The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is An Amusing Nintendo Commercial

You could take Mega Man, Master Chief, Kratos, and half a dozen other popular video game characters and they would all still pale in comparison to the cultural presence of Mario, the Italian plumber whose bright red jumpsuit and “M” emblazoned cap have become some of the most recognizable images in all of gaming. Since jumping onto the scene with 1981’s original Donkey Kong, Mario (and inevitably his brother Luigi) have become flagship characters at Nintendo, appearing in over 200 games (only 24 of them being mainline Super Mario Bros. releases), as well as countless supplemental media including a handful of TV shows, comics, and of course, movies.

The 90s Super Mario Bros. movie is one of the most notorious failures of all time, and specifically from the standpoint of an adaptation, it’s easy to see why. There’s nothing wrong with tasteful deviations from the source material, but there was no engagement whatsoever with the colorful, surreal unreality of the Mushroom Kingdom or the iconic locales from the games; it was an adaptation that felt embarrassed to be based on a video game. Three decades later, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie and its sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (both directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic) seem to have almost the exact opposite problem — they’re immensely entertaining if you want to be reminded of the existence of the games, but incredibly frustrating if you’re looking for anything resembling depth or the kind of substance kids movies should strive for.

It might sound silly to say, but The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is built atop a plot more thin than the cardboard cutout sprites in Paper Mario. Much like the games it’s based on, the film significantly expands the scope of the world we see in the first movie — Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), eager to follow in his imprisoned father’s footsteps, kidnaps the intergalactic princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) to try and use her energy to power the adorably titled “Boomsday Machine,” a weapon of mass destruction lifted from Super Mario Galaxy 2. Of course, this prompts Mario (Chris Pratt), Luigi (Charlie Day), and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to take to the stars in order to rescue her and stop the diminutive tyrant, accompanied by their new dinosaur friend Yoshi (Donald Glover) and a few other allies they encounter while exploring a whole new galaxy.

For a film named after the characters, Mario and Luigi aren’t given a whole lot this time around in terms of characterization. While the first movie centers the relationship between two brothers struggling to prove their worth to the world, the second one positions them as heroes to the Mushroom Kingdom and not much else — Mario gets a half-baked subplot about him confessing his love to Princess Peach, but even that sits on the backburner without a genuine resolution. The script splits up the group for most of the film, perhaps in an effort to give Yoshi more time to shine, but the decision is not only unnecessary, it directly impedes the film from actually developing the relationship between Mario and Princess Peach beyond a few throwaway interactions.

This time around, the centerpiece of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is Peach’s mysterious backstory and how it intertwines with Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson). Rosalina’s presence here is a deviation from the games but a welcome one that attempts to clarify the muddied relationship between the two women — the problem however is that she simply doesn’t get enough screentime for us to really know what her life was like prior to her kidnapping by Bowser Jr., and there’s no mystery or intrigue or real emotional weight evoked by the incredibly obvious connection she has with Peach. The first film goes out of its way to avoid making Peach into a generic damsel-in-distress despite that being her role in the early games, and it’s a little disappointing to see that role so firmly placed on Rosalina this time around.

Surprisingly, the closest the movie gets to a meaningful arc is Jack Black’s Bowser, whose attempts at reformation run up against his desire to be a real father to his son. There’s something genuinely interesting and complicated about the idea of Bowser trying to make up for lost time and convince Bowser Jr. not to make the same mistakes as him while also struggling for redemption himself, but bizarrely enough the movie just…drops this throughline entirely after a certain point, in favor of a team-up that honors their dynamic in the Super Mario Galaxy games. It’s a shockingly hollow walk-back of what could’ve been a serious piece of emotional catharsis, one that would have resonated with adults in a movie that truly lacks a meaningful hook for mature viewers.

You can’t avoid the sense that the script itself is simply a vehicle to bring Mario’s sandbox to the big screen, and to that end the movie is a success. Just like the original it’s beautifully animated — there’s a kaleidoscopic vibrancy Illumination brings to the universe that truly feels like a refuge of pure imagination, as close as possible to what it feels like to be 10 years old playing Super Mario Galaxy and awed by the creativity on display. Beyond just surface-level aesthetics, the film is remarkably reverent of the Mario property and specifically the experience of playing the games — there are naturally a host of Easter eggs, and while it’s exciting to spot King Wart in a scene or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Mr. Game and Watch, the movie is at its best when it combines the mechanics and aesthetics of the game with the medium of animation in ingenious ways. Nothing compares to the simplicity of a heroic Mario and Luigi montage animated in the iconic style of the Super Mario Bros. level selection hub, or seeing our heroes evade an obstacle course actively being designed by Bowser Jr. as if he were using the level creator from Super Mario Maker.

Beyond even just the world of Mario, there’s an emphasis on the larger world of Nintendo — as revealed before the movie’s release, Fox McCloud of the Star Fox games appears as a supporting character (and you certainly can’t forget it’s Glenn Powell in the role), as well as a few other Nintendo icons in much briefer circumstances. While this doesn’t actively tank the film, it does lift the curtain and expose the truth underneath — The Super Mario Galaxy Movie isn’t so much a children’s film designed to indulge the imagination or bestow accessible wisdom, as much as it’s a stunning advertisement designed to sell the Nintendo brand to newcomers and diehards alike. It’s certainly an entertaining, occasionally breathtakingly animated, adventure, and it’ll grab the attention of kids as well as satisfy longtime supporters of the franchise, but there’s an apparent lack of substance that prevents it from being as impactful as it maybe could be.

In 2026, at a time where some video game adaptations have gone above and beyond instead of just faithfully recreating the source material, it’s not a stretch to imagine that a Mario film could do something other than just making you nostalgic to replay the games.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens in theaters April 1.