Three years following the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie – a film that grossed $574.9 million domestically as well as $1.4 billion worldwide – the sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, finally reaches theaters. The result is a film that, while it may lack durability as a resonant science fiction epic, it still proves to be an effective bit of escapist entertainment that should successfully engage most members of the family to some degree.
In their latest adventure, Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day), must venture into space and team with Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) to save the galaxy from Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie) who is obsessed with freeing his father – Bowser (voiced by Jack Black) – from the prison our heroes have confined him to.
Much like the first film, the sequel plays it fast and furious and rarely lets up its kinetic pace as it moves quickly from one action sequence to another. While this may hinder the depth of the overall depth of the story being told, it poses no detrimental effect to the enjoyment to be had while watching the film.
Returning to direct – Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic; joined by co-directors Pierre Leduc and Fabien Polack – keep screenwriter Matthew Fogel’s action-heavy script constantly moving and even get to add a little bit of whimsy with the “galaxy” portion of the story. When the trio find themselves in need of a pilot to get them across the galaxy, they join forces with the rogue Fox McCloud (voiced by Glen Powell). From there, the film gets a jump start and move full throttle into action territory.
Along the way, a few other characters – like Keegan-Michael Key’s Toad and Donald Glover’s Yoshi – pop up to provide comic relief and move the plot forward at light speed.
Charlie Day, Chris Pratt, Keegan-Michael Key, and Donald Glover in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”
Although the film is ultimately a bit light in the depth of character and plot department, it still proves to be wildly entertaining and is probably more in line with what a fan of the video games the films are based on would be inclined to expect in a film adaptation of the same.
While The Super Mario Galaxy Movie breaks no new ground in terms of advancing the narrative storytelling yielded by the video game to movie genre, it does provide a solid ninety plus minutes of family entertainment that likely contains enough odds and ends to satisfy every member of the family in some way.
WHERE TO WATCH: (powered by JustWatch)
| Producer: | Christopher Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Release Date: | April 1, 2026 |
| Running Time: | 98 minutes |
| Starring: | Glen Powell, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Brie Larson, Benny Safdie, Keegan-Michael Key, Charlie Day, Donald Glover, Kevin Michael Richardson, Luis Guzmán, Issa Rae, Roxana Ortega |
| Writer: | Matthew Fogel |
| MPAA Rating: | PG (for action, mild violence, and rude humor) |
| Director: | Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic; Pierre Leduc (co-director), Fabien Polack (co-director) |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures |
| External Info: | Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / X (TWITTER) / #SuperMarioMovie |
