There’s a moment partway through the first act of the new, highly anticipated Nintendo film, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, that perfectly captures the film as a whole. It sees the movie square off against a cinematic challenge as old as the medium itself: how do you make conveying information to both a character and the audience interesting?
This moment comes when Princess Peach leaves a handwritten note for Mario. We see her write it, then there’s a hard cut to someone delivering it to him. Mario opens the note, and you’d think there are plenty of creative ways to present what it says.
They could simply show the note in close-up and let us read it. They could pair that with a voiceover from Peach. They could cut between the note and Mario’s reaction. Instead, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie chooses the worst possible option: all of them at once. The note appears on screen, Peach reads it in voiceover, and, just to make sure absolutely nothing is missed, a superimposed image of Peach pops up beside it. It’s excessive to the point of absurdity.
That approach defines the entire film. It constantly over-explains, over-presents, and underestimates its audience, leaving you questioning your own patience for a full hour and a half. Some will argue it’s “just a kids’ movie,” but that doesn’t excuse lazy storytelling. If anything, it’s proof that younger audiences deserve far better than this.
TRAILER
TOP FIVE OF “THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE”
5. What Even is This Story
Movies should generally have a story, one way or another. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie makes the bold, if not particularly admirable, choice to abandon that idea almost entirely, opting instead to string together a series of disconnected scenes. The result is exactly as Frankenstein-esque as it sounds: a narrative that lurches forward awkwardly while falling apart in real time.
Something will happen in the film, and as an attentive viewer, you might think, “Alright, I’m curious to see how this plays out.” Unfortunately, the movie has no interest in answering that question because nothing actually leads anywhere. There are no real consequences, no follow-through. Nearly every scene feels like its own isolated setup with zero payoff.
That approach makes for a frustrating viewing experience where nothing truly connects or carries weight. Events don’t build on each other, and character actions rarely matter beyond the moment they happen. Instead of a cohesive story, the film feels like a collection of loosely tied ideas stitched together without care.
At times, it almost plays like a streaming series with the credits stripped out and presented as one long feature. The constant lack of progression turns what should be an engaging adventure into something disjointed and, ultimately, exhausting.
4. The All-Star Cast is Hit and Miss
There’s an incredible amount of talent involved in this film, especially within the voice cast. You could easily build multiple great movies from a lineup like this, yet The Super Mario Galaxy Movie somehow sidelines all of it, reducing a stacked cast to wasted potential. Even more surprisingly, for large portions of the film, there’s barely any chemistry between the characters.
It likely doesn’t help that much of the cast probably recorded their lines in isolation, but the disconnect is hard to ignore. There’s something unintentionally hilarious about a completely checked-out Chris Pratt and a noticeably disengaged Anya Taylor-Joy trying to force playful banter as Mario and Peach. Instead of charming, their interactions feel awkward, like romance dragged across sandpaper.
That said, a few performances do shine through. Donald Glover sounds like he’s having genuine fun, bringing Yoshi to life with quirky, energetic charm. Glen Powell also stands out, bringing much-needed charisma to his role as Star Fox.
Still, when even someone as naturally entertaining as Jack Black comes across as underwhelming, it says far more about the film than the actors themselves. The issue isn’t the talent, it’s how little the movie does with it.
3. Overstuffed and Underbaked
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, much like its predecessor from a few years ago, seems to operate under the belief that the best way to adapt these iconic games is to throw as much as possible at the wall and hope something sticks. The result is a wildly uneven mashup of elements pulled from across the franchise, packed with characters, settings, and events that the film never takes the time to properly develop.
For an adaptation like this to work, audiences need to understand what’s happening, why it’s happening, and how it impacts the characters. Instead, the film leans heavily on recognition, assuming that familiar faces and references will carry the experience. It’s a strategy that quickly wears thin.
Rather than building a compelling story, the movie cycles through moments that feel more like checklists than meaningful scenes. There’s little emotional investment, and almost no effort to make this version of the world or its characters feel grounded or earned.
If this approach continues, these films won’t hold up over time. Without giving audiences a reason to care, the spectacle loses its value. At its worst, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie feels less like a film and more like a feature-length Easter egg compilation, doubling as an extended advertisement that doesn’t even fully succeed at that.
2. These Are Not Real Characters
There are around a dozen primary characters in this movie, and not a single one of them has anything resembling a real arc. The clearest example of this mishandling comes with Bowser. Once the main antagonist, he begins this film in captivity, held by the heroes. Eventually, circumstances pull him into an adventure alongside Mario and the crew, and for a brief moment, the movie teases a rushed redemption arc.
Then, almost immediately, it throws that idea away.
In the very next scene, Bowser Jr. shows up, retrieves his father, and just like that, Bowser snaps right back into being evil. No internal conflict, no transition, no explanation. It’s such a jarring reversal that it makes the entire redemption thread feel pointless.
Why spend time setting up that shift if you’re going to undo it minutes later without any payoff? It doesn’t just feel rushed, it feels completely disconnected from any larger plan.
That moment perfectly captures how the film treats its characters overall. They aren’t written as people with growth or consistency, but as pieces on a board, shuffled around to serve whatever a scene requires. Personality, motivation, and development all take a backseat to convenience.
In the end, the characters don’t evolve or react in meaningful ways. They simply exist from moment to moment, reshaped as needed, leaving the entire story feeling hollow and directionless.
1. The Entire Final Act
Look, I found most of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie frustrating and pointless, but the final act is where things truly fall apart. It dives headfirst into a barrage of random references and self-indulgent chaos, stacking one incoherent moment on top of another. Instead of building toward a meaningful conclusion, it becomes a whirlwind of noise that isn’t grounded in story, character, or theme. Trying to follow it feels less like watching a movie and more like chasing loose sparks in the dark.
What makes it worse is how little of it feels earned. The film abandons any sense of structure, replacing it with a rapid-fire sequence of events that seem to exist purely for recognition rather than narrative purpose. It’s overwhelming in the most hollow way possible.
Then comes the ending, if you can even call it that. After a clunky and overcrowded final battle, the movie simply stops. No real resolution, no character wrap-up, just a sudden cut to credits. It feels less like a conclusion and more like the film ran out of time.
The post-credit scenes tease more to come, but instead of excitement, they land like a warning. As a whole, the ending cements the film as a frustrating misfire and a surprisingly low bar for blockbuster storytelling.
RGM GRADE
(D-)
The animation looks great, and it’s clear a lot of time and effort went into it, but is it really too much to ask for a semi-coherent story and characters that actually feel like characters? Kids deserve entertainment that doesn’t just cater to the lowest common denominator, but actually engages them as people.
There are plenty of animated films that manage to do both, which only makes the Mario movies stand out more for the wrong reasons. Beneath the polished visuals, this one feels brash, overwhelming, and, at times, almost insulting in how little it asks of its audience.
Discover more from RGM
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
