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| Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi are ready for whatever the galaxy throws at them in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. |
By Jon Scarr
The Super Mario Galaxy games hold a specific place in this franchise for me. When the original came out on the Wii in 2007, it felt like Nintendo had figured out something no one else had. The game put Mario on small planets with their own gravity, running upside-down across floating rocks while the camera swung around to follow him. My son, who shares his name with gaming's most famous plumber, has grown up hearing me talk about those games. That's the context I brought into the theatre for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
The follow-up to 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn't play it safe. This one takes Mario and his crew into space, introduces a handful of new characters, and moves at a breakneck pace across dozens of locations pulled from decades of Nintendo games. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel all return, and they've clearly decided that bigger is the direction they want to go.
I came out of it with a big smile on my face. It's not a flawless film, and I'll get into the places where it doesn't fully come together. But for a lifelong Nintendo fan, this one hits.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Details
Release Date: April 1, 2026
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
Rating: PG
Directors: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
Writer: Matthew Fogel
Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, and Brie Larson
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Note: This review is spoiler-free.
A Family on a Collision Course Across the Galaxy
The first film left Bowser miniaturized and locked up in Peach's castle. His son, Bowser Jr., has grown up in his father's shadow and wants nothing more than to restore the Bowser family name. He breaks out of boarding school, kidnaps the intergalactic guardian Rosalina, and sets a plan in motion to build a weapon powerful enough to free his father and take over the galaxy. When news reaches the Mushroom Kingdom on the night of Peach's birthday, she and Toad set out across the cosmos to find Rosalina. That leaves Mario, Luigi, and their new friend Yoshi to mind the kingdom until things go sideways, stranding them on a distant planet alongside a very small, very reluctant Bowser.
The story's central theme is family, and the film makes that clear without hammering it too hard. Bowser Jr.'s motivation isn't world domination for its own sake. He wants his father's attention, and that's a simple emotional hook that works. His relationship with Bowser gives the film something it genuinely needs: a thread with real stakes underneath everything happening on screen.
The story does take on a lot. Rosalina's connection to Peach adds a genuinely interesting layer to the film's mythology, even if the rescue mission ends up driving events more than she does. Yoshi's introduction is one of the best moments in the movie, and while he's more of a companion than a driving force from there, every scene he's in is better for having him. Fox McCloud, the ace pilot from Nintendo's Star Fox franchise voiced by a perfectly cast Glen Powell, shows up with tremendous energy, and you'll wish there was more of him. The film plants seeds with several of these characters that are clearly building toward something bigger down the road, and that's probably the right way to read them.
What the story does well is keep moving. There's no stretch of this film that drags. The planet-hopping structure borrowed from the Galaxy games makes it easy to jump between locations without much setup, and the result is a movie that never stops putting something new in front of you.
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| Bowser Jr. has a plan, and Kamek is along for the ride. The real motivation behind the chaos is something a little more personal. |
Big, Fast, and Aware of Both
Horvath and Jelenic approach this sequel with a surer hand than the first film. They know the audience already understands who these characters are, so they don't waste time re-establishing the rules. Scenes move faster, the comedy hits harder, and the action is easier to follow because the directors have a clearer sense of where they want your eye to go.
The montage sequences that turn Mario and Luigi's everyday heroics into gameplay footage are genuinely funny. The film makes clever use of the visual language of the games without reducing itself to one long Easter egg hunt. References are everywhere, but most of them are built into what's happening on screen rather than just dropped in for recognition. R.O.B. (the boxy robot accessory Nintendo released for the NES back in 1985) turns up as a painfully slow help desk attendant at the Gateway Galaxy, and the joke works whether you know the character's history or not. That's the level the writing is operating at for most of the runtime.
The pacing is aggressive. That works in the film's favour for most of its 98 minutes, but it also means quieter character moments get crowded out. Some scenes that should carry real emotion get cut short before they can register. The film gives those scenes enough room to breathe, and they're better for it.
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| Wart is exactly as shifty as he looks. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie wastes no time establishing who the power players are. |
A Cast That Makes This World Bigger
Chris Pratt sounds noticeably more comfortable in the role this time around. His Mario is warmer and less self-conscious than in the first film, and you stop thinking about the casting within the first few minutes. Charlie Day's Luigi is the other side of that coin. He's anxious, optimistic, and completely sincere, and Day brings a genuine warmth to the character that makes their brotherhood easy to root for.
Benny Safdie is the best thing in this movie. Bowser Jr. could have been a one-note brat, and instead Safdie gives him a vulnerability that makes him genuinely interesting. The character wants his dad's approval and doesn't know how to ask for it, so he keeps escalating. That's a real character with a real problem, and Safdie plays both the comedy and the sadness of it without tipping too far in either direction.
Jack Black's Bowser is different this time, and in a way that works. He's still dangerous, but he's also trying to be better, and Black finds real humour in watching someone with a volcanic temper attempt to reflect and reform. The forced proximity between Bowser and Luigi is one of the funnier threads in the film, and Black and Day make it work without either of them overselling it.
Donald Glover's Yoshi is an absolute joy. The character barely speaks, but Glover gives him so much personality through tone and sound alone that you forget dialogue was ever an option. Brie Larson brings real presence to Rosalina, which makes it more frustrating that the script doesn't give her more to do. Glen Powell as Fox McCloud is exactly the right choice for the role, even if the role itself is too small. Issa Rae and Luis Guzmán make strong impressions in limited time.
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| The core crew together before everything goes sideways. The cast chemistry is one of the film's biggest strengths. |
Space Has Never Looked More Nintendo
The animation in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the best this franchise has put on screen. The production team designed a version of outer space that runs warm and bright, full of colour, nebulae, and star fields that look like they belong in the same universe as the Mushroom Kingdom. It's a specific artistic decision, and it pays off. Every new planet looks distinct, and the visual variety keeps things from ever looking repetitive despite the relentless pace.
The action sequences are well-staged throughout. You can follow what's happening, who's in danger, and what the stakes are, even when the screen is full of characters and effects. That clarity matters more than it gets credit for in a film operating at this scale.
Brian Tyler's score is the other major win. He's woven references to more than 300 pieces from across the Super Mario game series into something that doesn't rely on licensed pop needle-drops the way the first film occasionally did. The music shifts to nod toward different games as the locations change, and longtime Nintendo fans will catch things casual viewers won't notice at all. It all feels purposeful.
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| The space environments in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie run warm and bright rather than cold and dark. It's a deliberate choice and it pays off. |
Final Thoughts on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The story is thinner than it could be, and I won't pretend otherwise. But the film never loses sight of what the Super Mario franchise has always been about: the joy of moving through a world that is endlessly inventive and genuinely fun to be in.
The Bowser Jr. arc alone is worth the price of admission. The visuals are the best Nintendo has ever put on a movie screen. The score treats this world with real respect. As a lifelong Nintendo fan who named his son after gaming's most famous plumber, I sat in that theatre watching the Mushroom Kingdom launch into outer space, watching Bowser Jr. try to figure out how to earn his father's respect while his father tries to figure out how to deserve his son's, watching Yoshi eat everything in sight while the galaxy lit up around him. I was completely there for all of it.
If you have any connection to these games, you're going to have a great time. If you're bringing kids, they're going to have an even better one.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review Summary
Liked
+ Benny Safdie's Bowser Jr. is the emotional core the film needed
+ Donald Glover's Yoshi steals every scene he's in
+ Space environments designed warm and bright rather than cold and dark
+ Brian Tyler's score weaves 300-plus Nintendo references without a single pop needle-drop
+ Bowser's attempted redemption gives Jack Black something more interesting to work with
+ The action is well-staged and easy to follow throughout
Didn't Like
– Larson brings real presence to Rosalina, but the character deserves more screen time than she gets
– Glen Powell is a great fit for Fox McCloud and you'll want more of him than the film gives you
– The pace is relentless enough that a few emotional moments don't get the room they need
– The story takes on a lot and not every new character gets a full arc
Overall Rating of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
About the author
You’ve somehow made me even more anxious to see this! Also, I love that you named your son after Mario! ⭐️
ReplyDeleteCan’t wait to see it Saturday and then I’ll come back and read more than the first paragraph lol. Love the connection you brought into it with your Son. My oldest is really getting into Mario and loves Yoshi at the moment.
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