After the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the sequel announcement came to the surprise of no one. Universal has a gold mine of games and stories to tell beneath their feet, and Galaxy was a pretty safe bet to prop up a sequel.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, unsurprisingly, is inspired by the 2007 game Super Mario Galaxy, although there is not as much overlap as fans were hoping for. The movie begins by introducing a fan favorite, Rosalina. Who is quickly captured by Bowser Jr. in his quest to make his father proud. This is pretty much the last time Rosalina makes a long tenured appearance on screen, which is really surprising considering how much she is in the marketing material. This story as a whole then begins to unwind very quickly.
A good kids’ movie can be enjoyed by its target audience, but a great one can be enjoyed by all ages. The first movie did a pretty good job keeping the story entertaining enough for a wide variety of audiences, this movie takes a much different approach. The “story” here seems like it’s simply a way of taking the audience from one cameo to the next. Some of them are absolutely fun, and would have been better were they not spoiled by Nintendo’s marketing, but there are so many call-backs and cameos that it’s hard to keep track of. There’s never time to digest what just happened because the pacing moves so quickly.
The number of scenes that last longer than three minutes could be counted on one hand. Plot points are introduced and resolved within 45 seconds, over and over again. Some plots lines are introduced and abandoned with no resolution. Fast-paced movies have their place, but this is another level of disjunction. The 90-minute runtime goes by quickly, but it’s almost exhausting trying to keep up with what’s going on. Younger audiences won’t mind this as much, but it can be a struggle for the parents who bought the ticket.
The most enjoyable part is still the technical aspects of this world Illumination is building. While animation keeps finding new innovative styles, Illumination has kept theirs relatively the same, but the almost realistic environments and cartoonish characters work brilliantly for this world. Expanding past the Mushroom Kingdom let these animators show off a bit, and when combined with Brian Tyler’s incredible score, the result is pretty magical. While most of the music is some version of the main themes from the game, Tyler really brings them to life, and it makes for some of the most fun moments in the film. Joining an already-studded voice cast are Brie Larson (Rosalina), Benny Safdie (Bowser Jr.), Glen Powell (Fox McCloud), and Donald Glover (Yoshi). While some get much more screentime than others, they’re all a blast to watch.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is upsetting because there is so much care put into all the visuals, voice acting, musical score, and world, which makes part of this experience a blast. But at the center of all those amazing parts is a story that lacks any sense of direction or intent. It truly feels more akin to scrolling social media clips than it does a 90-minute feature film. With how much money Super Mario Galaxy is going to make, Universal would be silly to pass up on future Nintendo projects. The idea of a Nintendo Cinematic Universe used to sound so promising, and for the new generations of fans, it still could be, but for those looking to recapture the magic from their childhood, the games are a better option.
