Popular videogame plumber brothers embark on a new high-energy fantasy quest
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Voices by Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Glenn Powell
Directed by Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic
Rated PG
In theaters Wednesday, April 1
Don’t worry if you don’t know your Koopa Troopas from your Toads, your Koopalings from your Lumas. Even if you’ve never laid eyes on the Mushroom Kingdom, Yoshi’s Island or Goomba Village, you’ll nonetheless be dazzled by this latest animated installment of the wildly popular Nintendo videogame franchise.
And there’s never a dull moment as plumber brothers Mario (voiced Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) join Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) on a zippy mission throughout the cosmos to find the princess’ abducted sister, Rosalina (Bree Larson), the “mother” of the babbling, star-shaped Lumas. It’s a cosmic fairytale, a ferociously whimsical, candy-coated stardust-sprinkled fantasy romp as they encounter bad guys, dinosaurs, gigantic spaceships, floating galleons and literally dozens of characters from the Super Mario universe while running an obstacle-course gauntlet of videogame-like perils.
The animation is eye-popping, the storyline wildly imaginative, the setups super-saturated in detail. I particularly enjoyed the Casino, with Princess Peach racing around a massive roulette wheel, and the blaster than turns its targets into babies. Videogame fans will love a scene that connects the onscreen action to a screen-within-the-screen and the movie’s pixelated roots in the ‘80s.
Listen closely and you’ll recognize some familiar voices, including Jack Black as the villainous, scene-stealing Bowser, the King of the Kroopas, and Benny Sadfie as his son, Bowser Jr. Donald Glover is Yoshi, the little green dino with the golly-whopping tongue. Luis Guzmán is the toad-like king Wart, Issa Rae has a scene as the hive highness Honey Queen, and Glen Powell swoops in as the suave, Han Solo-ish Fox McCloud.
How popular is Super Mario? Well, the previous film, 2023’s The Super Mario Brothers Movie, trailed only Barbie at the box office, grossing more than $1.3 billion. Look for this one to be a real crowd-pleaser too.
So join the party for this bright-n-lively, action-packed romp across the universe, a family-friendly flight of imagination with a colorful plumber-adventurer and his crew who’ve been keeping gamers entertained and engaged now for more than 40 years.
—Neil Pond
The Media Tourist 