The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review - A Visually Stunning but Largely Disappointing Sequel
There is a particular kind of disappointment reserved for sequels that misunderstand what made their predecessors work. The kind of sequel that looks at success and simply concludes that more of everything – more characters, more spectacle, and more references – must inevitably be better.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is that kind of sequel.
Three years ago, directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, alongside screenwriter Matthew Fogel, delivered The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a film that succeeded not because it was ambitious in scope, but because it was focused. It understood that, for all the iconography and decades of history behind Nintendo’s flagship franchise, the first thing they needed was a simple story, clearly told, and anchored by strong central character dynamics.
This new film has entirely forgotten those elements. From its opening moments, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie announces itself as something bigger, louder, and more expansive. Princess Rosalina – introduced here as the sister of Princess Peach – is swiftly abducted by a shape-shifting droid under the control of Bowser Jr., setting off a sprawling, galaxy-hopping adventure that rarely pauses long enough in any one place to establish a sense of geography, let alone narrative coherence.
Planets blur into one another. Settings come and go with the rhythm of a video game level select screen. There is a constant sense of motion – characters running, leaping, falling, fighting – but very little sense of progression.
Things happen. Then more things happen. And then the film ends.
To call this a story would be generous.
The problem is not a lack of imagination. If anything, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie suffers from an excess of it, deployed without discipline. The film introduces a dizzying array of characters and concepts: Yoshi makes his long-awaited appearance, rendered as an undeniably charming green companion with little to do beyond existing. The Lumas – those glowing, star-like creatures – populate the screen in swarms, serving as both visual decoration and emotional shorthand, though rarely as characters in their own right.
There is a Honey Queen presiding over a honeycomb-inspired galaxy, a frog-like monarch, a robotic side character from the footnotes of Nintendo’s history with a fleeting but amusing verbal glitch, and even Star Fox, the protagonist of an entirely different Nintendo franchise. Each arrives with the promise of significance, but few stay long enough to fulfill it.
Even familiar faces struggle to find footing. Mario, ostensibly the protagonist, often feels like a participant in someone else’s story – or, more accurately, in a story that has yet to decide who it belongs to. His journey unfolds in parallel to the central conflict, intersecting with it only when the film remembers to bring its threads together.
Princess Peach, meanwhile, is tasked with rescuing her newly introduced sister, but the emotional stakes of that relationship are largely assumed rather than developed. We are told that it matters. The film rarely takes the time to show us why.
This lack of focus extends to the film’s central antagonists. Bowser Jr., positioned as the primary instigator, is given a familiar motivation – seeking approval from his father – but it is explored in such broad strokes that it never rises above the level of narrative convenience. Bowser himself returns, albeit in diminished form for much of the film, before inevitably reclaiming his full stature.
Bowser, voiced by Jack Black, was one of the most unexpectedly delightful aspects of the previous film because he was singular. His obsessive affection for Peach provided a throughline that anchored the chaos around him. Here, stripped of that clarity, he becomes just another moving part in an already overcrowded machine.
Throughout the film, scenes of action are staged with energy and visual flair. The animation remains, without question, impressive – bright, dynamic, and filled with the kind of detail that rewards attention even as the narrative fails to guide it.
But spectacle without structure is a fleeting pleasure, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is nothing if not fleeting. The film’s most persistent instinct is to move forward, to keep the audience engaged through sheer momentum. It is an approach that mirrors the sensation of playing a video game at its most frantic – jumping from challenge to challenge, obstacle to obstacle – but without the interactivity that gives that experience meaning.
Recognition becomes the primary currency. A character appears, a location is referenced, or a familiar element is introduced, and the film moves on, trusting that the audience’s familiarity will fill in the gaps. It is, in effect, an extended sequence of easter eggs, presented not as embellishments to a story, but as substitutes for one.
This is where the film’s most fundamental miscalculation lies. The first movie succeeded because it translated the experience of a Mario game into narrative form. It captured not just the aesthetics, but the rhythm, the sense of progression, and the satisfaction of overcoming obstacles within the structured framework of a story. But The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s attempts at a similar emotional resonance – moments that gesture toward themes of family, belonging, and identity – feel less like developments and more like obligations.
The actors, to their credit, seem to understand the assignment, even if the assignment itself remains unclear. Chris Pratt and Charlie Day bring an easy familiarity to Mario and Luigi, maintaining the chemistry that defined their earlier appearances. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Peach continues to project confidence and capability, even when the script gives her little to anchor it. Even Jack Black’s Bowser, who was once a defining feature of the previous film, is reduced to a pale imitation that underscores how much has been lost.
This is not the worst kind of failure. The film is not incompetent. It is not devoid of charm, or humor, or visual appeal. Children will likely find much to enjoy in its relentless energy and colorful design. Fans will recognize the references and appreciate the breadth of its homage.
But it is a disappointing one, because it suggests a step backward. After decades of uneven video game adaptations, The Super Mario Bros. Movie felt like proof that something better was possible – that these worlds could be translated into films that were not only visually engaging, but narratively satisfying. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has just shown us that we may have to look elsewhere for more like it.