Is Nostalgia Enough? The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trades Story for Fan Service

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” promises its audience a colorful, globe-trotting adventure filled to the brim with nostalgic references to one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. On all accounts, it delivers. But something is missing from this movie, a void that can’t be filled with more A-list actors on the voice cast or flashy action sequences.

The glaring lack of plot, under-development of characters and over-saturation of action keep this movie from being truly great. It feels ultimately like a movie made to entertain children with bright, flashing lights for 98 minutes, rather than a thoughtfully written story for the whole family to enjoy. 

I grew up on animated films that delivered plenty of eye-catching action and slapstick comedy, but movies like “The Incredibles,” “Toy Story 2,” and “Ratatouille” feel like movies with thoughtfully written stories that introduce children to complicated themes while also being a feast for the eyes and soul. They have emotional cores that keep people rewatching them well into adulthood, giving them the opportunity to pick up on adult jokes and conflicts that go over kids’ heads. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” misses the mark. 

As someone who loved “Super Mario Galaxy” growing up, I had no doubt that this movie would deliver on the aesthetics that made me fall in love with the game as a kid. Rosalina, her Comet Observatory and the Lumas alongside the sweeping orchestral score inspired by “Super Mario Galaxy” transported me back to my 10-year-old self, hopping around the observatory just to enjoy the music and collect extra 1-Ups. 

Illumination Studio delivered all that and more with an aesthetically pleasing mix of stylized character design and realistic textures. Clothing, hair, skin and environment textures are beautiful to behold, especially in theaters. Bowser’s oil paintings look startlingly real, and the goop from Bowser Jr.’s paintbrush is even more ominous than its original appearance in “Super Mario Sunshine.” 

However, the entire movie starts to feel like an endless barrage of nostalgic dopamine hits for Super Mario Bros. fans. The movie references not just Super Mario Galaxy, but other Super Mario Bros. and Nintendo games including “Super Mario Sunshine,” “Super Mario Odyssey,” “Starfox” and the Super Smash Bros games. Multiple scenes from the movie reference gameplay mechanics directly, like the model of the mushroom kingdom in Peach’s castle acting as Mario’s mini-map, Starfox being asked to do a ‘barrel-roll’ and Bowser Jr.’s security system effectively being “Mario Maker” (a custom level-building Mario game). 

The plot of the movie revolves around rescuing a captured Rosalina, whose reveal as Peach’s older sister introduces brand new lore into the Super Mario Bros. universe. This means that the plot of both movies in the Super Mario Bros. franchise are about rescuing captured family members, since the first movie was about Mario saving a captured Luigi. Peach and Toad leave first to find Rosalina, and Mario, Luigi and Bowser follow soon after. The movie follows both groups across worlds as they try to get to Rosalina. 

If the plot sounds simple to you, that’s because it is. There isn’t room for much else to happen despite its longer run-time, because most of that time is taken up with action scenes. With over 10 sequences of fighting, running and sneaking, the “plot” ends up feeling more like a funnel from one action scene to the next. They’re exciting for sure, but start to get more and more nonsensical as the cast goes from fighting antagonists to running from a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was included just to be an even more niche reference to “Starfox.”

As immersive as the animation and sound design is, it’s hard to feel invested in a story without emotional depth. The emotional core of this movie is about family bonds, but without the room to breathe, the story falls flat at times. 

Peach longs for connections to her past and family, and discovers that Rosalina is her older sister. This reveal happens about halfway through the movie, and shows the audience their combined magical power that can grow plants. The choice to put the reveal early robs the ending of a more impactful climax, since the audience already has an idea of what will happen when Rosalina is rescued. The sisters are reunited, and the audience gets to see their magic cover the metallic Planet Bowser in grass and flowers. There aren’t any grand mysteries uncovered, questions answered or twists revealed. 

The emotional B-plot has Bowser Jr. rescue his dad from imprisonment in the Mushroom Kingdom and ruin his rehabilitation by reminding him of how much he loves to be evil. It’s heartwarming and funny, and gives Jack Black and Benny Safdie the opportunity for hilarious line deliveries as Bowser and Bowser Jr.. Bowser reckoning with being an absent father, Bowser Jr. turning his bedtime stories into actualized evil plans and Bowser lapsing back into evil is more entertaining than almost everything else in this movie. 

These plot points and emotional beats leave pretty much zero room for Mario to have any sort of character growth or personality. This is almost a blessing in disguise, since Chris Pratt’s performance as Mario continues to be uninspiring. The cast of characters that surround Mario are all leagues funnier and more interesting than him, which is a shame for the titular icon. I ended up wishing that the star-studded cast, including Donald Glover, Keegan-Michael Key and Charlie Day, had more opportunities for dialogue with each other. Donald Glover doesn’t even say anything besides “Yoshi” in a near-perfect Yoshi impression. 

This movie ends up feeling both like egregious nostalgia bait for adults and flashy brainrot for kids. Just because a piece of media is considered “for children,” that doesn’t mean that the story needs to be overly simple or lacking in depth. The critically-acclaimed “Kpop Demon Hunters,” which was incredibly well-received by children and adults alike in 2025, is full of high emotional stakes, dynamic action, interesting characters and complicated themes. “Kpop Demon Hunters” is both an exciting, colorful film and also one that asks the audience to explore themes of shame, cultural hegemony, generational trauma and female empowerment. 

Hollywood has seemingly doubled down on nostalgia bait in the past decade. Sub-par live-action adaptations like Disney’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” took beloved children’s media and changed key plot points and character development that fans loved. Video game adaptations in particular range drastically from the carefully adapted, narrative-focused “The Last of Us” and “The Witcher” to the chaotic “A Minecraft Movie,” which was popular, but doesn’t engage with any existing narratives in the game franchise.   

Existing IPs keep getting remade, rehashed and rebooted, like the new Harry Potter series on HBO Max, “The Rings of Power,” the live-action “Moana” remake, or the upcoming “Sense and Sensibility” remake. But audiences are hungry for new, original stories. The success of “Kpop Demon Hunters” could be a good opportunity for Hollywood to learn that lesson, but it’s one they’re struggling to accept. 

It was recently revealed that Disney cancelled an unannounced film three years into production titled “BeFri.” Directed by Kristen Lester, this film would’ve been like “Kpop Demon Hunters”: an original, colorful, musical adventure about girls. 

The movie was cancelled in 2023 because, according to one former Pixar employee, “Disney just didn’t feel like little boys could see themselves in the film enough. Basically, Disney reps were like, ‘We can’t have a girl power movie.’”

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” also suffers from this assumption that boys can’t relate to female characters. Peach and Rosalina are icons in the franchise themselves, and it’s a missed opportunity not to spend more of the movie getting to know them as characters, or exploring their connection beyond one flashback and their ultimate reunion. 

“Super Mario Galaxy” as a game had so many interesting worlds to explore, but only a fraction of its potential was explored in this movie. Basing a movie on a beloved Mario title, especially this one, guarantees adult fans in the audience. As skeptical as I was, ready to write this off as a complete cash-grab, I was struck by just how much talent and passion shines through the screen. It’s clear that Nintendo fans worked hard behind the scenes to deliver what they could, but it’s a shame that so much potential was left on the table. It was wholly possible to make an exciting, family-friendly movie that cashes in on nostalgia while also delivering interesting stories and characters, and I hope to see that in the next installment in the franchise.