The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - Review

A new onscreen Galaxy. 

Ah, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The big sequel to the record-breaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie by Illumination Studios. That movie was flawed, a visual spectacle first and foremost and only third an actual narrative experience…, but it was an entertaining film that I felt was worth its ticket price. With it making well over 1 billion dollars at the box office, it was no surprise that a follow-up was greenlit. What was a surprise is the main inspiration of the film: Super Mario Galaxy. I did not expect that they would choose a 'direct' adaptation of any of the Mario games, but thinking about it for a minute, it does make sense. 

Both Super Mario Galaxy titles fit the strengths of that first movie, with them being the most visually striking Mario games. Their space sequences would make for spectecular big-screen moments when done right. It could also cover for one of the original's weaknesses. Like any Mario game, they don't have much in terms of story but Rosalina's Storybook is remembered for a reason. It is something that, at the very least, movie audiences will wipe away a tear from the corner of their eye when they experience it. 

As you can read, I was optimistic about this movie being better than the first; but was this false optimism? The critic reviews said so, but I still like to make up my own thoughts about the film. The audience score isn't that much different from the first one, after all.

So, without further ado, let's talk about The Super Mario Galaxy movie and see if it, at the very least, is as much fun as its predecessor. 

In a galaxy far, far away, aboard the Comet Observatory, Princess Rosalina is about to put her adopted Luma children to bed. Their bedtime story is interrupted however when Bowser Jr., son of the King of the Koopas Bowser, attacks the Observatory and kidnaps Rosalina. One of the Lumas manages to escape and eventually crash-lands near Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Hearing the Luma's plight, Peach leaves the Kingdom in the hands of Mario and Luigi while she sets off for the stars to find and free Rosalina. The brothers don't stay behind for long as Bowser Jr. comes knocking, lifting the entire castle into space in an effort to free his father trapped within. With the help of their old enemy and the Yoshi that the two found earlier, they set out to aid Peach in her quest to free Rosalina and stop whatever nefarious plot Bowser Jr. is cooking up. 

Our heroic trio.

Once again, the story of this animated Mario movie is a weak point. Just like the first film, it's predictable and lacks depth. Knowing this was a problem of the first movie I never expected this sequel to do a 180 and suddenly be a super narrative driven experience but at the very least you'd think they would try and improve the writing. 

We have setup for stories, Mario wanting to tell Peach he loves her for example, but those never really go anywhere. They are 'concluded' just as fast and unceremoniously as they are brought up with the characters, except for Bowser, not changing one bit. Speaking of the King of Koopas, I appreciate that, while he's still in love with Peach, hes isn't obsessed with her anymore. The focus here is on his relationship with his son which is as emotional as the film gets. Rosalina's storybook from the Galaxy games is not used at all and that is a shame. Because of this, the film lacks that emotional core that makes Disney Pixar films so memorable. 

Other issues are that the finale is short and kind of just ends without much buildup and side characters show up just to look cool or to just 'be there'. Rosalina gets underused, you've seen quite a bit of her scenes in the trailer, but at least Luigi gets lots of screentime. Ironically we have more Mario Bros. in the sequel than in the Mario Bros. movie as the two only really split up at the very end, which was nice to see. 

What was also nice to see is that this movie has a better pacing than the first. The original felt very much like they stitched a series of clips/sequences together to form a movie without too much thought about how to connect them. Yes, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie also has sequences clearly inspired by those in Mario games, such as the Dinosaur Island one, but this film does a much better job of stringing them together in a natural, logical way. In an understandable A-to-B-to-C sequence of events. 

So, once again this film prioritizes visuals and fun setpieces over its narrative. Even with this massive weakness still here, I nonetheless found the film enjoyable for the same reasons as the original. First and foremost, those sequences I just talked about are visually nice and are a lot of fun. What I appreciate from each and every one of these 'big' sequences is how they mix and match elements from the large treasure trove of Mario games to create them. In the first film, you could clearly point to 'this is the Donkey Kong bit' for example. Here, because they play around with it more, less so. 

The standout for me is the 'giant spaceships plucks Peach Castle out of the ground and flies away with it' from the first Galaxy game. That one is the clearest 'we plucked it from this game' set piece but even this one has many new elements mixed into it. We have Bowser Jr., with his paintbrush and in his 'Wonder' from wreaking havoc through the castle as it rises in the air, for instance. 

Now that I've mentioned that paint brush, I expected, seeing how they tied together Bowser Jr.'s paintbrush and Wonder form, Fury Bowser would make an appearance. Instead they chose something more... classical as Bowser's final form. In that way, this movie did manage a surprise with how predictable so much of it is. Time will tell how these setpieces will be remembered, if they will be shared as clips online as much as the Mario Kart sequence from the first movie for instance, but I can honestly say I like them quite a bit. 

Quite the visual, no?

What people could agree on with the first movie was that it looked great. Illumination translated the look and feel of the Mushroom Kingdom very well, and the quality of the animation was really good. Colourful and brimming with details in both the fore- and backgrounds. In this sequel they stepped up their game a bit by leaving the 'standard' 3D animation alone but by introducing  more different kinds of animation styles popping in for bits. We have the original 2D spritework of the first few games, the Yoshi's Crafted World look in a sequence and the credits call back to the Paper Mario aestethic. These are small bits of the movie but I appreciated them for the variety and experimentation. 

Also back again is the great soundtrack. When Brian Tyler gets to play around with Mario tracks, blowing them up to a full 70 piece orchestra, it's a joy to the ear. I, for example, did not think that an instrumental version of 'Jump up Super Star' would fit with a casino setting but it actually works really well. Probably because of the connection Jazz has to a casino thanks to TV and movies. And do you know what's the cherry on top? I didn't hear a single pop culture song in this movie! No 'Holding out for a Hero' blasting through the auditorium or anything like that. That is much appreciated as that was one of the sigh-worthy things the original movie did. 

Since there was such a big focus on the voice cast of the first movie when that one was announced, I feel like I should talk about it again here. This time around, I feel we don't have that much new 'A-list' talent slipping in the recording booth. We only have Brie Larson, Donald Glover and Glenn Powel as notable stars that join the cast as Rosalina, Yoshi and Fox McCloud who, like all the ohters, do a fine job.

Speaking of Fox McCloud, he brings me to my final point. Firstly though, he has a bigger presence here than I expected. I thought the Star Fox protagonist would have a quick, albeit with voice lines, cameo but no: he has an actual role in the plot and in it for a fair bit. The other non-Mario Nintendo characters, one of whom I did not expect to see, are just quick cameos though. There are also some other Mario characters here providing quick cameos, some of which were fun and others were not. Going in that 'fan-service' territory here, hoping that simply seeing them on screen will excite Mario fans to go watch the film. 

And perhaps many more Nintendo and Illumination films? With Fox especially I got the feeling that they are testing the waters for, say it with me now, a 'Nintendo Cinematic Universe'. A whole slew of animated Nintendo films. These Mario movies have been widely sucesful after all and with how held back Nintendo is about crossing over their properties (outside of Super Smas Bros.), I just can't help myself to feel that there is something more behind these non-Mario characters popping up here like this beyond just 'it's for the fun of it'. 

Conclusion

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is very similar to the first film. Not in one of those 'it's the first movie all over again' type of deals you see so often in Hollywood. No, they are so similar because they have the same strengths and weaknesses. It's another visual and auditory spectacle held together by a flimsy and by the numbers plot. 

It has a better pacing than the first, feeling less like a series of clips and sequences strung together to form a movie and the different animation styles it plays with throughout the film are appreciated. Equalizing this, however, is the lack of an emotional core to anchor the film and an underwhelming finale. It's why I understand why critics have reviewed it worse than the first. The novelty has worn off and you do expect that a sequel to at least address the shortcomings of the first, which this one doesn't.

All in all though, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie stands on equal footing with its predecessor. It's just as enjoyable as the first film that I think fans and children will enjoy.