Universal Studios
Three years on from the immensely successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination and Nintendo are out to repeat the success of the highest grossing animated movie of 2023, just as it snagged the title as the highest grossing video game adaptation of all time.
After Mario & Co. defeated Bowser (Jack Black) in the first movie, Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) seeks to honor his father by destroying the universe.
To achieve his evil plan, Bowser Jr. kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) to steal her powers, but after Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) befriend Yoshi (Daniel Glover), they soon meet up with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) before they head off to fight the righteous fight and save the galaxy.
What ensues is an explosion of color that follows the same style as the previous installment, however, while not holding back is a deliberate creative choice, this does not work in the film’s favor, as it prevents it from taking sufficient time to string all its bright Nintendo set pieces together, instead bombarding the audience with gags and set pieces with reckless abandon.
As such, rather than offering any meaningful narrative to make the audience engage with the film, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie mistakes colorful images and loud noises for entertainment value when it unfortunately is anything but.
The quality of the animation in and of itself is not the issue, as it is on par with the previous installment, but much like the lack of narrative structure works against the film, there is only so many well-realized set pieces you can hurl at an audience before they become disengaged, as loud visuals alone do not leave a lasting impression, instead becoming a miasma of visual noise that leaves the film feel frustratingly dull and inconsequential.
Filmmaking is both an art and an industry, and while the animators did a solid job with the visuals, the script does not do the artwork justice, making it abundantly clear that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie exists purely to capitalize on the audience popularity of its predecessor, and while that is consistent with fulfilling the executives’ brief, it also means that creativity and storytelling is neglected to an unforgivable degree.
Sticking the likes of Chris Pratt and Jack Black into the adaptation of just about any intellectual property has almost become a genre of its own, and while this formula has proved to be immensely lucrative, it has also become synonymous with an ever-expanding but increasingly blander type of cinema than what audiences deserve.
Extras include making-of, character profiles, and featurettes.
Verdict: 3 out of 10.
