‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Review

Features the voices of: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Benny Safdie, Glen Powell, Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, Kevin Michael Richardson, Brie Larson | Written by Matthew Fogel | Directed by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice moustachioed plumbers Mario and Luigi once again in this eagerly-awaited sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the 2023 animated adventure based on the popular video game series. The original film became an unexpectedly huge hit, hence the sequel, but unfortunately the law of diminishing returns is in full force here, and it’s nowhere near as good as it should have been, especially since the exact same creative team are involved.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie begins with Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) getting kidnapped by a giant space robot that’s piloted by Bowser Jnr (Benny Safdie), who has plans to rescue his father, Bowser (Jack Black) so they can destroy the universe together, using Rosalina’s magical star-power. However, Rosalina turns out to be the long-lost sister of Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), so she sets off on a galactic rescue mission, accompanied by Mario (Pratt), Luigi (Day), Toad the mushroom (Keegan Michael-Key) and evil turtle Bowser (Jack Black), who is still tiny, after the end of the last movie, and not quite so evil anymore.

Before they’ve even set off, Mario and Luigi befriend a goofy green dinosaur named Yoshi (Donald Glover), who also accompanies them on their quest (much to Toad’s grumpy disapproval). Along the way, they also receive help from an army of Lumas (glowing smiley stars), the Honey Queen (Issa Rae) – a giant bee – and from space pilot Fox McCloud (Glen Powell), who’s like a cross between Han Solo and the fox out of Zootropolis.

The first film wasn’t entirely perfect, but it had wit and charm and invention and pace and a decent attempt at emotion, even if it didn’t quite come off. The sequel, unfortunately, has none of those things. Even the Jack Black performance – the undisputed highlight of the first film – is significantly diminished in the sequel, and Bowser doesn’t even get to sing a song this time round.

There’s so much that doesn’t work about the sequel that it’s hard to know where to start. The main problem is that it’s just a blizzard of Easter Eggs and almost nothing else. And sure, that’s fun for fans of the games, to a degree, but just getting the reference doesn’t really amount to anything if there’s no gag or thought or invention behind it – that’s basically the same principle as the woeful Friedberg and Seltzer parody movies (Epic Movie, Date Movie and so on), and those moments are similarly laugh-free here.

One of the key inventive touches in the first film was the way the action sequences were cleverly designed to mimic elements of gameplay in the video games. Once again, that aspect is sadly missing here, and the action sequences are poorly designed to boot, basically just a lot of movement and colour and noise, without anything approaching drama or tension or suspense or thrills.

Another problem this time round is that the script is borderline incoherent, largely because the story is so overstuffed with characters that everyone suffers as a result. Fox McCloud, for example, gets a seemingly significant introduction, but plays such a tiny part in the action after that, that he might just as well have not been in the movie at all. It’s a shocking waste of Glen Powell’s talents, however you look at it.

On top of everything else, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie completely fails to hit any of its emotional beats. There’s plenty of potential in that respect – the relationship between Bowser and his son, the reunion of long-lost sisters, a supposed love interest thing between Peach and Mario – but the film barely even bothers to include emotional scenes, let alone ensure that any of them work.

The voice work, at least, is fine, with Pratt, Day, Taylor-Joy and Black all doing good work. And to be fair, there are one or two amusing moments (an extended sequence with Mario and Luigi as babies is probably the highlight), but they are few and far between.

In short, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is something of a disappointment, especially compared to the first film, thanks to uninspired direction, a script that is all over the place and a painful lack of humour, emotion or just plain fun. It’ll probably make a ton of money and generate a third film though, so here’s hoping the filmmakers aren’t quite so lazy next time round.

** 2/5

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is in cinemas now.