It’s-a me, Maryo. A second time!

It’s been three whole ass years since the first Super Mario movie. I went into that film expecting a Turducken of a film; a relatively basic children’s movie stuffed up the ass with a nostalgia bubble filled to the brim with inside jokes and references. Kinda like Warner Bros. embracing the Big Chungus meme. I did enjoy the Mario movie and gave it a B+.

The Super Mario Bros. movie follows in the footsteps of its predecessor with an 89% audience rating and 43% critic score because Nintendo and Illumination knew exactly what they were doing when putting this together. The plot is something of a mishmash of Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, and continues the story from where the original film left off.

Super Mario Galaxy brings back fan…favorites? I don’t know. How has the community warmed up to Chris Pratt over the last couple years? Chris Pratt and Charlie Day return as Mario and Luigi respectively, the Super Mario Bros. The duo have been making a name for themselves as heroes protecting the mushroom kingdom and of course Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) from the forces of evil. Also Mario might be trying to shove his wiggler in Peach’s warp pipe if you get my drift.

We get reappearances by Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), as well as Bowser (Jack Black). Notably absent is a cameo by Charles Martinet, as well as the entire Kong family. Ed Skudder is also back as ROB the Robot. Even not considering speaking roles there are a ton of cameo characters from inside and outside the Mushroom Kingdom.

Like I said earlier, the plot this time is primarily Super Mario Galaxy with a smidge of Sunshine. Spurred by revenge over his father’s capture, Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) attacks and kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) in the hopes of freeing his dad and making him proud. Mario and Luigi meanwhile discover a new friend in the form of Yoshi (Donald Glover). There are a few more appearances I won’t mention for the sake of spoilers and because they’re short enough that you should find out for yourself.

Mario Galaxy is a fun movie that you should temper your expectations before going into. It is beautifully animated, has an incredible score, and the voice acting is fine. At this point Chris Pratt’s Mario doesn’t register on an emotional level, he’s doing a fine job. But that’s it, I’m not sure who is looking for a deep story in a Super Mario movie but they’re going to be incredibly disappointed. There’s a lot of cute moments, I did laugh a lot, and overall the film is very enjoyable in a way that audiences will love and critics not so much.

Which is also why this review is yet again kinda short. There’s not a whole lot to say about it. I didn’t think the franchise references took as much away in this film as they did in the original though, which is an improvement. On a strictly non-informational level I didn’t enjoy this as much as the original. I did note in my prior review that the Mario 2 movie needed Wart or I’d be disappointed, and I’m not disappointed.

Rating: B