the games will see more that they’ll get a kick out of here, as well as Nintendo properties on the whole. It’s still too scattershot to recommend, but I have some hope that next time, they’ll get the formula right.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is at its worst when it’s operating like your garden variety Illumination production. It’s at its best when there’s clever integration of the games to the world that we’re frolicking around in. The film is still very much aimed at little children, but this sequel does get a bit more intense, with fun surprises for older fans to latch on to.

Right off the bat, we’re introduced to a new Princess in Rosalina (voice of Brie Larson), outer space royalty who is also the adoptive mother of the star-like Lumas. Kidnapped by Bowser Jr. (voice of Benny Safdie), her plight eventually involves our old friends in the Mushroom Kingdom, including plumber brothers Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voice of Charlie Day), as well as Toad (voice of Keegan-Michael Key) and Princess Peach (voice of Anya Taylor-Joy). Mario has been working up the courage to ask out Peach, though this trip to the far reaches of the galaxy will delay that for him.

Along with a new friend in Yoshi (voice of Donald Glover), as well as former rival Bowser (voice of Jack Black) they all set forth on an adventure into the stars. There, they’ll have to do battle with Bowser Jr., though they won’t be alone, as they join forces with hotshot pilot Fox McCloud (voice of Glen Powell). It all descends into silly action chaos eventually, but there are more amusing moments to be found this time around I’ll concede that.

The voice work is again nothing to write home about, with the returning characters sounding the same. It’s not an issue, there’s just no outstanding performance to be found. Among the newcomers, Benny Safdie is having fun, which is nice, while Donald Glover just sounds like Yoshi to me, making at least one character sound accurate. For my money, the standout is Glen Powell, who immediately makes a StarFox movie spinoff an absolute necessity. The rest of the voice cast includes Luis Guzmán, Issa Rae, Kevin Michael Richardson, and more.

Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, along with writer Matthew Fogel, are enjoying all of the Easter Eggs placed within, which shows they know their stuff. That does make some of the kid-friendly aspects feel more obligatory and even out of place, but given how much money this is going to make, they clearly know more than I do. What they’ve crafted will please fans of the first one, to be sure. It’s just not quite able to win over the holdovers like yours truly. I was still left wanting a little bit more. They have some fun ideas, including how Yoshi is introduced, but aside from Fox McCloud, nothing is a full-on success.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a step in the right direction for the franchise. I’d be shocked if a third one doesn’t go into production soon, as well as various spinoffs. It’s a money-printing property, obviously, and the more they lean into the Nintendo of it all, the better off they’ll be. So, I have a hunch they’re on their way to winning me over. They’re just not there yet.

SCORE: ★★1/2