Princess Peach and Mario in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Addisson Pribble/IMDb)
The highly anticipated sequel and the latest work from Illumination, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” premiered on April 1.
Matthew Fogel was brought back to write the screenplay, with directors Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, and Fabien Polack. Like its predecessor, its release absolutely crushed previous box office records. I confess I was pretty lukewarm on the first Mario Bros. movie. It had a fairly weak plot but included enough fun Easter eggs to keep me going, with Jack Black’s Bowser being an obvious highlight. This film features Mario, Luigi, Peach, and a host of other Nintendo characters to remind us again and again that this is indeed a Nintendo cash grab. I am not lukewarm on this one. I hated it.
I mentioned that the first had a weak plot. The difference is that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t seem to have a plot at all! It’s just a series of showcasing different Nintendo franchises strung together. It hopes to trick us into forgetting the absence of a story by going “look, it’s Starfox! Look, it’s Mario Kart! Look, it’s Bowser Jr.!” Speaking of…let’s talk about Bowser Jr. I don’t know who had the idea to make him the central villain, but it was a bad one. As I mentioned earlier, the highlight of the first one was Jack Black as Bowser. He was really the only person qualified to be a voice actor for it and he hams it up! He perfectly captures the humor and villainy required for Bowser and his song to Peach in the first film is nothing short of hilarious. So, being the strongest point of the last film, it makes sense that he’d be given a spotlight in this one, right? Wrong. He’s not even featured in the first 30 minutes and when he finally does show up, he has a frankly bizarre rehabilitation arc that only lasts once he’s reunited with his son, Bowser Jr. Then he’s back to being the big bad Koopa we know and love. It makes zero sense. None.
There continues to be a trend among animated films that I just don’t understand. Why are the studios casting big-name screen actors to voice these animated features? There’s a completely different skillset necessary and just because someone can act on screen doesn’t mean it translates to voice-over work. Chris Pratt is fine, Charlie Day is pretty good, Anya Taylor-Joy is, sadly, pretty bad, but Jack Black steals the show! This movie adds the characters Rosalina and Bowser Jr., voiced by Brie Larson and Benny Safdie, respectively. Neither is very good. Both are generic and bland and do nothing to bring these characters to life. Here’s the thing: I’m not trying to just crap all over the movie. I adore Nintendo, and Mario was part of my childhood. I just don’t feel like it’s too much to ask that when these characters are brought to the big screen, it’s done with some care and intention.
That’s not to say this movie is completely hopeless. For die-hard Mario fans, there are a lot of little Easter eggs throughout, possibly too many. Yoshi is nothing short of adorable, and it was fun seeing the world expand. Characters from other games were brought in, like Fox McCloud, the Pikmin, and R.O.B. For a gamer like me, it was exciting to see the new characters and explore some of the new worlds. The animation for both Mario films continues to be the best-looking thing that Illumination has ever produced. That alone will be something that appeals to the younger audience. It really is a pretty movie! It’s colorful, it’s bright, and the dazzling lights and shimmers of the magical elements are pleasant to look at.
Video game movies are notorious for not being very good. By the time a movie comes out, the characters are already so beloved that the movies are fighting an uphill battle to portray the characters in a way that feels authentic to the fans. But part of it is also because the studios know that people will pay to go see these characters and stories on the big screen, even if the movie is awful. “The Minecraft Movie,” which came out around this time last year, also starring Jack Black, proves this. “The Mario Bros Movie” wasn’t blowing me away, but I had a good time. However, I spent the entire runtime of “The Mario Galaxy Movie” wondering when the story was going to start or when it would become interesting, but it never did. I wish I could bring better news, but even with the few highlights, I can’t bring myself to recommend going to theaters to see this.
2/5 stars
Contact CU Independent Writer Kyrie Gneiting at kyrie.gneiting@colorado.edu
