“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” isn’t so much a movie as it is a Super Pop Culture Phenomenon.
It began as a wildly popular Nintendo arcade game released in 1983 and is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential video games of all time.
The game quickly evolved into a successful multimedia franchise that included a television series, a Japanese anime feature film, a live action feature film and an animated feature film. That film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023), was a massive success, grossing over $1.36 billion worldwide. It was the third highest-grossing animated film ever.
Critics didn’t love it, but audiences did. It turned out to be the second biggest film of 2023, just behind “Barbie.”
That’s quite a feat for a couple of vertically challenged, computer-generated Italian plumbers from Brooklyn. Besides their charming personalities and never-say-die attitude, they benefited from a bouncy script and dazzling, colorful animation. The Mushroom Kingdom where much of the story takes place is a perpetually perfect spring day of a world, so joyfully inviting that it makes you want to step through the movie screen and never return.
It’s also an Alice in Wonderland alternate reality — a surreal, psychedelic extension of the primitive, arcade screen world where it all began. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was a storybook tale of two mustached mini-heroes (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day), a beautiful Princess (Anya Taylor-Joy) and a scary villain (Jack Black). The tale, as old as time, involved heroes defeating a villain in order to save a princess. What it lacked in originality, it more than made up for in terms of laughter and fun. Fans loved it.
But then came the age-old, show business question, “Yeah, but what are you going to do for an encore?” In Hollywood, the answer is: make a sequel. The challenge is to create one that can somehow raise the bar and lure audiences back. It’s a difficult but not impossible task. The “Toy Story” movies are a great example.
In this case, raising the stakes involved taking the story to new heights, which is to say, into the galaxy, a popular and lucrative destination thanks to the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise and recent space-based, sci-fi flicks.
Though the sequel goes big on an expanded setting, it is careful to retain the beloved main characters that made the original successful — the brothers Mario and Luigi, Princess Peach and the terrifying turtle villain, Bowser. New characters and voices include Princess Peach’s sister Rosalina (Brie Larson), Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) and Fox McCloud (Glen Powell). Sorely absent from the cast is Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen), one of the major characters in the original film. He is sadly missed.
In an obvious attempt to double up on the drama, the sequel involves not one, but two princesses who are sisters. Both must be saved. Likewise, there are two villains, Bowser and his long-lost son, Bowser Jr., who must both be defeated. While the multiplication of damsels and demons adds some complexity and depth to the storyline, it’s a question of whether it succeeds in making the sequel twice as funny. Short answer: it doesn’t.
To its credit, the sequel delivers on all the visual splash of the original film. Fans will not be disappointed with that. What’s different is the noticeably cranked up pace of the action. It may be an attempt to compensate for the bare bones’ simplicity of the save-the-princess plot, but it plays as though the audience is presumed to have attention span issues. By comparison, the original film seemed to get it right.
Watch: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | Official Trailer
As with many sequels, this is not a stand-alone film. Walking in cold, to paraphrase Rod Serling’s famous “Twilight Zone” intro, might be like stepping into another dimension. It’s a strange world. The only familiar signposts might be the occasional tongue-in-cheek references to movies like “Jurassic Park” (1993), “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (2001) or “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (2024).
Curiously, part of the story is set in a neon, anti-gravitational gambling casino, a strange choice for a movie whose target audience includes young children. It’s uncertain whether it’s intended to be anything more than just another flashy neon environment or whether it’s some deceptive promotion glamorizing legalized gambling.
One thing for certain is that “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” despite some omissions, shortcomings and stylistic changes, is going to make money, as evidenced in its strong opening weekend. As Mario himself might say, “Mama Mia, it’s a-gonna make a lotta money.”
Drew’s Take:
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is on a course to reach new heights at the box office, surpassing the $1.36 billion success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in 2023.
Be First to Comment