The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

by Mike McGranaghan

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie perfectly encapsulates the problem with fan-driven filmmaking. Like its predecessor, The Super Mario Brothers Movie, this Illumination Entertainment production seeks to replicate everything people love about the eternally popular Nintendo video game franchise. If it wasn’t completely faithful to the source material, the fans would revolt. On the flip side, being forced into such a narrow creative box prevents the movie from taking any chances or offering any surprises. A lot of viewers won’t care; their desires will be met. Pull back from that, though, and it’s tough to deny that this sequel is airless.

When Princess Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) is kidnapped by Bowser, Jr. (Benny Safdie), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) set off into the cosmos to rescue her. Meanwhile, plumber siblings Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) keep watch over her kingdom. But Bowser, Jr. also has his eye on them, as they shrank and incarcerated his father Bowser (Jack Black). This leads to a series of battles on differently themed planets.

Several familiar faces are added for this new adventure. Tiny dinosaur Yoshi (Donald Glover) helps the brothers after they rescue him from a pipe. There’s also rogue pilot Fox McCloud (Glen Powell), who serves as a Han Solo-like figure, flying Peach and Toad to Bowser, Jr.’s massive battle planet. Neither of them is given much of significance to do, but they’re present to delight fans.

That actually sums up The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The animation is terrific, recreating different worlds from the games and bringing beloved characters to life. If that’s all you want, you’ll get your money’s worth. Beyond that, the movie is pretty empty. The story is threadbare, seeming to meander from place to place aimlessly. Action scenes have a frenetic quality, throwing enough at the audience to prevent boredom. No effort has been spent on plotting or developing the characters in fun ways. The film is content to see how many game references it can squeeze into 98 minutes. Locations, objects, and enemies pop up with regularity, never being utilized in anything other than the most obvious fashion.

The first Super Mario picture at least had the benefit of exploring the origin of Mario’s powers, so there was an identifiable arc. Weirdly, this sequel has very little dialogue between Mario and Luigi - or between anybody, really. Without banter, the lack of an arc this time around is impossible to ignore. Everybody is present and accounted for, they’re just sharing screen space for the sake of being seen together.

As someone who has played a fair share of Mario games, I enjoyed seeing all this stuff on the big screen. (My 17 and 7-year-old sons had no complaints whatsoever.) The Super Mario Galaxy Movie nevertheless tries to go bigger than its predecessor yet ends up seeming smaller. The movie is a greatest hits compilation and not a lot more.

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