The Super Mario Galaxy Movie info:
Director: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, and Pierre Leduc
Writer: Matthew Fogel
Starring: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Brie Larson
Intro
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. As I write this, I am very full from a very good, yummy Easter dinner. For those who celebrate, I hope you had a very nice Easter. In a very fitting turn of events, this week I will be talking about a movie that was filled with Easter eggs. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” was big, bold, busy, and filled with all sorts of characters.
But, before I go too much down the warp pipe, let me get the spoiler warning out of the way. If you haven’t seen this newest Mario Bros. movie and don’t want to know what happens, then I would go back to my reviews page. There is plenty of material there to keep you occupied until you get this watched. After that, you can come back here to finish reading this.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie recap
Right out of the gate, instead of getting to any of our returning characters, the first person we see is Rosalina (Larson). She and her Lumas are getting ready for bed when Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) attacks and kidnaps her. Eventually, one of the Lumas escapes, and Rosalina sends it to go find help. At the same time, Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Day) arrive on Tosterena (from the game Mario Odyssey). This is where they discover Yoshi (Donald Glover), and he becomes an inseparable part of the team.
The newly formed trio shows up for Peaches’ (Taylor-Joy) birthday party in the Mushroom Kingdom. Only to have her and Toad (Keegan Michael-Key) leave in the middle of the night to go and find Rosalina. From here, we get two different stories in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” Peach and Toad are going one way, and Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Bowser (Jack Black) are on a separate journey.
Peach and Toad run into a flurry of new and fun characters. A big group from the second Super Mario Bros. game on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Wart (Luis Guzman) and his goons, Mouser, Birdo, and all the small army of ninjis. But the big surprise was when Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) showed up and offered to help the Princess.
The other part of the story is when Bowser goes with the other three and is legitimately trying to be good. He finds out that his son Bowser Jr. came to rescue him, so he’s having second thoughts about everything. Along the way, he even tricks them into making him big again so he can help them. He voluntarily stays behind to work on the Hive planet when they destroy some of it by accident.
Eventually, Bowser reunites with his son, turns evil again, and they get Rosalina trapped in a cage that is sucking out all her powers. The two stories meet up, and the whole gang makes it to Bowser’s planet to rescue Rosalina. In the process, Bowser gets turned into Dry Bowser after falling in lava, and both he and Bowser Jr. are locked up in a cell. Peach saves Rosalina (her sister) by using their shard powers, then they all go home and help rebuild Peach’s castle.
My thoughts on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
So, to start, this isn’t quite as good as the first “Super Mario Bros. Movie” from 2023, but it’s still fun. A lot is going on, with tons of characters, and yet somehow it’s still easy to understand and follow. We went later in the evening, and there were very few little kids there. The theater was mostly packed with teenagers and people my age, which was fun.
I’m still amazed at how many characters from the games they were able to fit into this film’s slim runtime. Along with pretty much every character returning from the first film, there are a whole slew more of them to introduce as well. Some of my favorites were the ones from Super Mario Bros. 2. Wart and his crew made for a good scene. I just wish I hadn’t seen them on the poster, so it would have been a surprise.
For me, though, I was very much surprised and delighted when Fox McCloud showed up. I was always a Starfox fan as a kid, and he ended up being my favorite character in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” The best part was that he was bigger than just a cameo, too, as he had a role to play to get them to Bowser’s place. I’ve heard rumors of a possible Smash Bros. movie coming, but personally, I hope not. Let’s keep all of our video game heroes from fighting each other in the world they are building; this isn’t Marvel.
The part of this film that I didn’t like the most was what they did to Bowser’s character. He should consistently be the villain game after game and movie after movie, but they toyed with the idea to make him good for a bit. That goes against everything we know about Bowser and Mario games in general. There could have been other ways to tell the story they were going for without trying to pull that on us.
Overall, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is still a good time. There is plenty to see, plenty of Easter eggs to look for (I’m sure I missed several), and a happy ending. But the Bowser storyline just doesn’t sit well with me. Jack Black does such a good job with that voice, and I feel like he deserves better. Without any power-ups to give, I can’t give this movie any higher than a 7 out of 10 rating.
Watch or wait?
Well, this is probably going to be an obvious one. If you are any sort of Nintendo or Mario fan, you need to rush out and see this immediately. Before anyone else spills information about it anymore. Also, if you are a parent with a kid who likes cartoons, you can’t go wrong here. If you don’t fall into any of the other categories, then maybe you should wait and watch it later at home.
Ok, that’s it for me this week. That means I turn it over to you. What are your thoughts on “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”? Do you enjoy seeing all the different characters in it? Was it too busy, or did you think there was too much going on? Let me know in the comments below, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
