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By Leah Read.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an animated adventure comedy produced by Illumination and Nintendo and directed by Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath. The narrative follows characters Mario, Luigi and Yoshi on an intergalactic mission. After Bowser Jr kidnaps Princess Rosalina to utilize her powers, the brothers launch into space, team up with the Lumas stars and unfold the deep ties between Princesses Rosalina and Peach. The film is a sequel to The Super Mario Bros Movie also directed by Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath. The plot picks up from where the first film left off following the brothers’ success in defeating Bowser. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie keeps Bowser imprisoned and follows Bowser Jr in beginning his hunt to rescue his father, which then eventually becomes one of the main focuses of the film as well as the mission to rescue Princess Rosalina.
The visuals in the movie created by Illumination Studios Paris have a balance of eye-popping cosmic animations and a vibrant colour aesthetic to create luminous deep space, kaleidoscopic backgrounds and showcase these radiant meteor shows to captivate audiences. Another thing that links into the beautifully pieced visuals is the cinematography created by Lorenzo Veracini. He heavily utilises high contrast lighting to bring out and create the radiance of the shooting stars and for the audience to fully immerse into outer space when watching it in Imax or 3D format.
The characters created in this movie function as more of an action figure rather than a developed protagonist. The film prioritizes spectacle driven entertainment over emotional storytelling. The characters in Super Mario are designed to be recognisable and ready to play for adventure which ties into having that young audience appeal and toy merchandising for global marketing, this could be used as a way of bringing back the Nintendo nostalgia of the franchised games for audiences. There were a lot of easter eggs and Nintendo cameos included when watching the film which challenges the fans of the franchise and the audience to see if they can spot any of them: those include the stuffed doll of the boss Gobble Gut in Bowser Jr’s toy collection and the “Casino” scene acts as a massive homage to Super Mario Bros 2 as they brought back Wart, Birdo, Mouser and Claw clip.
I enjoyed watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie but if had to pick between which of the two released films I preferred more it would be the Super Mario Bros because of Jack Black’s performance as Bowser had that balance of being a villain but also showing his comedic side of his character and the character arcs are grounded through Mario and Luigi’s brotherhood which is shown during their life in Broklyn, New York. The film overall was visually stunning, and the plot was clear and engaging to watch. I recommend going to watch this film as it’s full of highly stylised visuals, nostalgia for the game franchise and fast paced energy.
