The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

 

I really enjoyed the first Super Mario movie, so of course I was looking forward to seeing The Super Mario Galaxy movie. I also think the Mario Galaxy games are some of the better Mario games, especially in the 3D category of Mario games. Thus, I was excited to see the theme of that game featured in this movie. Like most sequels, however, this movie was OK, but not as good as the original Mario movie (not the one from 1993).

I really enjoyed the throwback references to prior Mario games, especially Mario 2. Seeing Birdo and the rest of the villains from that game at the casino was amusing. I never played the Star Fox games, and thus his appearance in the movie didn't do much for me. I fired up Star Fox 64 and played the first stage. It aged as well as most games from the 64 era, meaning it was quite blocky. The characters were like bobbleheads when they talked, which was distracting. I didn't make it past the first stage. To be fair, I've never been a big fan of flying games.

Anyway, back to the movie. The other thing I appreciated was the scene towards the end of the movie when they were attacking Bowser's base. Mario and Peach are running down a pathway with rotating fireball objects in their pathway, just like in the NES-era 2D side-scrolling Mario games. It was really neat to see. Going back to Mario Galaxy, it was fun to see Rosalina (Brie Larson) and elements from that game in the movie as well. Just hearing Charlie Day's voice (Luigi) is amusing. The music in the movie was cool too. 

All of the nostalgia aside, the plot of the movie was just OK. Having Bowser (Jack Black) as baby bowser for most of the movie was a bold choice, and I don't think Bowser Jr. holds the prestige of a main villain the way Bowser himself does. Additionally, there were no ridiculous Jack Black songs in this movie to recreate the amazing "Peaches" song from the first movie. Overall, this movie is worth watching if you're a Mario fan and/or if you have kids. It's enjoyable, but doesn't quite pull off the same level of greatness as the original 2023 movie.