Walking out of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the biggest feeling I had was honestly pretty simple:

It was fine.

Not terrible.

Not amazing.

Just… fine.

And honestly, that might be the biggest problem.

This is one of the biggest gaming franchises ever made. Mario is one of the few characters in gaming history that basically everybody on the planet recognizes. Kids know him. Adults know him. People who do not even play games know him.

So when a Mario movie comes out and the strongest reaction I can give is “yeah, it was okay,” that probably says something.

The weird thing is that the movie clearly had effort put into it. There are moments where you can tell the filmmakers care about Nintendo history. There are references everywhere. There are callbacks, cameos, visual nods, hidden details, and enough Easter eggs that Nintendo fans could probably spend weeks picking the whole thing apart.

But somewhere in the middle of all of that, I think the movie forgot one important thing.

Mario works best when it stays simple.

The Original Mario Movie Worked Because It Was Straightforward

One of the reasons the first modern Mario movie worked so well was because it understood what kind of movie it needed to be.

It did not overcomplicate itself.

Mario and Luigi get pulled into another world.

Bowser is the threat.

The Mushroom Kingdom needs help.

Adventure happens.

That is really it.

Simple.

Clean.

Easy to follow.

And because the story was straightforward, the movie had room to focus on the fun stuff. The humor worked better. The pacing moved well. The fan service felt exciting instead of overwhelming. The world felt colorful and energetic without constantly stopping to explain itself.

Most importantly, it felt like Mario.

That is something I think The Super Mario Galaxy Movie struggled with.

This Movie Felt More Interested in the Future Than the Present

One of the biggest problems with modern franchise movies is that they often feel less interested in telling a complete story and more interested in setting up the next story.

That is exactly how this movie felt to me.

Instead of focusing fully on being a strong standalone Mario Galaxy story, the movie constantly felt like it was laying tracks for future Nintendo movies, future crossovers, future reveals, and future universe-building.

And look, I understand why.

Everybody wants their cinematic universe now.

Marvel made billions doing it. Other studios want their own version of that success. Nintendo obviously sees the value in building an interconnected movie universe around its characters.

From a business standpoint, it makes complete sense.

The problem is that setup is not the same thing as storytelling.

A movie still has to stand on its own first.

That is where Galaxy felt weaker than the original Mario movie.

Instead of feeling focused, it felt distracted.

The Peach Storyline Never Fully Worked for Me

The biggest example of that was probably the Peach storyline.

The whole “Peach’s sister” angle never really landed for me emotionally.

It honestly felt less like a natural Mario story and more like the movie trying to force a bigger dramatic mythology into the franchise.

That is where things started feeling strange.

Mario has always had lore, of course. Nintendo worlds are not completely shallow. But Mario generally works because the emotional storytelling stays light and accessible.

This movie felt like it wanted to push deeper into emotional family drama and larger cosmic storytelling, but I do not think it fully earned it.

It was not bad exactly.

It just felt oddly disconnected from what makes Mario charming in the first place.

The emotional moments never really hit me the way I think the movie wanted them to.

Brie Larson Was Surprisingly Good as Rosalina

One thing that did surprise me was how much I actually liked Brie Larson as Rosalina.

Going in, I was honestly not expecting much from that performance.

But she probably ended up being one of the stronger parts of the movie for me.

Rosalina has always been a character that walks a fine line between mysterious, emotional, calm, and almost detached from everything around her. That can be difficult to translate into a movie without the character feeling flat.

But the movie handled her fairly well.

There was a quietness to the performance that actually fit the character.

Ironically, Rosalina ended up feeling more emotionally grounded than some of the main plot itself.

That was not something I expected to say after watching the movie.

The Easter Eggs Started Becoming Distracting

Now look, I love Easter eggs.

I grew up during the era where fans would freeze-frame DVDs and pause blurry screenshots just trying to spot hidden references in movies and games.

That stuff is fun.

And this movie absolutely has plenty of it.

Nintendo fans are probably going to lose their minds spotting all the hidden references, background cameos, and little nods to other franchises. Some of them were genuinely cool.

But eventually the references started feeling less like flavor and more like setup.

At some point, I stopped watching the movie and started feeling like I was watching Nintendo executives test-driving their future cinematic universe.

That is not a great feeling.

There is a difference between building a world and advertising a future world.

And I think the movie crossed that line a little too often.

The Fox McCloud Stuff Felt Like a Preview Trailer

The biggest example of that was probably the Fox McCloud and Star Fox material.

The second those references started showing up, it no longer felt like the movie was just telling a Mario story.

It felt like Nintendo standing in front of the audience saying:

“Hey… you guys want Star Fox next, right?”

And honestly?

Yeah, I probably do.

But that is not really the point.

The point is that those moments pulled me out of the movie instead of pulling me deeper into it.

Instead of strengthening the Mario Galaxy story, they reminded me that the movie was constantly looking ahead to future projects.

That can be exciting in small doses.

But when it becomes too obvious, it starts weakening the story you are currently watching.

Mario Does Not Need to Be Overcomplicated

I think this is something Hollywood struggles with sometimes.

Not every franchise needs massive lore expansion.

Not every franchise needs complicated emotional mythology.

Not every movie needs to become the beginning of a giant cinematic roadmap.

Mario became one of the most successful gaming franchises in history because the formula works.

Fun worlds.

Simple stories.

Great music.

Memorable characters.

Creative settings.

Pure adventure.

That simplicity is part of the magic.

You do not need to turn Mario into a giant layered sci-fi mythology to make it important.

In fact, the more complicated you make it, the easier it is to lose what made it work in the first place.

The Movie Was Never Bad, Just Forgettable

I think that is the part that is hardest to explain.

The movie is not awful.

There are much worse video game movies out there.

The animation looks good. The performances are mostly solid. Some of the action scenes are fun. Some of the references genuinely made me smile.

But the movie never really stuck with me.

And that is probably the biggest disappointment.

A few days later, I was already struggling to remember large sections of it.

That is usually a bad sign.

The first Mario movie had scenes, moments, music cues, and sequences that stayed in my head afterward. Galaxy mostly just blended together.

I think part of that comes from the pacing.

Part of it comes from the movie trying to juggle too many ideas at once.

And part of it comes from the fact that it never fully committed to being one thing.

It wanted to be a Mario movie.

It wanted to be an emotional cosmic story.

It wanted to be a Nintendo universe setup movie.

It wanted to tease future franchises.

It wanted to expand the lore.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, the identity got blurry.

This Feels Like a Modern Franchise Problem

Honestly, this is not even just a Mario problem.

A lot of modern franchise movies struggle with this exact issue.

Studios are so focused on what comes next that they forget to fully focus on what is happening right now.

Everything becomes setup.

Everything becomes teasing.

Everything becomes “wait until the next movie.”

But sometimes audiences just want one really good movie first.

That is what made the original Mario movie work.

It was confident enough to just be Mario.

Galaxy feels less confident in that simplicity.

It feels like a movie carrying the weight of future plans on its shoulders.

Final Thoughts

I do not regret watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

I had some fun with it.

There were definitely moments I enjoyed, and longtime Nintendo fans will probably have a lot to talk about with all the hidden references and future teases.

But overall, I think the movie forgot what makes Mario special.

Mario does not need to become an ultra-complicated cinematic universe.

It does not need massive lore dumps.

It does not need constant sequel setup.

It just needs charm, adventure, creativity, and confidence in its own world.

That simplicity is what made Mario timeless in the first place.

And honestly, I think the more the franchise drifts away from that, the easier it becomes for the movies to feel less memorable.

For me, this ended up being around a 5 out of 10.

Not terrible.

Not amazing.

Just one of those movies where you can see pieces of something better underneath it, but the final result never fully comes together.

And maybe that is the strangest thing about it.

For a movie set in an entire galaxy of possibilities, it somehow felt smaller than the first adventure.