The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review – Accomplished Craftmanship, Copious Callbacks

Like its predecessor, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie seems destined to go down as one of this year's most divisive films, which is kind of odd when you think about it. These generally inoffensive crowd-pleasing movies based on a near-universally-beloved IP, carefully shepherded by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, probably shouldn't be getting folks so riled up, and yet!

Following in the footsteps of 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, professional reviews for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie have been witheringly negative, and to listen to some folks, the flick represents nothing less than the demise of cinema. An egregious example of the ensloppification of culture writ large! Meanwhile, the movie seems to be chugging right along toward making another billion-something dollars, and the reaction from the general moviegoing public once again seems to be, "hey, that was fun." What’s going on here? Just the latest example of the slow death of good taste, or are these Mario movies more super than they’re given credit for?

I won't beat around the bush. I enjoyed The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Perhaps not quite as much as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but still, it was a fine time at the theatre. And to be clear, I watch a lot of movies! I saw every Oscar-nominated film this year. I'm generally immune to the lure of member berries and gave up on Marvel and Star Wars years ago. And yet, I like these Mario movies. Sure, maybe I'm just particularly fond of the set of keys Nintendo and Illumination are jingling in front of me, but I don't think that's all there is to it.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie follows the broad strokes of its namesake game, with plenty of extras bolted on and some character arcs from the first movie carrying forward. The movie starts by paying off the post-credits teaser from its predecessor, with Mario and Luigi discovering and befriending Yoshi, who mostly plays a familiar Minion-esque physical comedy role in the movie (Nintendo may have reigned in Illumination's love of poop and butt jokes, but they do get to have some fun with Yoshi's egg-laying abilities).

From there, we jump into the space-y stuff, as we meet the Brie-Larson-voiced Rosalina, who is kidnapped by Bowser Jr., a latchkey kid looking to prove his villainous worth to his father. Speaking of Bowser, he's still in mini form and trying to convince people he's turned over a new leaf, with Luigi being fully on board and Mario very much not, in one of the movie's better comic bits. Eventually, an intrepid Luma manages to bring news of Rosalina's kidnapping to Peach, who impulsively sets off to find out what's up, leaving Mario in charge of the Mushroom Kingdom. The reign of Good King Mario doesn't last long, as Bowser Jr. also attacks the Mushroom Kingdom, resulting in two groups (Mario/Luigi/Yoshi/Bowser and Peach/Toad) simultaneously journeying across the cosmos to find Bowser Jr. and Rosalina.

From there, the plot's thrust is simple enough. Team Mario and Team Peach start on separate paths but eventually join up, tracking Bowser Jr. to his freshly-built Bowser-themed planet/Rosalina-powered superweapon. Mario himself is given precious little character development this time around, but Bowser and Peach are given some welcome attention, with the former being genuinely torn between reform and his old villainous ways and the latter exploring her past and connection to Rosalina.

So, there is a solid core here, although, as mentioned, it's one buried under a lot of sidequest-style diversions. I haven't even gotten into the fact that Fox McCloud just casually strolls into the movie and joins the main cast in the third act like it’s no big thing. Also, while there is some character work happening with Bowser and Peach, you don't get the sense that the makers of this movie care all that much that you care.

The reality is, if you're judging The Super Mario Galaxy Movie as art, you're likely to be let down. Of course, art can be any multitude of things, but broadly speaking, when people critique art they're looking for something that makes them feel or think in a deeper way beyond pure entertainment. This is likely where the big disconnect between many critics and these movies lies, because I don't think Nintendo and Illumination particularly care about those traditional markers of good art. The film isn't really about anything deeper than what you see on screen, and while its character arcs feel less bolted on than the "Mario has daddy issues" stuff from the first movie, they're still frequently delivered with a certain jokey off-handedness.

Ultimately, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a very Nintendo product, as like a lot of the company's games, the focus is on craft rather than art. For all the criticism Illumination receives for its alleged shallowness, it is the master of the nuts and bolts of CGI animated film production. Their Super Mario movies look great, they sound great, they move and flow with a precision little else can match. But there's more to the craft of these movies than that.

The signature trick of Illumination's Mario movies is to take various divergent Nintendo characters, elements, and references, sometimes from games separated by decades, then combine and expand these concepts just enough to create cohesive new set pieces and stages for Mario and friends to play on.

I think a real litmus test for whether you like these movies is an early scene in the first Super Mario Bros. movie where our hero has just arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom and is being led around the city surrounding Peach's Castle by Toad. The scene is densely packed with game references: Toads using coin blocks as ATMs, an “antiques" store full of old power-ups, the warp pipe transit system, etc. It all culminates in Mario having to make his way across a series of floating platforms and blocks, which are never explained. Mario himself calls out the way they’re just floating there.

For some folks, I get that this scene just plays as a series of references -- "Oh, there's a coin, there's a warp pipe, there's a Cheep Cheep" followed by a bit of inexplicable (perhaps irritating if you don’t much like games) video gaminess. I think scenes like this one are where a lot of those "it's just a video game on a movie screen" critiques come from. But to me, and a lot of the folks that watch these movies, there's a real charm to the way Nintendo and Illumination build these unique, distinctly video-game-flavored worlds out of familiar elements. I don't need the floating blocks explained; they're just part of how this universe works. No, these worlds don't typically stir deep emotions in me. I don't leave the theatre thinking about the film's deep undercurrents, but they're fun, intricately crafted,  unapologetically weird, and yes, nostalgic, just like the games they're based on.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie pushes this sort of clever craftsmanship to the next level, drawing in even more disparate and unexpected elements. At one point, Peach and Toad find themselves inside a casino within a giant question block featuring both the crazy stick-to-the-walls gravity of Mario Galaxy and a cast of weird outcast villains from the classic Super Mario Bros. 2. This all culminates in a well-staged showdown between Peach, Birdo, Mouser, Wart, and an army of Ninjis. Is this all just key jingling? If it is, it's very creative, unexpected, and well-executed key jingling. If somebody walks up to a baby and starts juggling 10 pairs of keys with expert precision, I'm still going to give them a round of applause.

The Mario Galaxy Movie also sees Illumination further hone its ability to translate Mario's video-game acrobatics into thrilling cinematic action scenes. A standout scene sees Mario and Peach teaming up to surpass a gauntlet thrown down by Bowser Jr., but this isn't any platforming challenge -- it's clearly meant to bring to mind the most thumb-cramping challenges created in Super Mario Maker, complete with endless Fire Bars and buzzsaws. Much like the moment from Illumination's first Mario movie where Mario and Luigi grab the Invincible Star, seeing Mario and Peach team up to beat the unbeatable is a stirring, almost moving, moment, not because it's the climax of some tacked-on Hollywood character arc, but because it's a well-crafted cinematic interpretation of great gaming experiences millions of people have shared and enjoyed.

Of course, there's a thing as too much cleverness, and Nintendo and Illumination arguably try to pack in a bit too much. In a glaring example, right near the end of the movie, just as Fox McCloud is about to break through Planet Bowser's defenses in a climactic moment, Mario and Luigi are turned into babies and banished to a dinosaur planet in what feels like a needless final diversion. A little more focus and a little more room to breathe likely would have helped deflect some of the "it's just a series of references" criticisms. I think The Super Mario Bros. Movie will likely hold up better, but make no mistake, your kids are going to wear out the replay button rewatching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie once it hits streaming.

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