After a 3 year wait, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” was released in the United States on Wednesday, April 1. Like its predecessor, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” it has made millions of dollars on its opening weekend, accumulating $372.5 million in just a few days. Additionally, the movie has also received mixed reviews from critics who seemingly don’t seem to understand the true whimsy and fun this movie shows to the audience. The movie stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Charlie Day as Luigi, Brie Larson as Rosalina, Benny Safdie as Bowser Junior, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Glen Powell as Fox McCloud.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was a determining factor for Nintendo to see if they could expand their franchise into movies and other forms of entertainment, and the success of it was the green-light Nintendo needed to proceed with other franchises and a potential Mario Bros. movie sequel. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is that once potential sequel that has now made over $600 million world wide, $300 million of that being domestic earnings, surpassing its $100 million budget.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” picked up from where the “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” left off, a happy ending for the main cast of that movie. Galaxy opens up with the introduction of Rosalina, a princess, guardian of the cosmos, and adoptive mother to the Lumas. Shortly after the movie begins, Rosalina gets kidnapped by Bowser’s son, Bowser Junior, as the viewer gets transported to the Mushroom Kingdom where one of the Luma’s managed to travel to find Princess Peach for her help. Princess Peach, Toad, and later the Mario brothers with Yoshi embark in an intergalactic journey to save Rosalina before her cosmic powers are used for evil.
Galaxy, in short, really is just a general audiences movie with references to Nintendo franchises to cater to their hardcore fans. The clever introduction to Yoshi, a new character in the movie series, was led up by the Mario brothers exploring a desert landscape from “Super Mario Odyssey.” I found this to be rather strange for a character who doesn’t appear in the main storyline of Nintendo’s most recent 3-D Mario game. Fox McCloud, who is new to the movie franchise, from the “Star Fox” series doesn’t collide with the Mario universe, only interacting with each other in “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”.
Even then, “Star Fox” hasn’t had a major game release in over a decade, “Star Fox Zero” being the last entry stuck in the Wii U games purgatory. The character did add more to the broader galaxy the Mario brothers and their princess and toad explore, Fox even was crucial to move the plot forward while providing a unique anime-inspired scene.
Rosalina from the “Super Mario Galaxy” games is the new overarching character advertised as the movie’s selling point and excited longtime fans thrilled that she’d be in the spotlight again, made her debut here. Despite all that, she had an unimpressive amount of screentime. It was roughly 10 minutes in an almost 100 minute movie. It makes Brie Larson, Rosalina’s voice actor, seem to receive the short end of the stick as she has expressed content with being casted as her voice as a long time fan of the games. In a movie that is supposed to be about exploring the cosmos we barely had much of Rosalina’s magic and any type of space travel or elements found in the game.
It didn’t completely blow me out of my orbit, it was simply enjoyable. “Galaxy” does an amazing job with the visuals, animation, and soundtrack, but if you are looking for a deep and meaningful movie to watch, this isn’t for you. If you are looking for a hype and carefree time, I definitely recommend this to you and any family and friends you should bring along to a viewing for an even better experience, and if you are a Nintendo fan who still hasn’t watched the movie, what are you waiting for?
Final Rating: 7/10
