Ticketworthy! - The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Full credit to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it knows precisely who it’s for and what they want to see, and it delivers in spades. The film is jam-packed with references, cameos, and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Easter eggs for as many Nintendo properties as you could possibly want. It’s impressive for a sequel to a movie that already had a lot of references. Unfortunately, all of those cameos don’t leave much time for anything resembling an actual story or character development.

What little story the film does have focuses on everyone’s favorite plumbers, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), traveling across the galaxy to rescue a new kidnapped princess, Rosalina (Brie Larson) from the evil Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Meanwhile, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) are on their own mission to save Rosalina, who may have a special connection to Peach.

Honestly, that’s pretty much the entire plot. Just two separate groups, both on the exact same journey for the exact same reason. They all could easily have just gone together if the movie didn’t need to split them up in order to cram in more side characters. I suppose it’s worth noting that Bowser (Jack Black) and Yoshi (Donald Glover) are also along for the ride, but neither of them really does much or impacts the plot at all. It all just feels like there was a quota for Nintendo characters that had to be seen on-screen, and once the filmmakers managed that they had no time to write an actual movie.

I will admit, however, that the film is gorgeous. The animation truly is top-tier and the creativity put into each of the worlds visited is admirable. In particular, I love the various sequences where the perspective shifts to an 8-bit graphics style akin to the original Mario games. It’s a technique used sparingly, but almost always at the right moment. This is a very fun movie to look at.

It’s also reasonably funny, though not every joke lands. There were enough hits to keep me laughing, so I consider that a win. The voice cast has much to do with that, as everyone does a great job and really gets into their roles. The cast from the first film is back and basically how you remember them, but it’s newcomers Brie Larson and Glen Powell that really steal the show. It’s a shame that Larson’s Rosalina and Powell’s Fox McCloud have too little screentime to work with. Both actors deserved bigger roles.

Truthfully, this is a hard movie to really critique. It’s not trying to be some deep, meaningful story or modern masterpiece. It’s trying to capitalize on nostalgia and children’s love of these characters by showing as many of them in funny situations as possible. In that, it succeeds. At the same time, I can’t ignore that the characters are given so little to do, that they don’t learn or grow, or that some of the most interesting new cast members get pushed aside in favor of gags about how small the Pikmin’s spaceship is. If you are a diehard Nintendo fan or you have children that are, then The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is probably going to be a good time for you. It’s not awful, you’ll have fun. Otherwise, though, I’m afraid your good movie is in another castle.