The Super Mario Galaxy Movie continues the tale of the Mushroom Kingdom’s favorite plumbers, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), who get a new sidekick after rescuing a green dinosaur named Yoshi (Donald Glover). The newly minted trio arrives at Princess Peach’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) birthday celebration, where a mysterious cosmic shower results in a star crashing the party. This star, called a Luma, begs Peach to help rescue Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson), who’s been captured by Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Peach sets off to rescue the princess, while Mario and Luigi confront their nemesis Bowser (Jack Black) to find out how they can stop Bowser Jr. before he drains Rosalina’s lifeforce for good.
If you liked the first film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, then you’ll love this one as it feels like a natural extension of the first. All of the fan favorites—Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Bowser—are back, in addition to new characters like Bowser Jr., Yoshi, and Rosalina. The characters all deliver in their own ways: Bowser Jr. is cartoonishly villainous, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and Yoshi have a hilarious rivalry, and Mario and Luigi team up as a brotherly duo.
The voice acting is superb. The first film established the new movie voices for the characters and the new characters fit in nicely with the bunch. Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina does a great job, matching the more realistic, grounded tone of Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach. Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr. is perfectly cartoony and devious, and a worthy successor to Black’s Bowser. Donald Glover as Yoshi is a lot of fun, putting his own twist on the iconic dino.
Like the first film, the film’s plot is appropriately simple: the Princess is captured and the heroes rescue her (mirroring the video games). And just as you hop from the various worlds and levels in a Mario game, so too does this movie hop around, hitting as many locations (and Easter eggs) as possible. This world-hopping is a bit of a detriment because by the end, they’ve been to so many locations and met so many characters that it feels overwhelming, disorienting, and narratively disjointed. There are also some scenes that directly play like levels from the game of which the audience got a kick.
Speaking of Easter eggs, this film is exploding with them. Each frame is littered with dozens of game references—characters, items, locations—and even the most keen-eyed viewers will delight in rewatching the film to find them all. For Mario fans, these incessant Easter eggs are a blast; however, for those not quite tuned into the Mario universe, these references mean nothing and don’t distract too much from the overall experience. Though at times, it feels like the filmmakers lost the plot and threw in everything but the kitchen sink, instead of selectively introducing a few characters or Easter eggs at a time. Also, quite a few characters from the broader Nintendo world make cameos, perhaps setting Nintendo up for its own MCU with an Avengers-style Super Smash Bros. film in the future.
Composer Brian Tyler returns for the score, which is a highlight. He expertly weaves in so many of Koji Kondo’s iconic Mario themes that, if you’re a Mario fan, your ears will perk up when you hear various motifs from the various games and levels.
This film isn’t for everyone, but it knows its audience. It panders to that demographic and doesn’t worry about much else like creating fleshed-out, three-dimensional characters or deep plots or themes. It tries to do too much at times, so often forgets to resolve some plotlines such as Mario’s romantic interest in Peach. But in the end, it’s a love letter to the fans and the iconic series that has continued to delight fans over the past 40 years.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a worthy successor to the record-breaking first film. It’s fun, bright, colorful, and bursting with Mario goodness, coins, and super stars. Whether you’re a hardcore fan of the games, a Mario newbie, or somewhere in between, you’ll find something to enjoy with Nintendo’s latest release.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters on April 1, 2026.
★★★1⁄2
