Starring: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key & Donald Glover
Directed by: Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic

Animated by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: April 2026
Running Time: 98 mins

Synopsis: Mario and Luigi, the twin plumbers, apply their “let’s-a-go” attitude to solve everyday problems all over their new home of the Mushroom Kingdom. As they support Princess Peach, and work to reform a miniaturized imprisoned Bowser, they meet a new companion – Yoshi. When Princess Peach’s birthday party sparks a galactic adventure, the brothers head into outer space to stop Bowser Jr.’s wicked ambitions and save the space princess, Rosalina.

Released in 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie represented the first time that the legendary videogame franchise was brought to the big-screen in a recognizable fashion – sure, there was the Bob Hoskins live-action adaptation thirty years prior in 1993, but that barely resembled the Mushroom Kingdom we’d ran and jumped through as kids, even though it is fondly remembered as a cult classic slice of 90s sci-fi. This modern incarnation, brought to life by the animation studio Illumination, was filled to the brim with easter eggs from the games and filled with brightly coloured animation that could easily be ripped from the high-definition graphics of Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Wonder. The very definition of nostalgia bait, The Super Mario Bros Movie gave fans what they’d wanted for decades – an actual backstory to the games they’d played in their childhoods. Sure, the plot was fairly basic – not that the source material is particularly dense – but it was a marvelous celebration of all things Mario. Now, three years later, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie came to deliver the inevitable sequel promising even more nods to the videogames, celebrating more recent additions to the franchise’s lore in the form of Rosalina, Yoshi and Bowser Jr.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie adopts the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality to film-making and continues with the same winning formula as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and in fact, it is this adherence to the same formula that ends up detracting from the film. We’d already seen this blend of Nintendo pop culture references and luminous animation in the first installment, and this sequel doesn’t do anything with its plot – effectively repeating the same “fish out of water” plot but this time, substituting the Mushroom Kingdom for Outer Space. It reminds me of how The Hangover was such a tremendous success and how the writers couldn’t think of a way to follow it up in a sequel, aside from repeating the exact same story but set in Thailand instead.

While it is easy to criticize the lack of originality on display between the two films, it should also be mentioned that adults in their forties are not the only target audience for this movie. The film is marketed to children first and foremost, and the movie’s frenetic pace, abundance of colorful characters and fight sequences will most likely appeal to them far more than their parents. In some ways, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the perfect product for the attention-challenged and overstimulated younger generation raised on Cocomelon and other “brain rot”. At times, it feels less like a film and more of a collection of vignettes held together by its paper-thin plot and outer space theme. The whole sequence where the Mario brothers are regressed to babies and end up on a prehistoric planet feels particularly random and shoehorned into the third act to fill up some space before the final conflict.

Presumably unintentionally, each little set-piece feels like a level in the videogame itself that must be overcome so the characters can move onto the next part of the story. This feels more noticeable in some of the later scenes in the film – such as the sequence where Mario and Peach are trapped in a lava-filled gauntlet and must literally make their way through a series of two-dimensional deathtraps to escape. This odd staccato approach to the storytelling actually allows the film to better align with its videogame source material, not just in terms of its plethora of references but also in terms of its actual structure – again, I’m not entirely sure it is intentional, but it is slightly more forgivable here than in most movies.

While I might have been a bit more disillusioned with the nostalgia this time around, as a longtime fan of the Super Mario Bros. series I did still find plenty of moments to enjoy. As a massive fan of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES, I was grinning from ear-to-ear to see appearances from the villains of that game – Birdo, Mouser, Clawgrip and Wart. For fans of that particular game, it was actually satisfying to see those forgotten characters (with the exception of Birdo) brought back into the franchise’s lore and given some proper context. I must admit I quite like the idea of Wart as a sleazy ‘Jabba the Hutt’ styled casino magnate.

Other highlights included the much-requested introduction of Yoshi, and he was utilized in the perfect way as a third wheel intruding on Toad’s position as sidekick. The brief moments of conflict between the two sidekicks were satisfying, but the film never quite developed the idea beyond a few one-liners, and it felt somewhat unresolved at the end. Rosalina also felt underdeveloped, despite a promising introduction in the first five minutes of the film. Obviously, this is a videogame franchise famous for its damsels in distress, but it was disappointing to see the two female characters given so little character moments. The film ends so abruptly – in service of a joke – that it doesn’t really pay off the whole relationship between Peach and Rosalina. The film could have benefitted from an additional ten minutes to flesh out those endings and provide some sort of resolution to its main plot arc.

The film also expands its scope to include StarFox’s Fox McCloud into the mix, pushing the boundaries slightly and hinting at a shared Nintendo-verse in the future. It would be great to see a Super Smash Bros. style team-up movie in the future, bringing together all of the various Nintendo characters (Kirby, Zelda, Starfox, Pokémon, Donkey Kong, etc.) to defeat an Avengers-level threat to their universe. If that is where the films are headed, then sign me up!

Definitely aimed for towards Nintendo nostalgia junkies (like myself) and hyperactive children, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a somewhat hollow copy of what came before, throwing even more easter eggs and references onto the screen at such a fast pace that it comes at the cost of character moments and plot developments. At times, it feels like less of a film and more of a collection of different scenes and set-pieces strung together to form a narrative – mirroring the way that various disparate levels come together to form a game. Visually, the film is impeccable – Illumination’s animation is stunningly beautiful and captures the magic of the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario’s Galaxy perfectly, and it seems like the cast are having great fun bringing these characters to life. Obviously, the Super Mario Bros. franchise isn’t known for its deep lore and complex storylines so it isn’t a surprise that the films are so lean when it comes to plot, but I hope the inevitable third franchise tries harder to keep things engaging and lets the actual story take precedence over the winks and nods to the audience.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is available on DVD & Blu-Ray from Amazon UK and can also be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.