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It’s amazing to think that even 10 years ago a hit Super Mario Bros film would have seemed like an improbable idea. Even setting aside the debacle that was the moustachioed plumber’s live action 1993 outing, the truism was that videogame movies were never going to be embraced by mainstream cinemagoers. But now, after just a single film, the Mario franchise is one of the most bankable in modern cinema. The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) is the ninth highest grossing movie of the decade. This sequel is as surefire as hits get.
Clearly advances in animation are key to this. But also it’s just the case that filmmakers have absolutely nailed the tone of This Sort Of Thing. It was The Lego Movie that paved the way for Mario (and Sonic, and Minecraft), proving that any IP can be a hit so long as it looks nice and you freight it with meta humour, celebrity voices and easter eggs for the nerds.
And The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is another fine example of This Sort Of Thing. It just about has a plot, although it’s the same as the first film: faintly inexplicable warrior plumber siblings Mario and Luigi (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) must save the princess from Bowser. Okay, it’s a different princess to the first film (Brie Larson’s Rosalina). And also a different Bowser (Benny Safdie’s Bowser Jr). But the point is the story is negligible – the brothers plus various eccentric hangers-on traverse a galaxy composed of small, weird planets in an effort to rescue the abducted royal.
But The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is, nonetheless, largely delightful. Directed again by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, it’s not as unhinged as their magnum opus TV series Teen Titans Go!, but it has the same breezily silly humour and a palpable love of the worlds and characters they’re depicting.
It’s not deep but it’s made with love and it hits the spot
And it’s certainly not just a big video game commercial. For starters, it’s substantially based upon the Super Mario Galaxy series, the last of which came out 16 years ago. It’s full of often gratifyingly bizarre deep cuts, including an entertaining supporting role for Star Fox (voiced by Glenn Powell), eponymous protagonist of an obscure ’90s Nintendo series that has nothing to do with Mario whatsoever. There are clever references to everything from the original Mario Bros game to the oddball Paper Mario series. The 3D renderings of cutesy 2D villains are incredibly winning: there’s a lovely scene where Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) wanders into a Blade Runner-esque bar full of adorable monstrosities.
The starry voice cast put in a good shift, none more so than Donald Glover, whose puppyish dinosaur Yoshi can only say increasingly fruity variations of his own name. Jack Black is a hoot as a now heavily therapised Bowser. They all seem to be having fun. And why wouldn’t they? It is fun!
Was there a great new story about Mario that simply had to be told here? No, there was not. But Mario didn’t become the most beloved games character of all time because of the intricate plotting. Vivid worlds, memorable characters, silly laughs: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is not deep but it’s made with love and it hits the spot.
In cinemas worldwide Wed April 1.