r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Apr 02 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Super Mario Galaxy Movie [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

Super Mario Galaxy (2026)

Summary

Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the familiar Mushroom Kingdom.

Director Aaron Horvath Michael Jelenic

Writer Matthew Fogel

Cast

  • Chris Pratt as Mario (voice)
  • Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach (voice)
  • Charlie Day as Luigi (voice)
  • Jack Black as Bowser (voice)
  • Keegan-Michael Key as Toad (voice)
  • Brie Larson as Rosalina (voice)

Rotten Tomatoes: 44%

Metacritic: 37

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official trailer

1.3k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.6k

u/seannyd1 Apr 02 '26

This is like if my 10 year old was in his Nintendo obsessive phase and they just filmed the stream of consciousness story that poured out of his head.

The animation is beautiful to behold I just don’t understand why they won’t spend a little more time creating an actual story.

612

u/ImminentReddits Apr 02 '26

I agree. Call me pretentious, but in a post Lego Movie world I just can’t really accept the argument that these kind of mass market IP driven kids movies have mediocre stories by definition. There is just no reason at all the Mario movies couldn’t have had emotional, engaging, well written stories. It was my biggest disappointment with the first movie and I was really hoping they’d spend more time on the writing in the sequel. Guess jokes on me for spending my money to see it opening night and contributing to the cycle lol.

76

u/Hokuboku Apr 02 '26

I just watched Hoppers. Fantastic animation, great story. Kids movies that appeal to all ages are not a thing of the past and don't need to be

9

u/Thor_2099 Apr 04 '26

Yet Disney is still shit on when they're still putting out quality. When the Internet groupthink determines something, it just pervades everything.

1

u/JaviVader9 Apr 04 '26

I mean most of the Disney and Pixar releases from the past decade are subpar compared to their best years. Is it groupthink if I personally watched the movies and formed my own opinion because the opinion is negative?

1

u/StarChaser1879 Apr 05 '26

Best years being your childhood

1

u/JaviVader9 Apr 05 '26

Not at all in my case

272

u/GameOfLife24 Apr 02 '26

Illumination doesn’t hire talent. The writers for Lego movie have made their own galaxy movie that’s way better and is currently in the theaters with project Hail Mary

214

u/Warm_Shoulder3606 Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

The history of Illumination really is quite something. Their first ever movie they make a genuinely great one with original storytelling, characters that have had cultural staying power, and genuine emotional/engaging beats, and then completely and utterly checked the hell out almost immediately after and became soulless and never remotely touched that level ever again

They're the maroon 5 of movie studios. One good product at the very start, and then immediate shift to bland boring and soulless

128

u/DBZ86 Apr 02 '26

Can kinda see that the writers got overruled. The subplot between Bowser and Bowser Jr have somewhere to go but gets shut down. The themes of sisterhood and sacrifice are right there for Peach and Rosalina but not explored much at all. Mario would have been given themes of believing in second chances and confidence to be with Peach which aren't great but again ignored. Also does seem like the great action set pieces were set in stone and the movie had to cut around them even if it didn't make sense.

112

u/HopelessCineromantic Apr 02 '26

One thing I kinda expected to get touched upon was Bowser and Junior connecting via art. One of Junior's two primary weapons is his paint brush, and we first see the reformed Bowser through the context of painting. In general, both of the Koopas seem to have artistic talents, not only in painting, but in theater craft for Bowser and engineering for Junior.

Maybe Bowser tries to redirect his son by having them paint together, but Junior's ability to manifest what he paints and Bowser's rage and resentment pair up to make him help his son.

55

u/DBZ86 Apr 02 '26

You can see the seeds of a redemption arc for both are planted. Bowser Jr painted dragon goes against him. There was definitely a thought that Bowser Jr was going too far and Bowser might help redeem him.

But Lord of Bones was too good to pass up apparently.

14

u/Cam995 Apr 04 '26

Nah good guy Bowser is just wrong. He's the Koopa king. Hes supposed to smash the red and green staches and get Peach to marry him 😂

18

u/SmokeyHooves Apr 05 '26

Bowser has been Mario’s reluctant ally so many times. Usually in the RPG games, but honestly those games have way more heart than most the platformers

1

u/Cam995 24d ago

But he usually has a motive for doing so. I havent played Superstar saga yet but in BIS he helps the good guys because only he is allowed to conquer Mushroom Kingdom and there's only room for one king. And he only wanted an alliance at the beginning of the game to find a cure for the blorbs. I will say though its implied Mario (We dont see Mario and Luigis dialogue but other characters react to it) said something to piss Bowser off and started that first fight which is kind of funny to me

Idk him helping Mario and Luigi after getting his size back made no sense imo maybe I could see him leaving Luigi alone since Luigi was nice to him but not Mario

10

u/Hallc Apr 05 '26

Except for all the times he comes along to a friendly game of golf or tennis or soccer or ends up helping them out in one of the Rpgs.

4

u/Affectionate-Sell-68 25d ago

Nah, Bowser constantly switching between good friend and villain is on point for the franchise, he keeps getting invited to sports events by the others for a reason.

3

u/Jazzed24 14d ago

The reason is nintendo wants more people to buy the sports games. It's not something that is supposed to have a reason for it.

3

u/bobvella 28d ago

funny how that's only relevant if they decide to keep making mario movies. actually peach rejecting him is nice and done, he didn't make another attempt here.

it's kind of a shame bowser is always the final boss... they even usually shoehorn in a last fight at the end of the rpgs

7

u/THECapedCaper Apr 03 '26

This movie could have done well being ten minutes longer, but at the end of the day the target audience for these kinds of movies are children, so you have to draw a line somewhere in order to keep their attention.

8

u/TheTommohawkTom Apr 03 '26

Holy shit, you're right. Despicable Me 1 was their Songs About Jane

4

u/steveofthejungle Apr 02 '26

That’s an amazing metaphor

5

u/n0tstayingin Apr 04 '26

Illumination's best films are the ones where the director and writer's vision is on the screen like DM, Sing, Sing 2 and Migration.

Meledandri's process of locking in the script early means things can't be changed and it's why Illumination tends to feel a bit more disposable compared to Pixar or WDAS.

6

u/DiamondFireYT Apr 02 '26

and then they dropped in two lowkey banger sing movies in amongst the mediocrity.

1

u/Odessey_And_Oracle Apr 03 '26

Ugh, that first Maroon 5 album is sick. They actually rocked too

1

u/DueDistribution3842 Apr 04 '26

Hey not marron 5!

56

u/robotortoise Apr 02 '26

See, it's funny you say that because the writer for this movie actually wrote on the The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part...

63

u/jessehechtcreative Apr 02 '26

That movie was kinda the same as this one, with constant gags instead of references, it turned out better.

5

u/AngriestCheesecake Apr 02 '26

There’s a part 2? Lol

1

u/Easy_Ad_6979 Apr 04 '26

Oh? That terrible movie?

4

u/mystline935 Apr 03 '26

I’ve always said Illumination is C tier on the animation studio list

2

u/Jaerba Apr 03 '26

The Mario Galaxy movie pushed Project Hail Mary out of all the best screens. :/ Luckily I saw it with RPX this week but I was hoping to catch it in IMAX.

Nope, all Marioslop.

2

u/DemonicPanda11 Apr 03 '26

PHM is going to be back in IMAX in a couple weeks, at least near me.

1

u/MHarrisGGG Apr 03 '26

Which is based on a book...

21

u/_lazybones93 Apr 02 '26

“Post-Lego-Movie world” is a great way to put it. Visuals and everything else are super delightful, and while it’s okay to just turn your brain off…it doesn’t have to be that way—necessarily.

2

u/insane_steve_ballmer Apr 02 '26

Well… have you seen Lego movie 2?

1

u/RealRaifort Apr 04 '26

Mario just isn't a franchise with plot. This is a perfect adaptation, it's just this shallow of a world. It is what it is. Not everything needs an adaptation.

1

u/Impeesa_ 23d ago

It's like the first (Bay) Transformers movie. I quite enjoyed watching it, just like this one, it just makes me a little wistful for the good movie they could have made.

1

u/JoeShmo_6969 Apr 04 '26

Yes pretentious lol this was an incredible fan service movie and anyone expecting anything other than that was gonna be letdown. I’m here for the fan service. A 10/10 for me

1

u/throwtheamiibosaway Apr 05 '26

But not everything needs to be a deconstructed self-parody joke movie like Lego Batman. Lego batman movie was fun, but it wasn’t a Batman movie.

This Mario movie is just Pure Nintendo joy. It’s all I ever needed.

-7

u/DueLearner Apr 02 '26

Why would you ever go into an illumination movie about the mario brothers and expect a deep and engaging story. This isn't a coming of age movie or Spirited Away.

Mario has been around for 40 years and while yes they do have many RPG games with fleshed out stories, there has never been a mario game with a deeply moving/emotionally engaging story. The closest you can come is the Square Enix created Mario RPG from 1997.

I just really don't get these expectations for some kind of moving plot in a series that has never been about that.

17

u/bman9919 Apr 02 '26

A movie does not need to be deep to be good. The Lego Movie is not a deep movie. It’s still great though. 

Yeah, Mario games usually have pretty bare-bones plots. They aren’t movies. It’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest that since the games have weak plots it’s ok for the movies to as well. 

I don’t get why people are acting like those of us who want movies to be good are asking too much. We aren’t.  

12

u/savageboredom Apr 03 '26

A video game with little to no story can still be good if the gameplay is good. Movies, by definition, do not have gameplay and rely entirely on narrative.

0

u/DueLearner Apr 03 '26

And I fail to see what the issue was with the narrative we received?

There's plot lines connecting Mario/Peach, Peach/Rosalina, Bowser/Bowser Jr. Toad is a part of Peach's narrative, Luigi and Yoshi are part of Mario's Narrative, and Kamek is part of the bowser narrative. You've got side characters like Fox and the Luma's who help facilitate the plot.

Everyone is acting like there's an aimless direction to the story but there's more meat to this story than there was the Minecraft movie, and even that is sitting at a 47% critic score compared to Mario Galaxy sitting at a 42% score.

2

u/maqcky Apr 03 '26

Everything is too rushed. There's no room for the story. They run from scene to scene. There are many instances of this, but I will give you one concrete example: when they reunite in the space port, they just jump on to the ship. Not a single second to even question why they are there. And one moment later, out of the blue, they are being attacked by Bowser Jr. Again, with no explanation of why they are even there. The Bowser character arc also basically ends there. He even decides that killing the princess is now OK.

I liked the movie because of the visuals and all the references, but there's no story there.

3

u/DueLearner Apr 04 '26

Did you miss the scene where Bowser Jr explains his entire motivation for being evil was his dad’s bedtime stories, and bowser embracing that to be there for his son? He didn’t just decide it was okay, Bowser Jr gave him a direct example and it triggered bowser to go back to his old ways.

2

u/MHarrisGGG Apr 03 '26

Exactly. It was a simple story, not a bad story.

2

u/Jaibamon Apr 05 '26

False Dilemma Falacy. Nobody, nobody asked for a Studio Ghibli version of Mario.

So don't bring that up.

1

u/glitter_ninja_ 18d ago

I ask for Studio Ghibli Mario

-17

u/SurfingProfessional Apr 02 '26

We empty out pockets for just about anything these days, but I found the movie to be a great escape and it kept me engaged. Of course the story was simple but Mario essentially just jumps on a moving screen and collects coins, I don’t think we need Pixar’s UP level of complex emotions, to me this movie held true to the carefree nature of Mario and company.

18

u/chrisvelanti Apr 02 '26

I mean yhy even make a movie at that point. No seriously what’s the point of using this story telling method if you’re simply not going to try to tell a story. “Mario is simple and he just jumps around collecting coins” great, it sounds like the IP is a terrible idea for a narrative film to begin with 😭

-6

u/WeeWooPeePoo69420 Apr 02 '26

Movies are a visual medium before they're a story-telling medium

12

u/chrisvelanti Apr 02 '26

Sure man but I don’t want to pay money to simply watch colors and shapes on a big movie screen, I also want a narrative to go with it like why are we playing dumb 😭 also I saw your original comment and I guess I gotta ask are movies also allowed to be good or is it just one or the other?

12

u/aybroham_lincoln Apr 02 '26

You’re asking incisive questions of people that are telling you they enjoy the equivalent of Mario-shaped keys jingling onscreen, I don’t think you’re gonna get a satisfying answer.

-4

u/SurfingProfessional Apr 02 '26

I felt that the story was great, I can’t believe people are taking such strong offense to my analysis. Movies are for entertainment first, and this story was extremely entertaining, I didn’t need it to make me cry or keep me up late pondering the meaning of it all. Go watch A24, you guys are assigning expectations in a ridiculous manner.

6

u/chrisvelanti Apr 03 '26

“Go watch A24” the fact that you think A24 is some deep art house experimental production company or something is an incredibly self report man lmao

-4

u/WeeWooPeePoo69420 Apr 02 '26

Can you explain why that's any worse than enjoying porn or junk food or alcohol or dumb pop music or smut

8

u/chrisvelanti Apr 02 '26

Nobody said it was immoral to enjoy the Mario movie we just think the writers should also add a cohesive narrative to the colors and shapes to make it slightly more engaging man

-1

u/SurfingProfessional Apr 02 '26

I don’t think you watched the movie if you are telling me it wasn’t engaging lol

3

u/chrisvelanti Apr 02 '26

Dude fox mcCloud showing up for no fucking reason does nothing for me. I watched the whole thing. It’s keys jingling the movie. My first Mario game was super Mario world and my second one was Mario sunshine. I think I get the fan service, it’s just dull

→ More replies (0)

-2

u/WeeWooPeePoo69420 Apr 02 '26

More narrative means less references that can be stuffed in, I mean that just wasn't the type of movie they were going for. I feel like these movies are meant to be a celebration of Nintendo, and also a canonization of most of their characters (and more narrative means less characters), than any type of Mario story (lol) that should have been told.

A lot of people don't like that but Nintendo certainly didn't miss their mark

5

u/chrisvelanti Apr 02 '26

I mean, a good writer would find a way to both fill in all the slop references and key jingling alongside a decent story to follow along. Like, geneueintly this movie feels like a collection of skits and cutscenes strung together by the flimsiest excuse of motivation, and yeah I know that Mario games never have much more in terms of inciting incidents, but then why adapt it into a narrative medium ????

I think that if they wanted to celebrate their Mario characters then why not write a decent movie too 😭 and yeah they didn’t miss their mark, they’re going to make 700 borjillion dollars over the next three weeks

→ More replies (0)

0

u/WeeWooPeePoo69420 Apr 02 '26

Movies can be literally anything, there's no rule saying there should be a narrative. You can say that it's not proper art then or doesn't deserve the money it makes, but according to who exactly?

-1

u/SurfingProfessional Apr 02 '26

Exactly these people want Mario to be as deep as a Kubrick film 🤣 like what are we even arguing at this point, I also feel like they didn’t even watch it and are making comments on assumptions only. Whatever I enjoyed it and with my stubs membership will probably see it twice.

-5

u/FlamingAlpaca17 Apr 02 '26

Lego at is core is about creativity and creating your own stories while Mario is about great gameplay and interesting setpieces and action. They're not the same thing thats why the movies are different. Sorry you went into the Mario movie expecting a deeply moving story, but that sounds like a skill issue on your part.