"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie:" Stellar Style Over Substance

The Mario Brothers are back for an adventure through the cosmos! Riding on the success of 2023’s Super Mario Brothers Movie is Illumination’s first chance to expand their burgeoning Nintendo Cinematic Universe, and boy did they pull out all the stops. Alongside the cast of characters expected from a Mario movie are a handful of characters taken from other Nintendo properties such as Star Fox’s Fox McCloud, the peripheral-turned-character ROB, Mr Game and Watch, and the Pikmen. While Fox’s inclusion was a surprise highlight of the movie, having his own gorgeously animated intro segment, these cameos actually serve to highlight one of the largest problems with the film: that Super Mario Galaxy is really just going through the motions.

I, along with millions of others had an inherent problem with the casting of Chris Pratt as Mario back in 2023. It’s not that Pratt isn’t skilled enough for the role, he’s just not “Mario” enough, y’know? His energy doesn’t match the character’s, which is not the case at all for many of the other roles, like Charlie Day’s Luigi or Jack Black’s Bowser. Despite this gripe of mine, I am a huge sucker for the original Super Mario Galaxy games, and my love for them was enough to get me to put my reservations on hold and head down to my local theater for a showing of the plumbers’ latest outing. 

Speaking of the celebrity voice acting, Donald Glover’s inclusion as Yoshi felt a little confusing to me. Yes, he can do the Yoshi voice pretty well, but, keeping faithful to the games, Yoshi doesn’t really speak per se. Yoshi grunts and says his name like a Pokémon on occasion, and a part of me was worried that they would have a gag where Yoshi clears his throat and speaks with Glover’s natural voice towards the end of the film. Luckily, no such scene ever manifested, but despite how cringeworthy the idea seems, a part of me was almost disappointed that it wasn’t done, because why else would you cast a big name actor in a voice role that they are entirely unrecognizable in?

On a positive note, Illumination knocked it out of the park with this film’s animation. Not only is Mario Galaxy a treat for the eyes, it remains consistently stunning throughout. A possible consequence of this, however, is that the film’s 3rd act feels a little rushed, a problem further compounded by this film’s confusing decisions to tease possible upcoming character dynamics before totally abandoning them. Two glaring examples of this are Bowser’s struggle between wanting to be a good person and wanting to be a good father to his megalomaniacal son, and the romantic rivalry between Fox and Mario over Peach. While both of these dynamics are hinted at and even have scenes outright posing then as problems to be overcome, the film hand waves them both away in favor of having the traditional villains act traditionally villainous and having all the heroes get along. It frustrates me to no end that the building blocks of real character development are not only here, but actively acknowledged by the film, despite the total lack of willingness to dedicate the time and effort needed for those characters to be anything more than cardboard cutouts with celebrity voice acting.

Despite how much I adore Charlie Day’s casting as Luigi, none of the returning cast impressed me with their voice performances. However, Benny Safdie was by-far the stand out performance of this film, playing the nefarious Bowser Jr. Although Benny is sometimes considered to be the lesser director of the Safdies, he has proven himself to be a talented and capable actor, especially in the last few years. Bowser Jr was raised by Bowser during a more monstrous era of his life, something that becomes apparent upon their reunion. There are multiple sequences where Bowser Jr is urging his father to return to his previous villainy, and during these moments, Benny’s performance perfectly captures the essence of a child experiencing the pain of watching their parent realize that they set them down the wrong path. In a time where there is conflict between following the ideals that he was raised under, and following the very person who raised him, Bowser Jr whines and rages against the unfairness of the fact that it seems like he cannot have both. It’s a performance that makes me wish that this film had just 20 more minutes to develop its characters, as it might have given me a reason to actually rewatch it.

Ultimately, Super Mario Galaxy reminds me a lot of other less memorable kids films I watched when I was younger. It’s visually appealing throughout, has distinct characters to identify with, and a plot structure that lets everyone look cool without actually having to think about difficult stuff like consistent motivation or interpersonal conflict. If you’re a child, you’ll probably have fun watching this movie, and might even carry some vague nostalgia for it in the future. Parents, however, will likely find that the charm wears off quickly when you peel back the bright paint and discover that it’s just a hollow shell of a film made to market game consoles to children and adult super fans. It is pure sugar - entertainment with little if any artistic intent - and while it makes for a nice treat here and there, it will rot your brain if you have too much.