“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” Blu-Ray Movie Review

Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the Mushroom Kingdom. (from IMDb)

Film Review

In 2023, Illumination finally gave us a film that honored one of the best video game franchises ever conceived with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. I loved it. Every second of it. I even slapped a bold 5 stars on it. After a few rewatches, the dust settled some and I could see it just isn’t quite that good. The biggest problem for me was that, it had a “soft” origin story for Mario. So he was anything but “Super.” If anything, he was kind of a hapless hero who was frequently the butt of jokes and was easily shown up by the far more capable, no-longer-damsel-in-distress, Princess Peach. If anything, she was kind of the main hero when you think about it. Did she even really need Mario to help? And she seemed to largely approach him with that viewpoint.

But the fun of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was undoubtedly there. Jack Black brought the monstrous villain Bowser to life with humor and charm. Once he delivers his piano ballad ode to the princess, he pretty much had won the film. I don’t know how The Super Mario Bros. Movie fares for those who don’t know the Super Mario world because I literally grew up with the character, playing his games on the original NES. I’m a fan. So, really, The Super Mario Bros. Movie felt like an absolute gift. Also, c’mon… Illumination has been living up to their name in impressive ways. Since the success of Despicable Me and Minions, this studio has been delivering gorgeous animated features. I still marvel at the lighting in 2018’s The Grinch (even if the music leaves a lot to be desired). Illumination is truly impressive. So when they announced a sequel to the mega-hit that was this Super Mario film, I was definitely on board. But once I heard it was named after the 2007 game Super Mario Galaxy, I was a little less excited. Also, the first trailer wasn’t all that promising… but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t still looking forward to it.

Sure enough, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie delivers for fans. It’s not perfect – hardly – but right out of the gate, Mario is no longer just a joke. He’s officially a hero, alongside his brother Luigi. Another bummer of the first film is they had separated Mario and Luigi for most of the movie. Here, the two are together for a good chunk of the film and it’s a nice treat. We also get the promised addition of Yoshi and some other new recognizable characters from the Super Mario universe. It’s a delight for fans, truly. If you’ve been following the franchise since the start, then you’ll see a lot of love and admiration poured into this film.

The cinematic universe expands, too, to include Rosalina from the Super Mario Galaxy game, along with her little stars. She, like Peach, is given an incredible amount of power, but the story does well to actually warrant the help of Mario and Luigi this time around. Bowser, who ended the first film shrunken to a tiny size, is also here and a bit of a wildcard for the story — is he good now? or not? — And it is a fun and amusing change-up for the story. Having Mario especially resistant to accepting a rehabilitated Bowser is fun, too.

Chris Pratt returns as Mario, along with Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as a slightly less obnoxious Toad, and added into the mix is Brie Larson as Rosalina, Benny Safdie as Bowser, Jr. and Glen Powell as… oh, I won’t spoil that surprise. Nintendo buffs will absolutely cheer, though. While Pratt still seems like an odd choice for Mario, I’m used to it now and do enjoy his performance as the titular character. Day’s voice seems perfect as Luigi, too. It’s also nice to have Larson join the group as she ends up being a nice (and amusing given her most notable role as Captain Marvel) addition to the cast.

It’s hard to talk about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie without giving away too much, but I liked how they handled the whole “Galaxy” angle. Sending our gang into space just seemed to make sense in the moment, and it works well for the story. It’s also a total delight to have Yoshi in the mix now, as well. My biggest – and really only – problem with the movie, however, is the pacing. By the final act, the movie feels like it’s on fast-forward. It’s the next scene already before the last one fully had a chance to breathe. “Sensory overload” is the right way to describe it. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie again – and I really did have a smile on my face for much of the film – but it felt like just too much movie during the last act, and that’s kind of unfortunate.

Content-wise, it’s fair to earn a PG rating. There’s a lot of action violence, but it’s not graphic or overwhelming. The most “graphic” it ever gets is seeing the koopa turtles enter lava on a rollercoaster and emerge as “dry bones” versions. It’s more so a cute gag than anything else. Another character sees a very similar fate later in the film and we then see them emerge from lava as a skeleton. Later, they’re blown apart so we see their bones lying on the ground with just their decapitated skull talking. And later we see someone trying to reassemble them. There is no profanity or crude content; it’s a pretty family-friendly action/adventure animated film. But those sensitive to “magic” in movies might not be too keen on Rosalina using magic or Bowser, Jr. creating creatures with a magical paintbrush. Granted, it’s not occultic magic, but I just want to give a heads up for anyone sensitive to that kind of material. Lastly, some moments might be a little scary for younger viewers. Early on, Mario and Luigi enter a spooky cave where glowing eyes are lurking, but they end up meeting a friendly face. The aforementioned skeleton monster, and a big dragon beast in a following scene, might be a little much for the littler ones, too.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a blast. It’s far from perfect, and really will be most appreciated by fans of the Super Mario franchise, but there’s so much to like about, and enjoy, with this movie. It does get to be a bit too much by the film’s end, but that aspect wasn’t enough to completely ruin the experience for me. If you liked the first movie, you ought to love this one — and you just may find some gripes you had about the first movie fixed this time around.

Side note: There is a post-credits scene that teases a new character for a potential follow-up film (Not Yoshi-level excitement, but diehard fans will recognize them. I actually did not, though).

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 4/5/26)

 

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now available on 4K disc, Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital. The Blu-Ray release includes just a blu-ray disc and an HD Movies Anywhere digital copy. I saw the movie again with my family while it was still in theaters (in 3D), and it held up just as well on a repeat viewing. It’s a really fun movie with gorgeous animation. This is such a beautiful-looking movie. The Blu-Ray disc and iTunes Extras include the following bonus features:

Next Level: The Making of Super Mario Galaxy Movie (15:03) – This is a montage of the actors, creators, filmmakers, and even the composer discussing how they conceptualized this sequel. They talk about taking elements from different games and characters. This is suprisingly frenetic with constant cutting between dozens of interview clips about the design and look of the film and design. It’s still good, but it feels oddly spastic in how it’s cut together.

Exploring the Galaxy (10:28) – Here, they talk about the design of the different worlds we see in the movie, pulling new locations from the games, and how this movie expands the “sandbox” of the Mario world. They even worked with Nintendo directly on the set designs. They cover Rosalina’s home, the mini castle, Planet Bowser, the Gateway Galaxy, and the casino (the latter of which specifically features villains from Super Mario Bros. 2).

Galactic Thematics (5:17) – This one talks about the themes of the movie, like sibling relationships and family dynamics – including the father/son dynamic of Bowser and Bowser Jr.

Cosmic Tunes (3:33) – Composer Brian Tyler, and the voice actors, talk about the music and how it pays tribute to the games.

Power-Ups (2:22) – This one is literally about the power-ups the characters use in the movie that reference the games – like ice, frog, drill, fireball, cloud, penguin, etc.

Secrets of the Galaxy (2:46) – This is about the Easter eggs in the movie. The voice actors and filmmakers talk about the suprises you’ll see along the way – from space port signs looking like original Gameboy graphics to the Minus World.

Cast of Characters (22:41) – You can view these all individually or with a Play All option.

1. Mario & Luigi (5:50) – Chris Pratt and Charlie Day talk about their characters, Mario & Luigi, while the filmmakers also discuss who they are as characters at the heart. They also talk about their brotherhood, and how they deliberately wanted to keep them together during the story in this movie.
2. Peach & Rosalina (5:52) – Anya Taylor-Joy and Brie Larson join the filmmakers as they talk about Peach and Rosalina, and they specifically address officially making them sisters for the film and the bond they have.
3. Bowser & Bowser Jr. (6:08) – We FINALLY hear from Jack Black a little here as they talk about tiny Bowser, as well as Benny Safdie who voiced Bowser Jr and the dynamic of the two.
4. Toad & Yoshi (4:51) – Keegan-Michael Key talks about voicing Toad again and the filmmakers talk about how funny he is. They then talk about Yoshi and Donald Glover voicing him, but Donald doesn’t appear here at all, which seems weird. They talk about animating him and the sheer cuteness factor of Toad and Yoshi together.

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 6/17/26)

 

Parental Guide: Content Summary

 Sex/Nudity: None.
 Vulgarity/Language: None.
 Alcohol/Drugs: None.
 Blood/Gore: We see a rollercoaster car of turtles go into lava and come out as living skeletons; A turtle character falls into lava. We then see them emerge as a moving, breathing, living skeleton. It falls apart at one point and later we see the skeleton – still alive – and in pieces, with another character retrieving separate bones.
 Violence: Lots of cartoony action violence; There’s lots of talk about Bowser, Jr. trying to kill Mario and Luigi; a dinosaur menaces baby Mario and Luigi; We see some koopas enter lava and come out as dry bones; Bowser gets his tail stuck in a door and he freaks out, throwing stuff (played for laughs); Bowser crushes a painting he made in anger; Bowser antagonizes Mario to get him to punch him in order to restore him to full size. Mario does get angry and punches Bowser; Bowser, Jr. fights Mario and Luigi using his magical paintbrush; Evil forces attack the castle, causing massive destruction and causing the castle to be uprooted and crash to the ground; Peach and Toad fight some characters inside a casino; Bowser, Jr. pilots a large robot that kidnaps Rosalina and one of her little stars; A bridge collapses, sending a character into lava, presumably killing them. We then see them emerge from the lava as a living skeleton; Bowser, Jr. creates a large dragon that fights with Mario and the other heroes; And lots of other animated cartoon and video-game style violence.