This review contains spoilers for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which just released in theatres. Proceed with caution if you plan to watch the film anytime soon.
While this is a departure from the typical anime films that I review, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has been on my radar ever since it was first announced. I enjoyed the first movie back in 2023, and I was hoping that the sequel would be even better.
In a few ways, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has improved from the original, but it unfortunately has many of the same flaws as its predecessor.
One of my biggest issues with the 2023 film was the choice to play licensed music in certain scenes rather than pieces from Brian Tyler’s original soundtrack. It felt distracting and out of place in most instances, with the decision to play “Take On Me” during one scene feeling particularly egregious. It was especially baffling considering Tyler’s soundtrack was filled with wonderful homages to many of the iconic tunes from the Super Mario video games.
Thankfully, the sequel lets Tyler’s music shine throughout the entire movie, with only a few instances of licensed music that feel much more tasteful this time around. Just like the original soundtrack, Brian Tyler’s work in this movie is littered with callbacks to many Super Mario video games, drawing more inspiration from the highly lauded original “Super Mario Galaxy” subseries.
I also appreciated the movie’s creative visuals and how they incorporate characters from across the extended Mario universe. Wart, who first appeared in “Super Mario Bros 2” as the game’s final boss, was a much-appreciated recipient of this treatment. Although he is a very minor character in the original games, Wart is reintroduced in this movie as the sleazy manager of a casino shaped like a massive question mark. Even though his role is ultimately minimal, I found his presence to be quite memorable and I appreciated how the film took an otherwise obscure character and spun him into something new.
In general, I give the movie a lot of credit for how much it openly embraces its video game origins. The filmmakers really emphasize the sheer agility of these characters, with them running, jumping and using power-ups to navigate their way through elaborate obstacle courses in a way that emulates the original platform-style gameplay. Where some film adaptations can seem outright ashamed of their source material, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” wears it on its sleeve.
I also find that the sequel is a little more ambitious in its storyline, even if it is still relatively simple. There are certain characters with interesting backstories, but their potential often ends up going nowhere. For example, Bowser faces an internal conflict in this movie: He begins forming a bond with the Mario Bros, yet still falls back to his evil ways because of his son, Bowser Jr. In a similar way, the movie establishes a familial connection between Princess Peach and the newly introduced — at least in this film series — Rosalina. This could have served as the film’s emotional core, considering Peach has mentioned not knowing anything about her familial origins before coming to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Unfortunately, these elements felt underdeveloped when the film came to a close. There is only one scene in which Bowser is forced to decide whether to assist his son in taking out the Mario Bros or to spare them. The familial connection between Peach and Rosalina feels shallow, as Rosalina hardly receives any screentime. Her biggest appearances are at the beginning and the end, with only a few scenes featuring her showing up in the middle.
Therein lies the inherent problem that I — as well as many others — have with this movie and the film series in general. These movies are littered with references, easter eggs and cameos from the video games, with Illumination and Nintendo intending for the audience to take delight in spotting them. Not only are there a plethora of references from the Super Mario games, but there are even characters from other Nintendo franchises, including Fox McCloud from the Star Fox series.
Yet underneath all these references and easter eggs lies a story barely managing to hold itself together. Many scenes and plot points hardly get an opportunity to be fully fleshed out because the movie is too excited to move on and throw another set of references at you. “These movies embrace their video game origins, yet struggle to accept that they’re set in an entirely new medium.”
I am definitely not expecting anything Oscar-worthy from these movies, but I believe that it is still possible for a story to be engaging while remaining simple. I’d rather have the references complement a meaty plot than have them just be indiscriminately scattered throughout the movie at the expense of any plot at all.
I certainly had a fun time watching “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” and I do find some of the criticisms online to be overly exaggerated. Yet, if the following entries continue to share the same middling quality, I’m not sure if I can remain excited for the movies, even as a Nintendo fan.
Joon Kim PO ’26 has been a fan of Nintendo games ever since he was a child, with his favorite franchises being Mario Kart, Kirby and Fire Emblem. In particular, he is looking forward to the upcoming Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.