The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and all the images you see in this review are owned by Universal Pictures
Directed by Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic
I can’t say that I was a fan of the first movie, but I did appreciate what it accomplished for the audience it was aiming for. A sequel was inevitable given its billion dollar box office, but it did manage to catch my interest with its promise of a space-faring adventure with Rosalina from the Galaxy series of games. Still, this is Illumination we’re talking about, whose work can be charitably described as passable, and trying to encompass the cosmic side of the Mario universe is no small feat even for a studio with some artistic panache; let alone one whose greatest contribution was ripping off the Rabbids. Can the Mario brothers drag a great movie out of this middle-of-the-road studio, or will this be yet another average outing for the venerable Nintendo franchise? Let’s find out!!
The Mushroom Kingdom has stayed relatively peaceful since the Mario Brothers (Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) toppled the big bad King Bowser (Jack Black); leaving Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to rule unabated with an iron fist and an army of toads! The duo even has a new sidekick named Yoshi (Donald Glover) who is as friendly as he is adorable, but while things may be looking up for this little corner of the universe, terrible things are brewing in the furthest reaches of space. The Princess of the Cosmos Rosalina (Brie Larson) is kidnapped by Bowser Jr (Benny Safdie) and one of her children, a Luma much like the one we saw in the first film, manages to escape and get a message to Princess Peach. With such a powerful princess in trouble, she wastes no time in heading off to the stars, leaving our plumbers and a somewhat reformed, and also tiny, Bowser to follow far behind while dodging the nefarious machinations of Bowser’s son. What is Bowser Jr planning to do with Rosalina’s power, and does his father have a role to play in either stopping or supporting his son? Will the Mario Brothers catch up to Peach in time to help her save the day, and does she have a greater role to play in all this than even she realizes? What does it mean that the universe is full of interconnected worlds that we can easily reach from star portals!? Just imagine the implications! And the possibilities for cameos and references!
At the very least, I wanted to like this movie a heck of a lot more than I did, while still enjoying it quite a bit. It’s an improvement on the first film in almost every way, and yet the places where it’s better only highlight where they’ve barely budged an inch. Illumination should be commended for what they’ve accomplished here in terms of animation as it’s some of the best work I’ve ever seen from a film like this. It may not have the slick style of a Spider-Verse film or the genuine heart of many Disney and Pixar movies, but there’s a polish to the visuals that makes it stand out among its peers. The action has a surprising amount of impact to it with well-choreographed fights and weighty set-pieces that are peppered throughout the run-time, and the cosmic setting lends itself to some wonderful vistas that are bursting with imagination and begging to be explored.
We’ve also improved on the first film with a slew of fun characters to fill out the cast. Yes, I did geek out at seeing Star Fox in the movie, and thankfully he has more to do in this than to just be a cameo for the N64 kids in the audience. I’m also glad that they gave Luigi an actual role in this instead of being the damsel in distress, and Yoshi ends up being much more endearing than I expected. The best new addition, however, is our villain, Bowser Jr, who was a surprisingly interesting and nuanced character for a movie that could have easily gotten away with doing half as much with him. His unwavering love and admiration for his father is as endearing as it tragic, and it creates a fascinating crisis for Bowser whose guilt at how he failed him is warped and twisted by the temptation to go along with his schemes. What it means to be a good father in this movie would be to break his son’s heart, and even then, would it be enough to dissuade him from his goals? Heck, can the heroes even fight this battle without themselves becoming monsters? And yes, we are still talking about an Illumination Mario movie. I’m just as surprised as you are, and I’m not really overselling this. The relationship between Bowser and Bowser Jr is the beating heart of this movie and it elevates everything else around it.
Unfortunately, that’s where the imagination and creativity ran dry as everything else about the movie feels about on par with the first one. The story is nothing to write home about with a lot of contrivances and sidetracking, though it does the job of getting us from one fun set-piece to the next. Some have also complained about Rosalina’s lack of screen time, and while I also would have liked to see more of her, she’s in this as much as she needs to be and is still driving the story even when she’s not physically present. Sadly, that’s more than can be said about the actual star of the movie as Chris Pratt’s interpretation of Mario continues to be a void of charisma, and the character never feels like he’s moving towards anything or guiding the journey in any significant way. A movie with a plot as slim as this can work with a strong protagonist to carry it, but a lackluster one only highlights the emptiness of his presence. Thankfully, he’s surrounded by a supporting cast that keep things upbeat and enough spectacle that he doesn’t suck the life out of every scene he’s in, but it’s all the more noticeable how wrong he is for the part when he’s in a movie that, in all other respects, is at least trying to do better.
A lot of people were down on this movie when it came out, and to be frank, I’m highly skeptical of those reactions. Sure, you should never go into a movie expecting it to be mediocre, but there’s a lot about this movie that isn’t mediocre. Heck, there are parts of this that are downright wonderful to audiences of all ages, and while I would have liked a more interesting story and a better protagonist, the shortcomings in those departments shouldn’t completely overwhelm the improvements everywhere else. It’s still not the Mario movie for me as I’ll take the Bob Hoskins movie over either Illumination film any day of the week, but I’ll give this all the credit in the world for its slick visuals and surprisingly engaging antagonist. I mean, we let the Batman movies get away with having just those, so why not Mario? Is it because he doesn’t do the gravelly voice, which, admittedly, would be an improvement over Christ Pratt?
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