The first part of this review is free from major narrative spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The end of the spoiler-free section is clearly marked.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Super Mario Galaxy games when they premiered on the Nintendo Wii a few years ago. So when Illumination and Nintendo announced that a sequel to 2023’s Super Mario Bros. Movie would be based on those titles… I was a tad underwhelmed, to be honest. And in 2026, Nintendo – with its price hikes, anti-consumer attitude, and underwhelming new console – isn’t exactly my favourite company in the gaming space, either! So it’s with that background that I belatedly sat down to watch The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
With all that being said, I had a great time with The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023 – I even called it my favourite film of the year. And my feelings about the Mario Galaxy games have more to do with their confusing spherical levels and the Wii remote’s awkward motion controls, rather than any actual narrative gripes. So there were definitely reasons to be optimistic about this return to the Mushroom Kingdom!
If you missed it, pease check out my review of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which I wrote back in 2023. You can find it by clicking or tapping here.
Here’s the one-sentence summary: I liked The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I don’t think it’s necessarily a “film of the year” contender, as its predecessor had been, but it’s definitely an enjoyable film for folks who’ve liked any of Nintendo’s games, the wider Mario franchise, or just animated films in general. Two main story threads felt connected, not just by characters, but also thematically, thanks to a strong focus on family ties, and the film had plenty of good-natured, kid-friendly humour throughout. Despite how I may have felt about the Mario Galaxy source material, the film wasn’t merely an attempt to re-tell the story of either of those games, and it included plenty of references to basically four decades’ worth of Mario games, from the original 2D platformers of the 1980s through to Odyssey and Wonder.
In terms of animation, I really can’t fault Illumination. I was lucky enough to watch The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in 4K on a pretty decent screen, and it really did look fantastic. Bold, bright colours are the order of the day, and there are plenty of stunning views of outer space, too. A variety of different locales came to life, and my only criticism would be that a couple of them felt a little samey, thanks to re-using the Mario franchise’s “blue sky, green grass, and brown rocks” aesthetic. But character models looked fantastic, there were a great variety of allies and villains for Mario, Peach, and the gang to encounter, and big set-piece moments all looked spectacular.
The film’s score was solid, and it leaned heavily into nostalgia, with classic refrains from the video games being heard at multiple points. That goes for sound effects, too, with many different noises from the games being brought to the big screen. While I wouldn’t say I was “disappointed” that the film didn’t get a big song, like its predecessor… perhaps that’s something which, having sat with the film for a couple of days, I might say was missing. Given how Peaches, Bowser’s song from the first film, went mega-viral, I’m a little surprised to see Nintendo and Illumination not trying to repeat that.
Voice acting was generally pretty good. Brie Larson did well as Rosalina, with the only downside to her ethereal performance being that she wasn’t actually on screen all that much. The controversy of casting Chris Pratt as Mario has subsided since the first film, and again I think he did well in the part. I wanted to highlight the performance of Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr.; he gave so much life and personality to what could’ve been a pretty flat, over-the-top kind of villain. Jack Black as Bowser… I’m actually in two minds, and we’ll have to talk about why in the spoiler-ful part of the review.
So I think that’s all I can say without really getting into spoiler territory.
Who’s this film for? Nintendo fans, obviously. But also fans of animated films in general, kids, parents of kids, and anyone looking for a fun adventure, really. If you *despise* Mario and all things Nintendo, I doubt this film will be the thing that finally wins you over! But even if you’re just a casual player of a few Nintendo titles every now and then – as I am, really – I still think you’ll find something to enjoy. In many ways, the film is a nostalgia overload; drawing on familiar characters, visuals, sounds, references, and more. But I don’t think that has to be a problem; a film like this, really, is designed from the ground up to be that kind of thing. My concern was whether, beneath all of that, there’d be a story worth following. And there was.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was lighthearted and funny in places, intense and action-packed in others, and even managed to hit some emotional beats. It’s a film I’d be happy to recommend to anyone who enjoyed the previous instalment and any fan of Mario or Nintendo games. We’re going to get into the film in a bit more detail now, so if you don’t want to see any spoilers, this is your chance to jump ship!
Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie from here on out. Also beware of spoilers for several Super Mario games, and the first Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was really about two families – neither of which were Mario’s! Bowser and Bowser Jr., on one side of the film, got a storyline about a deadbeat dad’s reconciliation with a son who adores him. And on the other, Peach yearned to discover her true origin – something she talked to Mario about in the first film – and belatedly discovered Rosalina, her long-lost sister. These stories weren’t symmetrical, but I liked the way that they rhymed, and how both Peach and Bowser Jr. kind of started out with similar motivations.
I love a good villian, so let’s start with Bowser.
The decision to have the pitch of Jack Black’s voice altered for basically half of the film was… well, not my favourite, to be honest. It was one of those things where, when you first hear it, it sounds hilarious; like hearing a friend who’s just inhaled a helium balloon. But for that to take up so much of his performance… I don’t think it landed as well as it should’ve. With Jack Black usually being such a commanding presence in any role, messing with his voice so much didn’t really work. I get where it came from, but for me, Bowser’s best moments came *after* he regrew to normal size and got his voice back.
Sticking with Bowser, a story about being true to oneself is a good one for a kids’ film. But to frame that story through a villainous lens isn’t necessarily a choice I’d have made. Bowser, though clearly still struggling with his evil side, had made clear and demonstrable progress since the events of the first film, and even seemed to be ready to overcome all of that in a moment of self-sacrifice, willingly going to prison so that Mario, Luigi, and Toad could go free. That’s character growth.
So to take that and then toss it aside so that Bowser could be his “true self”… it sends a bit of a weird message to the film’s intended younger audience, doesn’t it? It’s either saying “rehabilitation doesn’t work; evil people will be evil forever,” or it’s saying “it’s okay to be a bad person if that’s who you are, just be yourself.” I don’t like either of those messages *in a film for kids*, and while I agree with the sentiments that “Bowser should be Bowser,” and that a Mario movie wouldn’t work with Bowser being a reformed ally… it does make me wonder why the writers and producers inserted any of that rehabilitation stuff at all. Was it just to be able to pull a twist later on? Was it to make Bowser’s supposed death hit harder? I don’t know… but I don’t think those justifications are enough, I’m afraid.
That being said, Bowser Jr. made for a strangely relatable character. A kid who just wants to see his father again, who’s willing to do anything to get him back, and who’s taken his father’s lessons to heart – evil though those lessons may have been – is a character I can empathise with to an extent. And far from being a one-dimensional “I’m evil for no reason, mwahaha!” type of villain, it gave both Bowser Jr. and his dad a bit more depth. I don’t think kids’ films should be granted an exception for weak writing, worldbuilding, or character motivations – not in most cases, anyway – so to see Bowser Jr. given a backstory that led directly into his scheme, and a plan to reunite with his dad that I could understand and that made sense? I liked it.
On the other side of things, we have Peach and Rosalina.
For the culmination of Peach’s single biggest desire across both films, my only criticism of the Rosalina connection would be that it felt a bit hollow to just have Peach learn about it from a book, rather than having another character – like one of the Lumas – explaining it to her. It was also, perhaps, a tiny bit rushed; Peach’s memory of being sent away seemed to come rushing back to her very quickly as she read from Rosalina’s storybook.
But the sibling connection worked really well. I genuinely couldn’t remember if, in the *very* loose “lore” of the Super Mario games, Rosalina and Peach were already siblings, or otherwise related, but I think the connection works really well in the film. The way it’s set up, with Rosalina as the older sibling, having to send her younger sister away for safety… it made for a decently emotional setup for both of their arcs. I’d have liked to have spent a little more time with Rosalina, and especially with Peach and Rosalina after their reunion, but maybe that’s something we’ll see more of in the inevitable sequel.
One thing I strongly complimented 2023’s Super Mario Bros. Movie for was how it moved away from the tired, played-out (and arguably pretty sexist) “save the damsel in distress” trope. And while The Super Mario Galaxy Movie gets some credit for making Peach the main character invested in saving her sister… the setup, with Rosalina being kidnapped, still felt just a little bit regressive. And certainly less original than the previous instalment’s quest to save Luigi.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t have a lot of close family left, and because I live far enough away from my remaining close relative that I don’t see them as often as I’d like, but both of these storylines – Peach’s quest to help her sister and Bowser Jr.’s mission to save his dad – resonated with me, and I think they hit more of those emotional beats than I’d have expected when I sat down to watch the film. I don’t think The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a tear-jerker by any stretch, but there are moments between both pairs of characters that hit me quite hard.
Mario’s storyline, such as it was, was definitely less important this time around. His “should I ask out Peach?” mini-arc didn’t really go anywhere, and didn’t get enough time in the spotlight to really build up much dramatic tension. It wasn’t bad, and it gave the character something to do beyond just chasing after Peach and Bowser. But in a film that had its main focus elsewhere, Mario’s hesitancy to ask out Peach, and his self-doubt about his “worthiness” to date a princess just… didn’t do much for me, I guess.
There was potential in Mario and Luigi losing control of the Mushroom Kingdom, perhaps coming to realise that Peach’s job was harder than they realised. But that idea, when it was hinted at at all, likewise didn’t really get much time to shine. Nor did the fact that, on their watch, Peach’s castle was obliterated. In fact, I wish the film had made a tiny bit more of that – either through Mario confessing to Peach what had happened, or through an extended rebuilding sequence at the end. This is, after all, Peach’s home and the seat of authority in her kingdom. She left Mario in charge, yet didn’t so much as bat an eye when he showed up to help. And Mario and Luigi didn’t even have one moment of conflict or anxiety about how to explain to Peach what had happened.
Okay, let’s talk cameos! I don’t think I noticed everything, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie might be a ton of fun to revisit just to catch more of these little easter eggs that Illumination and Nintendo slipped in! But I loved seeing things like the Nintendo 64 logo in the “seedy underworld” part of the galactic spaceport. Birdo made for a fun mini-villain at one point. R.O.B. (the annoyingly slow information kiosk robot) was a cute callback to the Nintendo product of the same name from the 1980s, Bowser Jr.’s weapon looked like a SNES Super Scope, and there were plenty of others, too. Some of these were deep cuts to a single game – Luigi’s frog suit, for instance, or the Tostarena Kingdom from the beginning of the film. And others were more directly connected to the Mario Galaxy titles, like the Lumas, the star bits, the star cannons, and so on. The baby characters – a callback to Yoshi’s Island – were cute, too.
Then we have Star Fox! I loved Star Fox on the SNES; it was one of the games that really made me fall in love with that kind of space-shooter. It was a real treat to see Fox McCloud in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie… but I agree with what a lot of other commentators and critics have said: spoiling that reveal ahead of time, in the film’s own marketing material, was a bit of an own goal.
That being said, I loved the way Fox was presented in this story – a kind of Han Solo-esque rogue with a heart of gold. Fox didn’t get a ton of time in the spotlight, but his moments were some of my favourites in the film. And the sequence of him piloting his ship, blasting his laser cannons and taking down Bowser Jr.? That was genuinely a lot of fun – and a sequence, which, quite frankly, eclipses many comparable sequences in “serious” sci-fi films! It was genuinely that good.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a hard act to follow. And I felt some absences this time around: there’s no Donkey Kong, for instance, despite D.K. returning for his first 3D adventure in decades on the Switch 2 just last year. The first film’s Mario Kart sequence is still one of my favourites, and it’s a shame there wasn’t more of that this time around. And, as mentioned, the lack of a big musical number, while not something every animated film *needs*, felt a bit odd in light of what we got last time.
With all that being said, I enjoyed my time with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It met my expectations in many ways, exceeded them in a few, and didn’t really let me down at all. It’s unlikely to be a film I revisit a lot; I’m just not *that* big of a Nintendo fan, especially at the moment. But I’m glad to have seen it, I certainly enjoyed my time with it, and it’s the kind of happy, bright, kid-friendly adventure that I think we all need to see, sometimes.
So that’s all for today. If you missed my review of The Super Mario Bros. Movie back in 2023, you can check that out by clicking or tapping here. And I have quite a few articles about the venerable Mario Kart series – click or tap here for more on that! I still don’t own a Nintendo Switch 2, so I’m afraid reviews of any potential upcoming Mario titles will have to wait! But I’m sure I’ll have more to say about Nintendo – and the wider video games industry – before too long, so be sure to check in from time to time if you’ve enjoyed my take. Thanks for reading… and let’s-a go!
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is available to stream now and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray later in the year. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the copyright of Nintendo and Illumination. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 