THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE Crashes With Critics and Fails to Level Up
The Mushroom Kingdom just took a hit. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has officially landed in theaters, but instead of blasting off with universal praise, the sequel is getting a noticeably colder reception.
Early reviews have pushed its Rotten Tomatoes score well below its predecessor, and while it may still dominate at the box office, critics aren’t exactly jumping for joy.
Right now, the film is sitting at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes from 84 reviews. That’s a sharp drop compared to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which came in at 59% with a much larger pool of critics weighing in. Not a catastrophic score, but definitely not the kind of level-up fans or the studio were hoping for.
The reactions themselves are all over the place, and some of them don’t hold back. RogerEbert.com summed it up like this: "It's cute, and breezy, and rock-stupid, and will probably make a billion dollars again. Such is the world in which we live,"
Other outlets were far less forgiving. The Independent didn’t mince words: "There’s barely a plot here. Not a single memorable character, Not even another piano ditty for Jack Black to sing. It’s a series of large, vaguely connected explosions."
IndieWire pointed out pacing issues, writing: "If anything, the film only loses energy as it goes on, with the final confrontation proving particularly anemic and rushed, as if the film is hurrying along to avoid having to delve into its storylines with more than a surface skim,"
And Slant Magazine didn’t see much depth either: "The film is an unpretentiously vapid cocktail of big-budget technical mastery and lack of artistic ambition,"
The criticism gets even harsher depending on where you look. One Guy’s Opinion said: “This movie, like its predecessor, feels like a soulless machine...it’s spiffily made but suffers from a fatal lack of imagination, warmth and charm”
/Film added: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie didn't need to be that deep, but it didn't have to be this shallow either.”
And NYC Movie Guru went full savage mode: “It would be more entertaining to watch your money flush down the toilet than to watch this unimaginative, vapid and soulless cash grab.”
That said, not everyone is dragging the movie through the warp pipe. There are some critics who found plenty to enjoy, especially if you’re here for spectacle and nostalgia.
Time Out offered a more positive take: "Vivid worlds, memorable characters, silly laughs: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is not deep but it's made with love and it hits the spot,"
MovieWeb leaned into the visuals and fan appeal: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will power up the global box office in a vibrant sequel with amazing CGI action scenes. It's all fan service with an admittedly flimsy plot, but that's okay, the eye candy is totally worth the price of admission.”
Moviefone echoed that sentiment: “Takes what works in the first film and levels it up. It's funnier, more action-packed, and filled with surprises for gamers. The story is simple, but the movie was made for fan service, not the plot.”
The sequel brings back Chris Pratt as Mario and Charlie Day as Luigi, sending the iconic brothers into a cosmic adventure that expands the universe in a big way. They’re joined by newcomers like Brie Larson as Rosalina, Donald Glover as Yoshi, and Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr.
Still, the big takeaway here is that while The Super Mario Galaxy Movie might deliver the visuals and chaotic fun fans expect, critics are split on whether that’s enough. It visually looks incredible, sure, but a lot of reviewers wanted more substance to go along with the spectacle.
Whether audiences agree or completely ignore the critics is another story. If the first movie proved anything, it’s that Mario doesn’t need critical acclaim to rack up coins at the box office.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters, and it’ll be interesting to see if fans embrace it more than critics did.