THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (2026)
★★★ OF ★★★★★ stars
The latest film in the Super Mario saga from Illumination and Nintendo very much channels the same vibe as Wreck It Ralph.
I very much enjoyed the original The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Illumination and Nintendo back in 2023. It was a fun outing that introduced us to Chris Pratt’s version of Mario and Charlie Day’s Luigi and how they made their way to the Mushroom Kingdom and met Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach. The film’s breakout character was Jack Black’s Bowser with his Peaches song and the animation was great throughout. Now we get a sequel from the same creative team with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, a new entry that really opens up the world of Nintendo with crossovers to many different games in the history of Mario Bros. It also promises to open up the style of the animation in the movies; from 8-bit to puppets and characters from Nintendo lore and games outside the Mario world.
This installment of the series deals a lot with family. Bowser Jr., voiced by Benny Safdie, is determinted to free his father, Jack Black’s Bowser, from imprisonment. Bowser had long promised his son a planet where they could destroy the Universe together. In Bowser’s imprisonment, Bowser Jr. has completed his promises and built a planet to destroy the universe. However, it needs massive power to make it work and Bowser has kidnapped Rosalina to drain her of her power. The Lumas that call her mother have escaped to find help and now have found Peach and the plumbers whom they’ve heard stories about to try and save them. Along with help from Toad and their new friend Yoshi, who is introduced in a fun sequences that calls back to Super Mario Bros. 2, as well as Starfox, the crew find themselves with an unlikely ally in Bowser at times as they try to save Rosalina.
I will say, this feels a lot like Wreck It Ralph – in a good way. The story isn’t anything that will light the world on fire, but its fun. There’s lot of fan service and I feel like movies like this succeed if fans of the property can be entertained as well as kids and I definitely felt that vibe. Characters like Yoshi and Toad are there to be fun audience favorites while Starfox channels Han Solo and the idea of Koopa juggling being a hero to his son as a bad person while trying to maintain his friendship with Mario and Luigi is a lot of fun. You have a scenario where Koopa is basically Wreck It Ralph and Mario plays the Fix It Felix role which is fun given Felix was a Mario expy.
The film also explores the origin of Anja Taylor-Joy’s Peach and her connection to Rosalina which pays off in the film’s third act. That and a lot of fun cameos by characters like Wart, Mouser and Birdo make the movie fun as a fan of vintage gaming, but I can see my nephew and niece enjoying this and Nintendo opening this up for a future Mario Kart or Smash Brothers movie is a great idea that makes me excited for future installments. Sometimes, you need wholesome nostalgia driven fun and this is it, in my book.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters on 3/1 from Universal.