The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is having trouble on the launch pad with Rotten Tomatoes critics.
The sequel to the 2024 worldwide blockbuster opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday. Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya-Taylor Joy and Jack Black reprise their Super Mario Bros. Movie voice roles of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Bowser, while Donald Glover, Glen Powell, Brie Larson and Benny Safdie join the movie franchise as the voices of more characters from the hit video game franchise.
Rated PG, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie finds Mario and company leaving the Mushroom Kingdom for some cosmic adventures. The movie review embargo for the Super Mario Bros. sequel lifted Tuesday afternoon, and as of the publication of this article, the film has a 44% “rotten” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 77 reviews.
The RT Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’?
Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press is among the top critics on RT who gives The Super Mario Galaxy Movie a “fresh” score on RT, writing, “Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri … seem committed to keeping things light and playful even while beholden to advancing some kind of coherent, moderately compelling story where there wasn’t one previously.”
Soren Anderson of the Seattle Times also gives the film a “fresh” score. Anderson writes in his RT review summary, “Watching it is akin to being inside the 2007 Super Mario Galaxy game itself. Which is why it needs to be seen on the big screen. Seeing it on a phone or a laptop wouldn’t do it justice.”
Also deeming The Super Mario Galaxy Movie “fresh” is Adam Graham of the Detroit News, who writes in his RT review summary, “It’s a solid action-adventure built squarely for kids, with some nods that longtime Nintendo nerds will appreciate.”
Andrzej Lukowski of Time Out is also a fan of the sequel, writing in his “fresh” RT review summary, “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.”
Clarise Loughrey of the Independent (UK) is among the top critics on RT who gives The Super Mario Galaxy Movie a “rotten” score. In her RT review summary, Loughrey writes, “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.”
Owen Gleiberman of Variety shares Loughrey’s sentiments about the film, writing in his “rotten” RT review summary, “Not a single one of these characters, including Mario and Luigi, occupies the center of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. And that’s because the movie has no center.”
Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times also knocks the Super Mario Bros. sequel with a “rotten” score on RT, writing, “There’s a flat empty nothingness to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, even more than its flat empty predecessor, and that’s a huge bummer.”
The Boston Globe’s Odie Henderson has a suggestion for fans of the video game in his “rotten” review on RT. Henderson writes, “This is yet another big screen rehash of the Nintendo classics that will make you want to go play the games rather than watch this movie again.”
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday.
