The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review – A Fun-Filled Sequel That Outshines Its Predecessor

Like the Minions movies, the Mario franchise is best described as critic-proof, meaning not even negative responses can deter the movie from making money. Besides, The Super Mario Bros. Movie collected an unbelievably large number of coins, I mean, moolah, to over $1 billion on a $100 million budget. It even went on to become the first video game movie to reach the billion-dollar milestone.

Although The Super Mario Bros. Movie benefits from its overall game-accurate design and colorful animation, the one thing that bothers me the most is Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s lackluster commitment to elevating the cinematic creativity beyond their dutiful, too-safe-for-own-good direction.

So, the co-directors return for the second round along with screenwriter Matthew Fogel, making me wonder if the same old shortcomings still prevail in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The title itself refers to the Super Mario Galaxy game and its sequel, which were both famous for their then-innovative 3D platforming that allowed the player to navigate Mario through spherical planets.

Went in with little expectations, and guess what, I was surprised by this sequel after spending nearly 100 minutes watching the movie. It begins promisingly with the introduction of Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson, bringing the right mix of feistiness), a platinum blonde-haired princess with a distinctly large bang covering her right eye, who commands the Comet Observatory. She also serves as a mother to her colorful raindrop-shaped star children known as Lumas.

Beyond her maternal tenderness in reading them a bedtime story, she’s no damsel-in-distress, evidently in her subsequent battle against the giant mechanical Megaleg using her trusty Star Wand. The action is thrillingly staged with enough verve, and I enjoy the sheer dynamism of its animation, which looks stunning on IMAX.

The story then focuses on the return of Super Mario Brothers – Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) – as they now embrace their heroic destiny beyond their usual plumbing jobs, not wasting time putting them in the middle of an adventure right from the earlier scene. As revealed in the second post-credits teaser from the first movie, the adorable green dinosaur Yoshi (Donald Glover) soon becomes an unlikely companion and ally for the brothers in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Yoshi’s scene-stealing appearance brings an added energy to the buddy movie-style dynamic between Mario and Luigi, possessing special powers beyond his cuteness overload.

It doesn’t take long before the stakes are raised, following Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her fiercely loyal Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), embarking on their dangerous quest to save Rosalina, who is held captive by the megalomaniacal Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). The latter, who is the son of the locked-up Bowser (Jack Black), is also determined to free his father at all costs. Horvath and Jelenic did a better-than-expected job alternating between Princess Peach & Toad and the Super Mario Brothers’ respective adventures, packing enough vibrant action and intrigue while keeping the pace brisk.

Die-hard fans of Mario games, in the meantime, can look forward to various cameos, some of which are blink-and-you ’ll-miss-them Easter eggs and appearances. But I’m glad the movie doesn’t let the fan service get in the way of telling a significantly improved story than the last time around.

Beyond its fantastical action-adventure tropes, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t forget to take a breath every now and then, highlighting the surprisingly tender moments between Bowser and Bowser Jr. after their eventual reunion through a mix of family values and father-son rapport. The movie gets everyone in the cinema hall cheering upon Fox McCloud (Glen Powell, whose charmingly cocky voice made him an ideal pick to match the character’s brash personality), showing up at one point, and let’s just say his appearance isn’t a mere fan service simply for the sake of it.

The overall jokes equally land, while the soundtrack is thankfully less reliant on needle drops, unlike the first movie, as Brian Tyler’s score fulfils the sequel by blending nostalgia-heavy iconic music themes from the Mario games with mix-and-match fresh compositions.

As much as I find myself enjoying the sequel, a longer runtime, even at two hours, would be a sweet spot to offset some of the frenzied pacing equivalent to playing catch-up. Like the first movie, do remember to stick around for two post-credits scenes.

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