The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Film Review

Nintendo has had forty years of success with the Super Mario Brothers is something you’re told at the beginning of the film. Hopefully, you won’t feel ancient when you read that. If you saw the first film, what do you want from a reboot of one of Nintendo’s early characters? More of the same? You get that. But you also get a good time with the family, who know what to expect since some of you have played the games and seen the first movie. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” gives you more of the brothers, more Peach, and more characters zooming around, bestowing upon you plenty to look at, have a laugh at, and admire.
Sadly, the soundtrack isn’t what it was in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” but you get over that because you get to enjoy a brilliant score.

If you were one of the reasons it grossed over $1.36 billion, yes BILLION, worldwide, you’re going to like this movie, two… TOO. If you didn’t see it, it’s best you do to help introduce you to the world they’re all living in and who the Super Mario Bros. are. In case you weren’t around playing video games during the 1980’s NES days, you may have missed the craze and didn’t learn about the plumbing duo. They are Mario (Chriss Pratt) and his brother Luigi (Charlie Day). In the first movie, they start a plumbing business. During a job, they end up in the Mushroom Kingdom, in the land of Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy.

Characters from the game fill the screen, and the game’s sounds are heard, making it a simple joy to watch. In this movie, there’s a scene captured on a security camera in which someone watches Mario and Peach move through tunnels beneath the city. The audience sees the cartoon characters. The character watching the security camera sees and hears the very early video game characters. There are a few similar moments, and you’ll get a good chuckle from each of them.

Bowser Jr (Benny Safdie) is determined to be as unappealing as his father Bowser (Jack Black) was before he was taken from him by the Mario Brothers. He intends to get his father back and build him a world that they can both rule the universe from. Interestingly, his father has become a kind of a good guy. That’s what they try to sell us, that is, until… I’ll never tell because maybe he still is?

The effects in this will not disappoint. I mentioned the flattened two-dimensional segments already, but the color and vitality of every second in every other scene are outstanding. Yoshi looks so real, you want to reach out and give his nose a squeeze, knowing you’ll hear it squeak back at you. There are a few slow moments, so the pacing isn’t always right on target. They wanted to give you too much in the fairly short amount of time they have. Peach has a fight, for good reason, of course, but you’re yawning through it. Get on with the movie already. Speaking of, she gets together with a long-lost sister, Rosalina, voiced by Brie Larson. She’s an important part of the narrative, but doesn’t end up that way because there’s too much going on to focus on her. I think directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic could have concentrated less on the long fight sequences.

I was hoping that Lumalee would show up. I got my wish! Juliet Jelenic, the daughter of co-director Michael Jelenic, was brought on by chance during the first film and returns as Lumalee, a gloomy star who uses phrases that will frighten the parents in the theater. Luckily, the young ones won’t understand half of what she says. It’s a bit dark. A darling voice, but… yowzah what she has to say. That goes mostly for the first film, but she’s still at it here. Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, is fun but underused. Certain characters being turned into babies is amusing. I’ve tried to keep this spoiler-free, and I hope I have. Again, if you’re a fan, seeing this on the big screen is my biggest piece of advice. That and stay for one middle credit scene and an end credit scene. You’ll really like the second one, especially.