Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the Mushroom Kingdom. (from IMDb)

In 2023, Illumination finally gave us a film that honored one of the best video game franchises ever conceived with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. I loved it. Every second of it. I even slapped a bold 5 stars on it. After a few rewatches, the dust settled some and I could see it just isn't quite that good. The biggest problem for me was that, it had a "soft" origin story for Mario. So he was anything but "Super." If anything, he was kind of a hapless hero who was frequently the butt of jokes and was easily shown up by the far more capable, no-longer-damsel-in-distress, Princess Peach. If anything, she was kind of the main hero when you think about it. Did she even really need Mario to help? And she seemed to largely approach him with that viewpoint.

But the fun of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was undoubtedly there. Jack Black brought the monstrous villain Bowser to life with humor and charm. Once he delivers his piano ballad ode to the princess, he pretty much had won the film. I don't know how The Super Mario Bros. Movie fares for those who don't know the Super Mario world because I literally grew up with the character, playing his games on the original NES. I'm a fan. So, really, The Super Mario Bros. Movie felt like an absolute gift. Also, c'mon... Illumination has been living up to their name in impressive ways. Since the success of Despicable Me and Minions, this studio has been delivering gorgeous animated features. I still marvel at the lighting in 2018's The Grinch (even if the music leaves a lot to be desired). Illumination is truly impressive. So when they announced a sequel to the mega-hit that was this Super Mario film, I was definitely on board. But once I heard it was named after the 2007 game Super Mario Galaxy, I was a little less excited. Also, the first trailer wasn't all that promising... but that doesn't mean I wasn't still looking forward to it.

Sure enough, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie delivers for fans. It's not perfect - hardly - but right out of the gate, Mario is no longer just a joke. He's officially a hero, alongside his brother Luigi. Another bummer of the first film is they had separated Mario and Luigi for most of the movie. Here, the two are together for a good chunk of the film and it's a nice treat. We also get the promised addition of Yoshi and some other new recognizable characters from the Super Mario universe. It's a delight for fans, truly. If you've been following the franchise since the start, then you'll see a lot of love and admiration poured into this film.

The cinematic universe expands, too, to include Rosalina from the Super Mario Galaxy game, along with her little stars. She, like Peach, is given an incredible amount of power, but the story does well to actually warrant the help of Mario and Luigi this time around. Bowser, who ended the first film shrunken to a tiny size, is also here and a bit of a wildcard for the story -- is he good now? or not? -- And it is a fun and amusing change-up for the story. Having Mario especially resistant to accepting a rehabilitated Bowser is fun, too.

Chris Pratt returns as Mario, along with Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as a slightly less obnoxious Toad, and added into the mix is Brie Larson as Rosalina, Benny Safdie as Bowser, Jr. and Glen Powell as... oh, I won't spoil that surprise. Nintendo buffs will absolutely cheer, though. While Pratt still seems like an odd choice for Mario, I'm used to it now and do enjoy his performance as the titular character. Day's voice seems perfect as Luigi, too. It's also nice to have Larson join the group as she ends up being a nice (and amusing given her most notable role as Captain Marvel) addition to the cast.

It's hard to talk about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie without giving away too much, but I liked how they handled the whole "Galaxy" angle. Sending our gang into space just seemed to make sense in the moment, and it works well for the story. It's also a total delight to have Yoshi in the mix now, as well. My biggest - and really only - problem with the movie, however, is the pacing. By the final act, the movie feels like it's on fast-forward. It's the next scene already before the last one fully had a chance to breathe. "Sensory overload" is the right way to describe it. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie again - and I really did have a smile on my face for much of the film - but it felt like just too much movie during the last act, and that's kind of unfortunate.

Content-wise, it's fair to earn a PG rating. There's a lot of action violence, but it's not graphic or overwhelming. The most "graphic" it ever gets is seeing the koopa turtles enter lava on a rollercoaster and emerge as "dry bones" versions. It's more so a cute gag than anything else. Another character sees a very similar fate later in the film and we then see them emerge from lava as a skeleton. Later, they're blown apart so we see their bones lying on the ground with just their decapitated skull talking. And later we see someone trying to reassemble them. There is no profanity or crude content; it's a pretty family-friendly action/adventure animated film. But those sensitive to "magic" in movies might not be too keen on Rosalina using magic or Bowser, Jr. creating creatures with a magical paintbrush. Granted, it's not occultic magic, but I just want to give a heads up for anyone sensitive to that kind of material. Lastly, some moments might be a little scary for younger viewers. Early on, Mario and Luigi enter a spooky cave where glowing eyes are lurking, but they end up meeting a friendly face. The aforementioned skeleton monster, and a big dragon beast in a following scene, might be a little much for the littler ones, too.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a blast. It's far from perfect, and really will be most appreciated by fans of the Super Mario franchise, but there's so much to like about, and enjoy, with this movie. It does get to be a bit too much by the film's end, but that aspect wasn't enough to completely ruin the experience for me. If you liked the first movie, you ought to love this one -- and you just may find some gripes you had about the first movie fixed this time around.

Side note: There is a post-credits scene that teases a new character for a potential follow-up film (Not Yoshi-level excitement, but diehard fans will recognize them. I actually did not, though).

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 4/5/26)