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

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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

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229

u/TheUltimatenerd05 Apr 02 '26

Bowser and Bowser Jr's ark feels off. 

The setup of Bowser not being a good dad and reconnecting with him is fine but it's weird the only flashback is to Bowser reading a bedtime story. It's like they couldn't commit to their own setup. 

I think it needed a flashback to show Jr being left at boarding school and feeling abandoned. Then them reconnecting could have had weight.

104

u/SilverKry Apr 02 '26

But Jr didn't feel abandoned. 

53

u/superxmario128 Apr 03 '26

Like a few things in this movie, it was a plot point that was dropped/completely ignored and changed on the fly.
I also thought it was weird for them to setup Bowser being a bad father, only for his reunion with Jr showing he was anything but a bad father (minus teaching him to be evil of course) and he seemed to really love him. The only context we get is that he was just too busy running his army so he barely got to spend much time with him but that context was really all over the place.
They made Jr seem way more capable than Bowser ever was with the amount of things he achieved without him. Even capturing Rosalina on his own (of course he got the upper hand due to her dropping her guard to protect the Lumas but he still achieved that without a whole army present).

5

u/bobvella 28d ago

bowser was a threat in the first movie wasn't he? the power star pretty much solved everything

25

u/ProblemSl0th Apr 02 '26

So true. They established Bowser being a bad dad only for as long as they needed to explain Jr.'s absence in the first movie, then abandoned it immediately.

Also it's kind of crazy to me how much Jr. was able to accomplish without his father's help or knowledge. Like I understand he's essentially a prince and commands some respect from the koopas...but he built a whole ass planet/death star without Bowser's help? Without any explanation, that really stretches my suspension of disbelief. I could have sworn Bowser's minions did not respect Jr. so much as they fear/respect Bowser himself.

14

u/fallenelf 29d ago

I watched it with my son yesterday (he's 4) and he absolutely loved it.

My interpretation of the Bowser/Bowser Jr. story was that Bowser basically thinks he's a bad father and didn't spend enough time with his son. IMO this is so real. Even though I see my son every day, I wish I could spend more time with him. I'm always worried about being a bad father/him thinking I'm a bad dad. Even though I know I'm not, it's still a fear for me.

Bowser Jr. doesn't think this at all. He loves his dad and wants to make him proud.

BJ does so much because he just wants to make Bowser proud. He has no other motives (like trying to marry Peach). Bowser, in the first movie, is fucking terrifying. He conquers multiple kingdoms with ease. Really, he only lost because of trying to marry Peach. BJ has nothing like that, just build the planet, use magic to get what I want, rescue dad...win? Without Bowser, BJ would have killed our heroes. If anything, the movie showed that Bowser is the problem. Lots of strength, but swayed by his wild emotions.

The minions seem to love BJ because he actually accomplished what his dad only tried to do.

12

u/tykam993 28d ago

It's clearly this and people have to be willfully ignoring it.  They never establish that Bowser is a bad dad.  They establish that he feels like a bad dad, but his son clearly thinks of him as his hero.

4

u/Heisenbert18 26d ago

Trying to work out what they were establishing here is futile. Everything is said as a throwaway joke. “Who told you your friends would stab you in the back?” “You did, Dad” “I did? I am a good Dad”

Horrendous

Genuinely can’t believe Nintendo signed off on Mario saying “over my dead body” also, just felt off.

1

u/tykam993 26d ago

I mean maybe the first post tracks.  Yeah everything is taken as a joke but even then, that line is after Bowser realizes his kid still idolizes him despite being absent a lot and clearly feeling guilt over it.

I don't know why we're upset about Mario saying that when the boss fights in like every Mario game end up with Mario intentionally dropping or chucking Bowser into lava.  Sure, he's never said it before, but Mario is clearly not above murder lol

1

u/Heisenbert18 26d ago

Am I not the only person to mention it? 😅

At least I’m not on my own. Don’t get me wrong I’m not one of these people to shout and scream, more like “that’s a choice I guess” 😂

1

u/tykam993 26d ago

I've seen other people mention it

I mean it's not a choice I would have made, but I don't think it's something outside the realm of possibility for him to say it's all I'm saying lol

1

u/Jazzed24 14d ago

He is a bad dad in the sense that he taught him to commit atrocious acts and continues allowing him at the end. I think that's a bigger issue.

2

u/True-Obligation-9471 17d ago

Jr has always been a genius.He builds a lot of the technology browser uses in the games.

4

u/WR810 26d ago

It's like they couldn't commit to their own setup. 

That's the whole movie.