Review: Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Back to reviews for the first time in over a year! Crazy to think that I'm finally back at it. I was planning to see Project Hail Mary, but unfortunately was suffering from fatigue the days it happened. That being said, I got to see a movie this weekend and it was a big one. Super Mario Galaxy... the movie. That title alone kinda gives you an idea on what this film's gonna be. I think Nintendo knew that their primary audience would watch this movie no matter what and that it just needed to be colorful and stylish and have good music. It has all of those things in spades! That being said... it's a mixed bag on whether or not people like it. Some people love it, calling it a love letter to the best game in the franchise. Others say it's "worse than AI" and degrades the franchise in a hurtful way. I sadly don't feel either, but I am leaning towards the latter. It was not my cup of tea. That being said, let's get into why!

PLOT: Boring and trite.

The plots for both of these are remarkably simple but here, it hurts the already insane pacing more than the prior. This one is far quicker in pace and shoves way more in than the prior movie and the last one was already too short. I previously complained how short it was and they only added on about eight minutes here. With a breakneck pace like this, we needed a 2hr movie to really get involved and engaged with the characters, but the lack of any more plot than "save the princess" made any character beats basically inert as it's impossible to engage with anything outside of that. Speaking of...

CHARACTERS: What characters?

The one thing I can't really say this one dares to improve on and I argue it does a fair amount worse is characters. The first one has basic character arcs and easy-to-grasp motivations for each of its characters. Mario and the other main players had things to do in the previous plot for obvious reasons. This movie has characters who could be cut out and it would change nothing about the story. Toad isn't even in the last half of the movie, Rosalina has two whole scenes, and at that point, I would've cut some fat and worked on making meaningful arcs for Mario and Luigi. There's something for Luigi, an arc about being brave, but it stops before they can do anything with it. Mario has a crush(?) on Peach, but that plot is basically resolved with no payoff by the end. The best arc in the movie is maybe Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s relationship, but the most interesting thing about it ends halfway through the movie. It's really insane to me that the SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE doesn't focus on its two biggest players in the game: Mario or Rosalina. This could've been a Super Mario World movie and it would've been just as sensical. At the very least, we got a cool (SPOILER) appearance. (Check Little things for this) But, onto other things...

SHOTS: Actually...

This is a point of praise. The movie is visually stunning and remarkably well-shot in most scenes with frenetic and exciting action. I'm genuinely surprised this was made on the budget it was because it looks phenomenal. From what I understand, Illumination treats its employees like actual people which is the nicest thing I can say about the company. Otherwise, this movie is a visual treat and deserves to be watched on a big screen for that alone.

SOUND: Also good.

Whoever says complaining on the Internet doesn't do anything? Luckily for all, they heard the complains and allowed Brian Tyler to cook up some amazing music using motifs and tracks from the games. Compared to last movie where 50% of the soundtrack was licensed music, 10% of the music here is licensed and the rest is nonstop bangers paying homage to a franchise with incredible music. It's beautiful in many places and the sound design is stellar. Since sound also includes voice acting, we'll discuss that here too. It's okay... again. I think the best thing I can say is everyone is inoffensive. But, Nintendo needs to get people who are actual voice actors to play these characters. Chris Pratt seems to have energy for the role, but is just being hampered by direction or something on set, because I feel nothing for his performance. Anya-Taylor Joy and Jack Black are somehow worse in this one? They feel much more restrained and wooden in their respective performances, although Jack Black is still better than most of the cast with his energy alone. Charlie Day's performance is still actually really solid and both Donald Glover and (SPOILER) are really good in their respective roles. Annoyed about the spoiler? Me too. See Little Things for that. But, again, just cast people with interest in the roles. At least most of the new cast is pretty well-cast and acting much better than most of the returning ones.

WRITING: Ughhhhhh.

The writing is pretty one-note and lame. It's nothing much more than a "Save the princess" plot with some lame jokes and not-great dialogue on top. It kinda feels like a Saturday morning cartoon in terms of dialogue and jokes and I just felt it was grating by the hour mark. Luckily, the last half doesn't have much humor and focuses on the action. But, I kinda liked the first movie's more dark humor. Why not lean into that for the future? Will say, the post-credit scene had a joke that actually had me cackling at least.

LITTLE THINGS: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

So, to tack on some little things, I really liked the new character in this movie. For spoiler context, I was talking about Glen Powell in his turn as Star Fox. He's very enjoyable and charismatic for the role. His voice is a bit of a frat bro type which I don't really view Star Fox as, but for this take? He's real good. Casting the dude from Top Gun as a star pilot just makes sense to me. Good job, fellas!

VERDICT: Just not enough.

If this movie had focused more on Galaxy and less on World and Sunshine, I think this movie could've had a tighter narrative focus and allowed it to feel less bloated as a whole. With a breakneck pace, there needs to be tighter focus and less characters. As big and epic as this movie can be with as stellar of music, there is a lack of plot and humor to tie things together in what's an action comedy meant for adults and kids. I can see a lot of Nintendo fans and younger people loving this movie, but I couldn't view it as anything less than mediocre. Illumination needs to step it up a notch or hand the keys off to someone like Sony who can give the movie a distinct style and identity for the sake of the franchise. Otherwise, just a mediocre pretty film.

SCORE: 5/10, just mid.