Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.’
Nearly three years after the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” prequel, Universal Pictures released “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” in theaters on April 1. The movie is a direct follow-up to the adventures of Italian plumber Mario (Chris Pratt) and his brother Luigi (Charlie Day), where they venture into a fantasy world filled with princesses and monsters, befriending Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) of the Mushroom Kingdom along the way. However, this time, they go beyond the land-based fantasy world of various kingdoms, and find themselves in a galaxy heist to save a cosmic princess.
This royal is named Rosalina (Brie Larson), and serves as a super-powered galaxy princess who is referred to as “The Mother of the Stars.” She guards the miniature star characters, called Lumas, who live with her in a space station in the middle of the galaxy. Her main Luma, the Yellow Luma (Virginia Dare Jelenic), is the one that first seeks out Mario and his friends in the movie.
Rosalina is kidnapped by Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), the only son of villain Bowser (Jack Black) who is seeking revenge on the princesses for the defeat of his father — the climactic ending of the first movie. This moment also kickstarts the premise of the movie, where Mario, Luigi, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and Peach journey into the vast galaxy, visiting different planets and meeting new civilizations along the way.
The original group also gains the company of a new companion, a character who was extremely hyped up even before the movie’s release.
The movie’s teaser showed a scene of a green spotted egg, a reference fans immediately recognized as an easter egg for Yoshi’s (Donald Glover) cameo in the sequel. Recruiting Yoshi gives the movie a cute and comedic character that enhances the movie’s overall vibe — he’s not inherently deep, but still plenty enjoyable to watch. Yoshi is also a prominent character from the original games, meaning his addition to the cast of characters only instills more nostalgia into viewers who were familiar with the character growing up.
Other than Yoshi and Bowser Jr., the main cast remains mostly consistent from the first movie, although they don’t develop much as characters compared to who they were in the original film.
A review from Rotten Tomatoes written by Agustín Pérez says, “It’s a roller coaster that, in just over 90 minutes, delivers a spectacular, nonstop adventure. And I mean ‘nonstop’ literally because it rarely pauses to develop its characters.”
This is a common gripe critics have circulated about the movie. Its nostalgic flair and beautiful animation is the extent of the movie’s depth. While the new characters are fun and easily recognizable, none of them develop or have particularly interesting arcs over the course of the story.
For example, Rosalina is regarded as the most powerful princess of the cosmos, but instead only serves as a cliche damsel-in-distress role whose screen time is limited to being captured by Bowser Jr. Her powers are shown in the movie, but she loses every fight scene she’s featured in.
Bowser Jr., arguably, has the most character background and defined motivation for his actions in the movie. Scenes with his neglectful father serve as both comedic and legitimate reasoning behind his wrongdoings and evil nature. As an antagonist, he’s surprisingly powerful, and his pairing with his father brings a lot of the laughs scattered throughout the movie.
Yoshi is cute and has a few chuckle-worthy moments, however, he serves almost no purpose other than a nostalgia trip for viewers familiar with the video game franchise. He’s a generic sidekick with a somewhat random thievery-based backstory, which is never mentioned again and serves no significance for the actions his character takes for the rest of the movie. His screen time can be whittled down to following around the main cast, almost as their pet more than anything.
The movie’s good reception and praise can largely be attributed to its position as an adaptation of one of the most famous video game franchises of all time. The movie franchise spares no expense in delving into this nostalgic factor and referencing the original video game franchise, even pulling from other franchises outside of the original Super Mario Bros. games.
Mr. Game and Watch from Game and Watch and Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) from Star Fox, for example, make notable cameos. However, these characters serve no purpose other than their immediate assistance to Mario and his friends, who have no arcs or sparsely any personality of their own beyond a few lines, if any.
When watching “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” viewers must keep in mind that it’s mainly a nostalgia-filled spectacle meant for younger audiences, so plot depth is few and far between. The new characters are famous in their own regard from their roles in their original games, so their addition to the movies immediately lock in any viewers ecstatic to see more of their familiar characters animated. As a whole, the movie is fun to watch for what it is — funny and charming in all the ways a famous movie adaptation of a beloved franchise should be.
Audrey Phoukong is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at aphoukon@uci.edu.
Edited by Avani Kumar and Riley Schnittger
