A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”. (2026, 1.5*, PG).
Reading my review for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” from 2023, I seemed to have much the same thoughts as I did about this sequel, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”… only less so. Indeed, I gave that film a generous 3 stars, perhaps influenced by the 5*s given by my grandkids, who I saw this with.
While the final scores-on-the-doors are still to be collated for my grandkids’ views on this one, I have to observe that there was a dull and listless atmosphere in the, reasonably full, 6pm screening that I attended last night. Normally in these kids films, there is a burst of kids laughter when something funny happens on screen and a general buzz from the kids going out. In this screening, I heard very little of that. I could only compare and contrast that with my showing, earlier in the week, of “The Magic Faraway Tree” where the enthusiasm of the audience was all too evident.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are doing good in the world and in one such jaunt they find a dinosaur like creature Yoshi (Donald Glover). But Bowser’s son, Bowser Jnr. (Benny Safdie) is on a mission to release his father (Jack Black) from his tiny prison and kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larsen) to power his infernal ‘Boomsday Machine’. It is up to Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to go on an intergalactic mission to rescue her.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Mild violence, threat”.)
Talent:
Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Glen Powell, Jack Black, Brie Larson, Benny Safdie, Charlie Day, Donald Glover.
Directed by: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc (co-director) & Fabien Polack (co-director).
Written by: Matthew Fogel.
Running Time: 1h 38m.
Summary:
Positives:
- As always with these Dreamwork Animation efforts, you have to appreciate the artistry of the animation involved. Even if the pictures are migraine-inducing, they are done with style.
Negatives:
- Sigh. The story is a hot mess. My normally succinct ‘Plot Summary’ ran to five lines just to cover the basics and to be honest I could have added another five to cover all of the elements. For this seems to be a fairly randomly glued together set of story vignettes, designed for the Tiktok generation with short attention spans. Each ear-splitting, eye-gouging element takes us on to the next… quick, quick before the young kids get bored. 1 hour 38 minutes has seldom felt so long.
- Character arcs are subservient to introducing new characters: here’s a queen bee for 5 minutes; Mario is in love with Peach!; here’s a Han-Solo-a-like, Fox McCloud (voiced by Glen Powell) (so let’s throw in a frenetic chase that looks a bit like the “Empire Strikes Back” meteorite-field chase for the oldies).
- Bowser’s soul seems to swing more than a Morman wife, with him pretending to be good (but he is really evil); then actually being good, leading to the ludicrously unlikely act of him self-sacrificing himself to hard-labour; before then switching back to the dark side again and being the enemy! I was confused about what the hell he was doing, so heaven help the young kids in the audience.
- The voice cast is diverse enough to include Bennie Safdie (yes, that Bennie Safdie, the director of “The Smashing Machine“, “Uncut Gems”, etc.). But the voices, in the main, felt tired and lifeless to me, without enthusiasm for the material. (“Thanks for the easy pay-check, and for providing coffee in the studio. Now I must go.”)
Monkeys?
There are “monkeys“, at both mid- and end-credits. The mid-credit one re-introduces the depressive blue Luma star from the first film, just about the worst person you would want as a prison guard. The end-credit one introduced yet another new princess: Princess Daisy. I’ve never played the video game, so I can’t tell you the significance of this. But this leads me to the sad conclusion that there will probably be a 3rd film in the franchise.
Summary Thoughts:
This felt like a really charmless cash-grab to me. A film that seemed thrown together without a well-thought-through story arc as if someone asked ChatGPT “and NOW what happens”. I’m quite sure it will make a ton of money, but when the most entertaining thing about the whole film is the Minion’s “ILLUMINATION!” production credit at the beginning, I think this is bound to be my worst movie of April when we record our next “Flickering Dreams” podcast!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5QZmL5R1s.
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