"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" Is Pretty (But Shallow)

Matt Damon made headlines last year when he was on a podcast promoting a movie he and Ben Affleck had just made for Netflix. He revealed that executives at the company requested that key story elements be repeated throughout the film, as they wanted the movie to be understood by those who may only be half paying attention to the screen, and half paying attention to their phone. With Illuminations' “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” they may have found the perfect streaming movie: they have made something that has lots of little moments of fanboy joy to be found, but little in terms of substance or even general conflict. I sensed there was something wrong when producer Shigeru Miyamoto asked fans to see how many easter eggs they could spot in the movie.

Why would a producer highlight the easter eggs of a film rather than the story, the journey, or even the characters? Probably because “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is so devoid of any of the things that make a typical narrative work so well, that if he were to highlight any of those aspects, people would realize the visuals were little more than wrapping paper for a box that has nothing in it. Even as I sit here and type this review, I do remember aspects of what I watched, but I couldn’t articulate what any of it meant. The most obvious aspect of praise here is the animation, which is lush, beautiful, and colorful, despite being made on a small budget by Illumination.

They are truly the masters of getting the most bang for their buck, and I would argue there is more artistry in the animation here than in Pixar’s “Hoppers” (also playing in theaters, by the way). Ah, but where “Hoppers” has an interesting protagonist who has a journey and character growth, Mario just seems to be along for the ride: he is tasked with watching over Princess Peaches' castle while she is away saving a princess (why she doesn’t ask him to come with her isn’t made clear), but he ends up being sucked into the galaxy against his will. He and Luigi find a dinosaur pal in the sewers named Yoshi, who they let tag along because…I guess he’s cute or something like that (the film never establishes if this is a relationship or if Yoshi is more of a pet).

The closest thing to a character arc is Bowser being rehabilitated from a life of destruction, but even that storyline ends up going nowhere, with Bowser returning to his evil ways without much explanation (not that there was a clear motivation for him to attempt to become a good guy to begin with). Look, I know I’m not supposed to expect much from a video game adaptation about an Italian plumber who travels through pipes. There isn’t much there to work with. Then again, there wasn’t much to work with when it came to “The LEGO Movie” or “Barbie” either, yet look how those turned out. The issue with “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” isn’t that it's made for kids or that it is full of fan service; the issue is that there is no substance to anything that is happening.

While there is a conflict, there never seems to be any stakes at play, and Mario seems to be along for the ride rather than being the master of his own destiny. Considering Mario is the first to leap into action in the video games to save the day, it feels weird for him to be left behind to play diplomat and only show up for the action when he is unwittingly dragged into it. And while Peach may have a more feminist attitude in these films, she knew enough in the first movie that she couldn’t solve the problems of the kingdom by herself. This creates an additional issue of lessons in the first movie not carrying over to this one.

In the end, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” seems more like a series of TikTok clips; there are plenty of random jokes and visual gags that would be great in a short clip, but in the bigger picture, they don’t amount to much. Kids will enjoy it, I suppose, and hardcore Nintendo fans who aren’t looking for much more than reminders of their childhood will get their dopamine hits. But with “Hoppers” and “Project Hail Mary” still in theaters, it highlights just how much to do about nothing “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ends up being. But, Netflix will likely enjoy it, because since there is no story of substance, people can play it in the background while occasionally looking up for the random joke or cameo (or just watch those clips on TikTok).