The powerful Rosalina gets captured by Bowser Jr. in an effort to use her magical energy to free his imprisoned dad and threaten the universe. Peach, Mario, Luigi and a new dino pal named Yoshi run to the multiverse rescue. There are some thumping battles and chaotic action here. But kids and their families will be swept up in this pic’s colorful sparkle and wahoo moments. Sweet family interactions are the cherry on top.
Life in the Mushroom Kingdom is pretty colorful, sweet and sunny.
Princess Peach rules benevolently over her resident Toads and Toadettes. Mario and Luigi are dirt biking around and helping to keep peace in the land. (I mean, talented plumbers have their ways.) And the formerly menacing turtle-dragon, Bowser, has been shrunken down to a mere few inches tall. So even when he loses his temper, rants, raves and shoots fireballs, it’s a very tiny ranting fireball.
For that matter, Bowser’s time relaxing and painting pictures in his own miniature castle has been pretty good for him. He wants to regain his freedom, sure, but in the meantime, he’s beginning to find an unexpected inner peace that’s made him almost … happy?
However, Bowser’s son isn’t all that joyful—well, at least not completely. Bowser Jr. has been building up his destructive forces and searching diligently for his missing father. In fact, the turtle-dragon heir has created a lava-spewing planet all his own—a world that he and his malevolent dad had planned to rule together. It even has a universe-threatening cosmic cannon, complete with a Star Reactor.
The only thing Bowser Jr. is missing (besides his dad) is a power source for that reactor. And he’s just located one: It’s someone called Princess Rosalina, the Mother of the Stars. If Bowser Jr. can tap her cosmic power he can do anything. So he uses his massive mechs to capture Rosalina while she’s in the midst of reading bedtime stories to her beloved Lumas (star-like, raindrop-shaped creatures). In a blink, Rosalina is gone and her Luma children are left alone on Rosalina’s drifting Comet Observatory.
Oh no! What can be done? Who can save the captive Rosalina? Who can stop the power-hungry Bowser Jr.?
Well, it just so happens that Rosalina was in the midst of telling her sweet Lumas stories about a brave princess named Peach. She spoke of a pair of faithful plumbers who were always ready to help.
Perhaps these heroes can find a way to rescue Rosalina and set things right.
Let’s-a go!
Mario, Peach and Luigi never hesitate to give aid to anyone in trouble. We see them all put their lives on the line to fight for Rosalina and rescue her from imprisonment and torment. A pilot named Fox McCloud is less enthusiastic about flying into danger, but once he commits himself (with some monetary encouragement), he repeatedly does so.
For her part, Rosalina is very protective of the many glowing Lumas, which she calls her children. And she allows herself to get captured just to let one Luma escape.
Early on, Bowser raises concern to Mario about his past choices with his son. “I was a terrible father. He must hate me,” Bowser worries. Luigi sees the good in him and declares that Bowser has gotten in touch with his feelings. “I’m drowning in ‘em!” Bowser declares. With time, Bowser and Bowser Jr. reunite. And though these two go on to do villainous things together, it’s plain to see that fatherhood is positively impacting Bowser in small but important ways. “Your family is forever,” Bowser tells his son.
Bowser is unwilling to let his son blast Mario and Luigi after seeing something he admires in the brothers. Bowser even takes Mario’s place in a work camp to help Mario on his quest. Mario, in turn, heroically saves Bowser’s son from a dragon that tries to eat him.
[This section contains spoilers.]
Early on, the Mushroom Kingdom celebrates Peach’s birthday. But she notes that she isn’t sure when her birthday is, since she remembers nothing about her family or early life. We find out later that Peach and the very magical Rosalina—who can levitate and move large objects with a magic wand—are sisters. We’re told they are both “made of stardust” and have superpowers. (Peach also levitates, and she hits foes with a magical blast, too.)
Rosalina sent Peach away for safety’s sake many years before. When they reunite, their combined power destroys Bowser Jr.’s reactor and transforms his lava-covered planet into a green and thriving globe.
While trying to find Rosalina, Peach (and the others) goes to the Gateway Galaxy and uses that portal spot to visit several different universes and planets. It’s sort of like a multiverse connection port.
Mario and Luigi discuss Mario’s feelings for Peach. And though Mario downplays anything other than them being good friends, it’s obvious that he’s a bit flustered and tongue-tied around her. Luigi suggests that Mario ask Peach out on a date. Peach and Mario hold hands at one point. Near the end of the film, Peach kisses Mario on the cheek in gratitude for all his help.
Bowser paints a very buff and muscular picture of himself with his arm around an adoring Peach. Mario instantly calls it trash. Bowser speaks longingly about Peach.
Bowser Jr. attacks Rosalina’s Comet Observatory with a large multiarmed mech. Rosalina bashes the robot back with magic blasts, but she’s caught when she protects the Lumas from an explosive attack. Bowser Jr. also smashes and blasts his enemies with his huge spaceship. He blows up an entire planet at one point and shoots Fox McCloud’s ship out of the sky.
Mario and Luigi discover a dinosaur-like creature named Yoshi. This amiable beast tends to swallow attacking enemies and then immediately lay an egg containing the foe.
Bowser Jr. holds Rosalina captive and treats her roughly, tying her up and knocking her wand aside. He eventually traps her in a sphere connected to a Cosmic Reactor that drains away her stardust essence. Rosalina gets pinned helplessly to the floor in a torture-like torment. That said, we see Rosalina lash out with explosive force when her Lumas are threatened, yelling, “No one hurts my kids!”
One of those Lumas crashes down near Peach, creating a large crevice with its explosive impact.
Bowser Jr.’s ship batters Peach’s castle, using lasers and a tractor beam to rip it out of the ground. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi scamper quickly to save anyone still inside the castle, but they get trapped and hit with falling debris. The castle falls back to the planet surface and gets demolished with no casualties.
Bowser Jr. demands his father’s release, to which Mario responds, “Over my dead body.” “Fine with me,” the younger Bowser replies. We see Bowser Jr. and the older Bowser battle against Mario, Luigi and Yoshi on several occasions. The baddies flail away with axes, swords and a mace—smashing scenery and sometimes hitting the heroes.
For their part, the three good guys use small magical items to gain different power-suits that they attack and defend with. They slip into an iceball-chucking Penguin suit, a super-swimming Frog suit, a ground-tunneling Drill suit and a fireball-producing Fire Flower suit, among others.
Peach flies into fights on several occasions, too. She gets swarmed by hundreds of attacking Ninjis (small enemies wearing ninja gear) for instance, deflecting and attacking with her parasol. Different enemies shoot at her with rocky projectiles and blades.
Mario and Luigi get transformed into babies at one point, and they crawl up onto a sleeping T. rex. The dinosaur wakes and chases them as Yoshi attempts to keep the baby heroes out of the beast’s massive, sharp-toothed mouth. Eventually, a large bone bridge they’re running across crumbles and drops them into a river.
On Bowser Jr.’s planet, a group of Koopa Troopas (turtle-like minions) ride a mining cart into lava and come out the other side as skeletal Dry Bones. Later, Bowser suffers a similar fate as he falls into a lava pool. He rises up to declare himself “the Lord of Bones.” “I am the Skull King,” he bellows.
Mario and Peach navigate a course filled with hidden traps, fireballs, bombs, swinging blades, spiked balls and logs and chomping enemies. We switch to Bowser Jr.’s view and witness the heroes’ efforts translated into an old-school 2D Mario game. Mario also jumps in to attack a huge dragon.
At the movie’s end, an extremely bleak and nihilistic blue Luma shows up as Bowser and Bowser Jr.’s jailer. It calls them “maggots” in its cute, small voice and terrorizes them with the drumbeat threat of their impending “doom.”
Bowser Jr. lashes out with “Shut up!” A miniaturized Bowser yells, “Bye, suckers,” “I’ll burn the flesh off your bones,” and “I will eat your soul.”
None.
Princess Peach has a large stained-glass window sporting an image of her profile. In one multiverse, a monkey steals items from unsuspecting victims. On her journey through various universes, Peach enters a casino where many Koopas and thugs are gambling. While Rosalina is away, the Lumas get into mischief. One of them notes, “This is what happens when there’s no bedtime.”
In many ways, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was one of the best movie adaptations of a video game that audiences had seen to date. Sure, there were some negatives: The Mario-pounding peril was a bit much at times. And that bellowing Bowser was pretty intense for littles in the crowd. But there was a lot of rollicking family fun in the mix, too.
In hindsight, I’d say that Super Mario Bros. was a solid double on the video-game-to-movie front. And in that light, the new Super Mario Galaxy Movie swings for the fences. There are still some bits for families to consider before grabbing their tickets, but they’re less pressing.
For instance, Bowser’s bellows are still evident, but the big guy is more family focused and softer this go ‘round. (Believe it or not, Bowser and his son are rather family affirming.) Jumping through various Mario universes might feel a bit chaotic for some, but it sure is colorful and fun. And, of course, there are the crashing, thumping and explosive moments. However, the movie uses some 2D video game elements that not only break up and comically mitigate the more intense action on screen, but they make the whole film more smile-worthy.
Much of this movie’s new charm comes from the fact that Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto was a co-producer on the film and a member of its creative team. His presence, in my opinion, gives this pic and its multiverse-hopping action a much-improved feel.
I think that will translate to fans of Mario games grinning gleefully over the scores and scores of Easter eggs woven throughout the film. Non-fans will adore the story’s brisk pacing and emotional family reunions. And if nothing else, kids will be swept up in this pic’s sparkle and wahoo moments. They’ll likely want to jump into some Mario gaming action at home.
Nintendo is pleased.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
