A week since its release, Illumination and Nintendo dropped the second Mario movie: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in theaters. Although its seen success in box office sales, the critic reviews have been less than stellar. Say what you will about critic reviews on Mario movies, but I feel that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is leaps ahead than its predecessor, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is promising for the pipeline of Nintendo cinema.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in 2023. Its plot primarily revolved around Mario and Luigi’s origin story and Bower’s undying love (or more accurately, obsession) for Princess Peach. It’s a pretty basic story; however, I believe the movie’s intent is to be simple, fun, and family friendly. To no one’s surprise, it was a box office hit, amassing a little over one billion dollars. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics gave it a 59% despite the 95% fan rating.
Jump forward to 2026, and the sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie amassed around 190 million in five days. The critics at Rotten Tomatoes seemed to dislike this sequel even more with a 41% rating. Currently, fan scores sit at 89%. With all respect to Rotten Tomatoes and other critic sites, but I think both movies were just fine (as a full-grown adult, I take a light-hearted jaunt through the Mushroom Kingdom with a grain of salt and expect no major character arc growth), and that Galaxy was the better of the two.
There are a few reasons why I think The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is superior to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Firstly, it takes the protagonists on a more pointed mission, and we (mostly) avoid the captured princess trope. Again, note the word “mostly”. What I mean to say is that Bowser has taken his claw off the pedal on Princess Peach, and the main plot circles around the relationship between Bowser and his son, Bowser Jr. There is another branching story about Princess Rosalina who, yes, was captured, but not out of some bizarre romance. By the end, we witness some new lore reveal tying Princess Peach and Rosalina together. It was a nice touch that goes beyond Bowser trying to marry Princess Peach.
The supporting characters were also very strong in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Donald Glover voiced a delightful iteration of Yoshi, who was introduced early on, and became a fun sidekick throughout. We also saw incredible performances of Wart by Luis Guzman and Fox McCloud by Glen Powell. To be honest, I felt that Fox’s appearance was a highlight of the movie. Adults were shouting his name, and my ten-year-old son wanted to know everything about this character and the video games that he’s in. Fox McCloud was more than a gratuitous cameo, too. He played an integral role without portraying any cringey stereotypes nor did he overstay his welcome.
The visuals continue to impress and the music was out of this world (pardon the pun). There were a lot of licensed music in the first movie, which, while not necessarily a bad thing, but the musical genius that is Mario music was better used in the Galaxy movie.
Lastly, let’s talk about Easter eggs and references to Nintendo IP. Some complain that the movie is nothing but game references, and to be fair, there were a ton; however, I think that is a large part of these movies’ identities. These animated Mario movies are based on a 40-year-old franchise that has fans spanning across all generations. The Super Mario Bros. didn’t start off as a novel or television show. No, it is primarily a video game series focused on fun and holds a lot of nostalgia. From the nod to the Game and Watch guy to Toad shouting, “Do a barrel role”, I think The Super Mario Galaxy Movie really struck that iron while it was hot with a different storyline and treasure trove of references, both obvious and deep-cut.
Did you see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie yet? How do you think it measured up against the first movie? Please share your thoughts with us on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord.
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Source: Box Office Mojo, Deadline, Rotten Tomatoes
Featured Image Source: Universal Pictures
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