“The movie theater hates to see us coming,” I tell my equally cinephilic sister every time I’m home for a holiday break. Most recently during Easter break, I managed to attend two movies in my 4-day trip — numbers I’m hoping to increase during the summer season. My nephew and I put our Cinemark Rewards to use at “The Mario Galaxy Movie”: an energetic film to both its benefit and downfall.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” that preceded the new film was a hit at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film based on a video game — a big achievement for us nerds — so many had high hopes for this galactic sequel. Despite the “Mario Galaxy Movie’s” success in the box office (taking second place for video game movies), some fans weren’t starstruck. I personally loved the movie’s wonderful cosmic scenes, references to other Nintendo games and sentimental plot, but the movie jumps around too much to let us sink into this galactic realm before we have to go back to Earth.
A major part of the storyline follows the “queen of the cosmos,” Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) on her journey to save her long-lost sister Princess Peach (voiced by Anya-Taylor Joy) from Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie). The movie begins with Rosalina telling the story of Princess Peach out of her canonical “Rosalina’s Storybook” to her adopted “Lumas” when she abruptly leaves for the fight, leaving the audience on just as much of a cliffhanger as those adorable little stars. This is just the beginning of the stream of rushed content watchers are force-fed.
Apart from its “Mario Kart”-paced plotline, this video game adaptation has much to offer visually. The Illumination studio has always had a distinctively bubbly style of animation that I have appreciated since the release of “Despicable Me,” and it carried on beyond our universe in this film. Its vivid coloration of far away lands and dazzling starry scenes transports the audience to the various maps featured in the original 2007 video game, calling back its roots — if only we could sit and enjoy those moments for more than a cut-scene.
My nephew followed the film to a tee, but I often found myself in the middle of being entertained and confused, as there were no reminders of the first movie’s plot: an element this movie definitely could have benefited from. I, and probably many parents in attendance, felt dialed out of the context of Jack Black’s Bowser shrunkenness and Mario and Peach’s situationship status. Even a slight flashback or referencing line to past events would have clarified the confusion us non-avid Mario movie watchers had.
What I love most about having a sister is what my sister and I call our “kinship like none other,” or simply the ability to connect so deeply with each other because of our history together as siblings; we can reminisce and just be in each other’s presence, and that’s enough to “get” each other. Because of our absurd connection, I very much enjoyed the idea of Rosalina and Princess Peach coming together to save the universe through the strength of sisterhood, but when this idea played out on screen, it was disappointingly unrealistic. Sure, saving the universe by high-fiving your sister is unrealistic in itself, but my point is that their sisterly bond is not strong enough to matter in the film. The longing of Peach to find Rosalina was so brief amid the film’s chaos, leaving no moment for the two to showcase their deep connection, letting their separation dwindle into insignificance.
Aside from the lack of familial sentimentality, there were many Nintendo easter eggs that enlivened my spirit each time I caught one. Not only was the soundtrack of the film filled with Mario game sound effects, referencing generations of “Mario Bros.” games, but other Nintendo characters like Fox McCloud from “Star Fox,” Pikmin creatures, Monty Mole from “Super Mario World” and R.O.B. from “Super Smash Bros.” (among many others). Seeing each one of these brief references honed into the iconic character of “Super Mario Bros.” as a 40-year-old creation.
Maybe it’s too much to ask for more heartbreak in a children’s movie, but “The Mario Galaxy Movie” had a lot to live up to in that department after Jack Black’s heart-wrenching “Peaches” as Bowser in the first film. If you’re a movie or Nintendo fanatic, it’s worth your time, but with fair warning; it may leave you more heartbroken from its faults than its sentimental content.
