A scene from ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie review: Fun comes at a cost

‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ pays the price for expanding its universe, adding characters and boosting the nostalgia.

One form of creativity can always inspire another. Thus, adaptations from the written word to moving pictures and vice versa is commonplace. Similarly, from the early stages, the best video games understood the value of a story. It often points to an end goal that players can aspire to achieve. It didn’t take long for these 8-bit characters to be reimagined on the big screen. The larger format and fewer constraints could give it personality and expand the story world. Yet, Nintendo was hesitant to dip their toe back into the movie pool after the 1990s live action adventure. But now their biggest star has his first sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

After saving the world and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) from Bowser (Jack Black), brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) returned to plumbing. However, their latest call delivers a surprise: they find a Yoshi (Donald Glover) clogging the pipes. The plumbers and their new insatiable friend become instantly inseparable. In the meantime, Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) is determined to rescue his father from his small castle prison. Unfortunately, part of his plan includes kidnapping Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson), adoptive mother to a spirited group of tiny stars. When a Luma asks Peach for help, she and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) set off on a rescue mission, leaving Mario and the others to retrace her steps and catch up later.

This film includes even more throwbacks to the Super Mario games than the first movie. They range from well-placed sound effects to full screen recreations of specific game scenes. An early nod to the past comes in the form of a familiar tune from the games’ more perilous levels when Mario and Luigi enter a potentially dangerous place. There’s also a funny application of the old school world map, marking his victories with a flag.

In addition, this picture incorporates many classic power-ups and villains. The specials range from the recognizable cape feather and fire flower to more recent cloud and drill forms. Many of the villains populate a secret underworld casino, though others make more prominent appearances, including Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Pokeys and Thwomps. There’s even a strange homage to Mario Paint.

Unfortunately, the film’s heavy-handed efforts to create all these wonderfully nostalgic moments is at the expense of the narrative. The film is fun at times, but it’s also boring. The story continually loses steam in between all the entertaining elements — especially those that focus on the plumbers’ dialogue. Toad and Bowser remain the film’s comedic drivers, but they can only do so much. Even the action scenes suffer as Peach’s battle with an onslaught of Ninjis becomes tedious.

The characters are flat and the follow-up fails to continue developing their personalities. Bowser is still compelling — his diabolical bedtime puppet show is particularly amusing — but his fickle rehabilitation is tiresome. Similarly, Yoshi is a cute addition to the cast, but he often just exists in the scene rather than contribute to it. They do not even put his abilities to good use.

Yet, this film suggests Nintendo is hoping to expand its cinematic universe with the introduction of a foxy flyboy, fittingly voiced by Glen Powell who takes to the skies again. But this picture is not a good predictor for the gaming company’s future on the big screen, unless they learn from their mistakes.

There are mid- and post-credit scenes. But the best thing that could come out of this film is a talking collectible of the adorably nihilistic blue Luma, repeating her bleak monologue. The contrast of such a dark speech about the inevitability of death coming from a cute little star is hilarious.

Directors: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic and Pierre Leduc
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Pratt and Jack Black

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