Good news first: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is better than the first one. The bad news is that it's not much of an improvement, and nearly every problem that plagued the original still exists in the sequel.
If you enjoyed the first one, chances are you'll enjoy the second outing as well. They are, after all, essentially the same movie.
As a franchise, Super Mario is a fascinating one. Over the past forty years, the Italian plumber has been everything and anything. He is an immensely malleable force that fits into sports games as easily as narrative-heavy role-playing titles. Even if you don't like a certain instalment, chances are there's a dozen others you'll love.
But all Mario titles share something in common: Each one brings something new to the table. Whether that's a new mechanic or an odd experiment that someone at Nintendo wanted to play around with, every game is a showcase of the near limitless inventiveness that springs from the house Shigeru Miyamoto helped build.
That imagination does not extend to the Mario movies, which, while produced in part by Miyamoto, are the work of the American production house Illumination, the studio best known for the Minions films.
The juxtaposition between materials is hard to reconcile. While the characters are instantly recognizable visually, Illumination's cacophonous style always goes for the obvious and tired gags that make Nintendo's imaginative material feel limited and restrained. Compare any of this to Wreck-It Ralph, Disney's triumphant love letter to old-school games, and they're not even in the same ballpark.
Illumination has a very small bag of tricks, and they will use them regardless of whether the scene calls for it. Every bit ends with either someone screaming or getting hit, preferably both. Sight gags hinge entirely on brand recognition, not cleverness. Illumination knows that parents recognize, even vaguely, old Nintendo mascots. At the same time, the youngest children will laugh at the sight of Yoshi pooping out an enemy he just ate for the sixth time.
The first Mario movie grossed over 1.3 billion dollars, so they're clearly doing something right. But for anyone who knows that Mario can be more than this, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an exercise in wasted potential.
The plot is barely there, and what little exists only serves to bridge flimsy scenes of chaos that have little relevance to the story. There's an entire subplot involving Peach and Toad traveling to a casino underworld that, if removed from the film, would change absolutely nothing about the story. It's there because the film needs to hit a certain runtime, and Illumination can fit in cameos from characters that don't behave like anything their game counterparts do.
It's such a shame, too, because Mario has a massive repertoire of fun and interesting stories in his long history. Super Mario RPG, for example, uses the same plot device of Mario and Bowser working together against a greater evil, and it's far more inventive than anything Illumination has crafted. Paper Mario features many of the same themes of found family, while Mario Galaxy, which serves as the major backbone of the film, is infinitely more charming and expansive than this mess.
Fans will say that all this is for kids, and as such, it's exempt from expectations like plot or coherence. But surely even kids deserve better than something this cynical and thoughtless? Is it really enough to just throw in a famous character and literally say, "Hi, I'm a famous character," and call it a day? Because that's the level of wit that the Super Mario Galaxy Movie can muster.
On a technical level, it's all as gorgeous as you'd expect from two studios with near-unlimited funding. The visuals look great, and on an IMAX screen, it's certainly pleasing to admire.
Voice acting is equally good for the most part, though it's a shame how little anyone gets to do here. Chris Pratt is still wholly forgettable, while Charlie Day remains an MVP. Jack Black has played himself in every film for the last decade, and he doesn't change gear here, either. In a surprise move, it's Glen Powell, who shows up in a bit part, who proves himself as sneakily the funniest and best bit of casting. I genuinely hope a more interesting studio gets to make his film in the future.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Brie Larson are the beating heart of the film, although it's criminal how little Larson, a massive Nintendo fan, who brings great warmth to the part of Rosalina, gets to do in the film.
Rosalina's absence highlights the biggest problem with Illumination's storytelling. In their haste to add everything into their sequel, they've cut out things like character and drama.
While Mario doesn't need to be a big, emotional spectacle, it doesn't even muster moments of poignancy or anything as heartfelt as, say, Ralph's "I'm not good, and that's not bad" speech.
Instead of building up brand new characters, Illumination simply relies on the fact that everyone knows who they are, or just doesn't care. Count how many lines Rosalina, a major character who serves as an important part of Peach's backstory, gets in the film. Then count how many of those are declaratives like, "Run!" "Don't!" or "Get away!" Chances are, you won't need all ten fingers for it.
But as said, Mario can be everything. Miyamoto's incredible franchise has stood the test of time for nearly half a century now. It already existed before I was born, and will probably exist well into my old age. These movies aren't for me. Others, hopefully made by different animation houses, will be in the future.
