‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Review: This Chris Pratt-Jack Black animation film is all over the place and for no good reason

If there’s anything that flies in the face of ‘good things come in twos,’ this film would come up top. The sequel to 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros Movie” throws all the duos it has on the screen, hoping something sticks. The Bros, two Princesses, two dinosaurs, a father and son (Bowser and Bowser Jr) and what have you.

Despite what the title will have you believe, this film has more to do with a couple of reunions than it does with the heroes of this story. And sometimes, that's a good thing. In this film, it's a subplot that goes nowhere. What does, is the setting; from earth to planets far, far away.

A princess (Brie Larson as Rosalina) who’s a self-styled ‘mama’ to cutesy stars in a galaxy far, far away is “princessnapped” by a dastardly kid turtle with daddy issues, named Bowser Jr (Benny Safdie). She loses the battle and is whisked away while one of her ‘kids’ finds help in the Mushroom Kingdom with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her self-imposed champions Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day). She decides to go help Rosalina along with her faithful Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) while Mario, Luigi, their new dino friend Yoshi (Donald Glover) follow suit but quickly get waylaid.

Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic return to helm a project that possibly seemed promising at the outset. You return to familiar faces, plotlines you can see a mile away and the freedom afforded by a successful Part 1. But all that seems to come to nought. You can't entirely blame screenwriter Matthew Fogel for the zigzag route taken by the animated characters you get from point A to B. The only cohesive thing about this film is the consistency of nods to the original fans of the game. And the cutting-edge sharp-as-nails animation, maybe.

Jack Black, who voices Bowser, leads the charge (despite his limited presence) even as Pratt and Day decide to play second fiddle to both him and Jr as well as the two princesses. While the voice casting leaves little to be desired, it is the problem of plenty that makes you go: This could’ve been so much better! Some of the best lines in the film are hard to come by and are gone before you realise it.

That being said, this film will appeal to children, in general and adult nostalgia-hunters, in particular. Go looking for Easter eggs and you will find several. But go looking for logic or a semblance of a script and you will be found wanting. 

And maybe, the point wasn’t to have a point. Not all animation films need to have a message that educates or illuminates, it just needs to do the bare minimum: entertain and look like a million bucks while doing it. "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" scores high on the latter, but cleanly misses the former. And that’s a shame.