As Yoshi as They Wanna Be (CREDIT: Nintendo and Illumination)

Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Brie Larson, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, Kevin Michael Richardson, Glen Powell

Directors: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: PG for The Typical Peril

Release Date: April 1, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The Mario Brothers are headed to outer … space! After subduing their iconic archvillain Bowser (Jack Black) in their initial Illuminated big screen adventure, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) team up with a few new friends, like the dino-esque, tongue-heavy Yoshi (Donald Glover) and daredevil pilot Fox McCloud (Glen Powell). Then there’s the mysterious adoptive mother to a brood of squeaky-voiced star creatures, Rosalina (Brie Larson), who may just have a connection to the Mario brothers’ good buddy Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Getting to Rosalina is also a key part of the plan of the scrappy Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), who’s trying to retrieve his father and pull him back into the family business.

What Made an Impression?: Where’s My Controller?: After the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s no surprise that my biggest takeaway from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is pretty much exactly the same. Which is to say: why not just play the games? The character designs and graphics are essentially identical, and the plot (such as it is) is just a series of jumps and flips into the power-ups of the Nintendo-verse. This outing felt at least a little different to me, as it’s primarily based on a game that was released at a time when I wasn’t playing too much. But different doesn’t necessarily mean exciting.
An Egg of an Idea: To get real with it, a Super Mario movie doesn’t really need to have a full-on plot to succeed. At least that’s how I feel based on the one part of this movie that I did unequivocally enjoy: a brief sequence in which Yoshi bops around town to the tune of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize.” If there could have been more of those diversions that offered a clear rush of imagination, then I would have been satisfied.
Banana?: One other thing that I kinda, sorta liked (or at least explicitly noticed) was a crew of blue-and-yellow robots that some quick googling tells me are probably Gearmos. Their color scheme in this movie is inescapably reminiscent of fellow Illumination crew the Minions. I don’t know if that reference was intentional, but any reminder of a much better cinematic franchise was welcome to get through this profoundly straightforward enterprise.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is Recommended If You: Spend all your time hitting your head against boxes and hoping that a star or flower will pop out of it

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Lumas