After saving the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Bowser who is now shrunk in size, Bowser’s son Bowser Jr becomes the new threat kidnapping Princess Rosalina and attacking the kingdom to rescue his father. With the help of their new companion Yoshi, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach go on an adventure that will take them to the galaxy. Along the way, they meet new friends and foes…

Warts and all, I love The Super Mario Bros Movie. It is one of the breeziest movies to watch on top of being a love letter to the Mario series. I could not wait to see what Illumination and Nintendo would cook up next and every piece of information and footage we got from this movie got me excited. Does The Super Mario Galaxy Movie live up to the hype? Well…

First of all, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a beautiful film. The animation in this movie is stunning from the character movements to the environments to the expressions on every character: this is a top-notch looking film. One aspect I love about the animation is how so many characters interact in the background which help flesh out their characters, especially Yoshi. 

You can tell the animators had a blast working on this film in every single frame. The character designs themselves look incredible with Yoshi looking absolutely adorable, Rosalina looking elegant and Bowser Jr looking cute and evil. Even Fox McCloud has a pretty cool redesign that helps him fit into the world of Mario. Every visual in this movie is top tier and they brought the world of Mario to life once again.

The action sequences are absolutely dazzling, full of long-takes and the characters using their powers to the best of their abilities. My favorite fight is the first battle with Mario, Luigi and Yoshi against Bowser Jr. This is an awesome fight that showcases amazing visuals and smooth camera work that also shows the dynamic of the three heroes. There is also a space fight involving Fox’s Arwing that is incredibly exciting and visually pleasing to the eye. I really enjoyed all of the set pieces in this movie, and I could watch them all day.

The characters are very likable with Mario, Luigi and Yoshi making for such a fun trio to watch and Peach continuing being an amazing fighter while having a fun personality. I know Peach gets a bit of flak in the movies for being a little too strong and that applies here too, but I do enjoy Peach a lot here thanks to Anya Taylor-Joy’s great vocal performance and her sweeter moments to show that she is still a kindhearted princess within all her fighting. Also, I love her fighting style in this movie with her parasol. 

The second highlight here is Fox McCloud who I don’t quite remember being in Super Mario Galaxy or any Mario game. Regardless, Fox is such an awesome character here who steals the show every time he is on screen. Glen Powell does an excellent job capturing Fox’s lovable rogue personality and getting lost into the character despite being a celebrity voice actor. Powell was the perfect casting choice for Fox and I definitely believe that he is a huge fan of the StarFox series.

My favorite characters in this movie though are Bowser and Bowser Jr. They make for such great villains. Bowser and his son are both likable bad guys because they have such a sweet bond to the point where they both encourage each other despite their differences. Regardless of the villainous acts they pull off, they clearly love and care about each other which makes their scenes so heartwarming. They are so fun to watch and they are by far the best developed characters here. It also helps that Jack Black once again crushes his role as Bowser and Benny Safdie is very solid as the mischievously evil Bowser Jr. 

Yoshi is my favorite Mario character and I feared that he was going to end up being an annoying animal sidekick. Luckily, they did him justice. Yoshi is an adorable, sweet and helpful member of the Mario team who steals so many scenes without saying much aside from the occasional “Yoshi!” He is such a delight to watch from his stroll in New York City to his background interactions with the others fleshing out his sweet-natured personality. 

Yoshi really is like that cool friend that may act silly, but has your back no matter what. I wish he got to kick a little more butt in the fights, but I am very happy with Yoshi in this movie for the most part. Also, while Donald Glover’s casting is lowkey pointless, he is so good as Yoshi that I did not even recognize his voice until his reveal as Yoshi’s voice actor. 

One of my favorite aspects about this movie is the excellent musical score by Brian Tyler. Oh stars this man cooked here. There are so many great songs based off the Super Mario Galaxy games and Mario games, but my favorite pieces of music here come from the themes of characters. Yoshi’s theme is absolutely infectious and it fits Yoshi to a T. Bowser Jr’s theme is delightfully sinister with a playful vibe to it.

My favorite piece overall is “Assault on Planet Bowser.” This is a piece that uses Star Fox music to perfection and hearing it on the big screen is just incredible. I wish I could go back and watch that whole sequence again for the first time and listen to the score again in the theater. Tyler’s music in this movie is incredible, and he single-handedly elevates the movie. Also, I appreciate that we have far less needle-drops here.

A big reason why Bowser and Bowser Jr’s scenes are among my favorite parts in this movie is that they are the few times where the movie does allow the characters to have their moment and they are wonderful. That’s what makes the story so frustrating because there is so much the writer could have done with these characters and we get the bare minimum.

The movie focuses more on references and fan service. I do not mind a movie that has some fan service as I do like to be served every now and then, but it would help these moments work with the story and they really do not here. There are many Mario characters in this movie that have not appeared in age, but they are more for show than anything. King Wart for example is an old character who hasn’t shown up in ages, but he is only in one scene and it feels like he is just there as a way of the filmmakers saying “Hey fans! Remember this guy?” While I couldn’t help but smile at some of the references, this movie does go too far with them and the story suffers.

I can forgive a lot of the issues I have with this movie. I still enjoyed it a lot. However, the one unforgivable mistake this movie makes is completely wasting Rosalina. Rosalina is a main character in Super Mario Galaxy, but she is reduced to nothing more than a damsel in distress here. She gets two scenes to shine and then she is gone until the very end. Rosalina has no arc and she only exists as a plot device in this movie. 

I feel so bad for Brie Larson because out of everyone in this cast, she is the biggest Nintendo fan. She is nothing but enthusiastic about not just this movie, but the games as well. Larson’s talent is absolutely wasted here because she gets so little to do with Rosalina’s lack of presence.

While we are on the subject, I have seen so many people defend Rosalina’s role saying she didn’t do much in the games either. It has been years since I played Super Mario Galaxy, but I remember Rosalina helping Mario quite a bit. Even if that is the case though, the filmmakers can easily flesh out her role in the cinematic story. Peach is a tough fighter in both of these movies when her role was being kidnapped in the games. Fox freaking McCloud is in this movie despite not being a Mario character! They could and should have given Rosalina a bigger role in this movie especially when they cast someone like Brie Larson. I feel so bad for Rosalina fans because they deserve so much better.

With all of this said, I do like this movie. I do not think I would call The Super Mario Galaxy Movie a good movie, but I did have a lot of fun watching it. It never bored me or made me cringe (aside from one scene) and I found myself smiling most of the way through. Also, seeing my favorite Mario character on the big screen done pretty well gives me so much joy. 

Although, I think this movie focuses more on fanservice than I would have liked, I wouldn’t call it soulless. I still think everyone involved with this movie was passionate about creating an awesome cinematic Mario experience for the fans, but some perspectives clashed and this is the result. In the end, this is probably gonna be one of my guilty pleasures that I watch more than once, but man it should be way better than a guilty pleasure…