The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Christian Movie Review)

Verdict: As with its video game source material, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is short on story and heavy on fun, leveling up the series with an even bigger adventure jam-packed with entertaining action and fun references to the game.

About the Film 

Everyone’s favorite mustached Italian plumber is back in action, and he’s bringing along some new and old friends from across the Mushroom Kingdom for an intergalactic adventure. Despite being largely panned by critics, The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) was a phenomenon, delighting family audiences on the way to earning nearly $1.4 billion worldwide. The highly anticipated sequel looks poised to keep the good times rolling. As with its video game source material, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is short on story and heavy on fun, leveling up the series with an even bigger adventure jam-packed with entertaining action and fun references to the game.  

Whenever there’s a significant gap between the critic and audience scores of a movie, there are people who frame it is as something sinister. The reality is simpler: there’s a difference a between a movie being “good” and one being “enjoyable.” Is The Super Mario Galaxy Movie “good”? Not necessarily, at least not as a sophisticated, thematically and emotionally deep work of cinema. But is it “enjoyable”? Absolutely! This movie is a blast! As a “movie critic,” I feel some responsibility to point out the obvious shortcomings in the story, but as a father of two young kids (and a guy who still knows every hidden block location in a 40+ year old video game), I’m willing to gift the film some extra 1UP mushrooms.   

In the video game series, Super Mario 2 is the oddball, with its unusual development path resulting in a shockingly bold and radical departure from the popular original game. As the second entry in the movie franchise, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie pays homage to that game in plenty of fun ways, but it mostly charts the opposite path. It’s doesn’t really offer audiences anything new; instead, it’s jam-packed with as many familiar elements and easter eggs as the 1h39m runtime can handle.   

If there is anything fresh to be found, it’s a vastly expanded scope filled with new worlds and locations. The film contains near endless references to the Super Mario games, but also to the wider Nintendo canon. Non-Mario characters like Star Fox and Pikmin are inevitably leading toward an Avengers-style cinematic event of a The Super Smash Bros. Movie. Step aside MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), we’re heading toward a NCU (Nintendo Cinematic Universe)!  

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was short on story, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie may be even more flimsy. Nintendo has spent four decades without venturing far beyond the “save the captured princess from Bowser” plot, focusing on fun levels and environments more than narrative, so perhaps this should be expected. Still, there’s a hollowness to the story. The main problem is not the simple narrative, but that, even more so than the first film, there is an almost total lack of relational dynamics or emotional connection between the characters.  

The only time the characters seem to interact is when they are fighting bad guys side by side. They help each other, but there is little sense that they need each other. Classic characters like Yoshi are introduced, but the film makes no attempt to build a connection with him and the other characters (or the audience). The most meaningful relational connection is between Princess Peach and the newly introduced Rosalina, but they hardly speak more than 10 words to each other the entire film. With it’s relentless pacing, the film repeatedly skips forward to the next action scene or video game callback, leaving the characters feeling merely like silent game avatars racing from level to level.  

Despite any semblance of character development, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie checks most of the other boxes of a satisfying family film. The movie is bursting with vibrant colors and gorgeous animation. It’s non-stop pacing is entertaining for young viewers, and its wholesome story and absence of any concerning content makes it winner for parents. As a father, I respect Pixar-like films for understanding that children can handle more than adults often give them credit for by wrestling with deeper thematic material. But sometimes I don’t want an animated film to walk my child through the five stages of grief, I just want it to divert their attention and make them smile. This film is no more or no less than pure, simple entertainment, and I’m good with that.

In the end, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is another crowd-pleaser, and arguably the most faithfully a video game has been adapted into a movie. Not only because of the iconic characters and endless easter egg references, but the film effectively translates the essence and experience of playing the video game onto the screen; the frenetic action, the joy of discovering quirky new worlds, and the comforting and escapist diverting entertainment. Simply put: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a lot fun, and for most family audiences, that’s all they want. 

Who You Are & Who You Choose to Be 

Let’s be honest, the main theme in this movie is that “The Super Mario games are awesome!” Beyond that, there is a thematic throughline of identity. Each of the main characters question who they really are. Peach is a beloved ruler but questions where she came from, and Mario balances his status as a hero with his identity as just an ordinary plumber. Surprisingly, it is arguably Bowser who gets the most interesting internal development. He has (begrudgingly) developed some friendly thoughts toward Mario and the other good guys, despite his villainous past. The arrival of his son, Bowser Jr., causes him to question whether he has been a good father for instilling the destructive tendencies in him  

The characters each navigate the question of identity in different ways, for good or bad. Bowser ultimately slides back into villainy, choosing to identify with where he came from rather than who he knows he should be in the present. But thankfully, Mario, Peach, and the others come to realize that they are defined more by their choices than their pasts. They may not feel like a worthy ruler or a capable hero, but they can act as one by choosing to help each other.  

The film doesn’t offer many readymade spiritual applications, but the general message of choosing right over wrong, even when faced with outside pressure (or self-doubt), is a wholesome one that parents can talk through with their children.