I told this story on the podcast recently, but I’ll tell it again in case you missed it: My daughter came home from kindergarten recently asking to watch The Super Mario Bros Movie. I assume some of her school friends were talking about the new movie. Regardless of why, after watching the first movie, she asked to go see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Being a fan of the franchise (Mario was my first cosplay back in 2012) who was I to say no?
I had played Mario games previously, but the first Super Mario game I owned was Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. Because of that, I was happy to see it adapted into the movie. Why they went with this game and not an earlier one first? No idea, but I was a fan.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Nostalgia Bait
It’s a little weird to think of Super Mario Galaxy as “nostalgic” but it came out while I was in high school and the sequel came out while I was a student at BYU. The physics-defying gravity and the references to different levels of the game, like the bees and robots. Enough of the movie resembles the plot of the game, without outright copying it. The best example is when the stardust rained down on the Mushroom Kingdom.
Smashing Characters
One of my favorite parts of the movie was the inclusion of other video game characters, specifically ones that have appeared in the Super Smash Bros games. The most prominent of these was Fox McCloud, teaming up with Mario's crew after a technical issue sent him through the multiverse. We also had the appearance of R.O.B. giving off the same energy as Flash from Zootopia. My favorite was the cameo of Mr. Game & Watch during the fight with Dry Bowser. I just wish there would've been a giant "9" when he hammered Bowser--it brings me back to some of my best days at BYU.
PS: As an aside, since Peach had her umbrella from Super Smash Bros, I half expected her to frying pan someone during the fight scenes--Imagine if she'd used that instead of magic to break out Rosalina.
Wholesomeness
The best part of the movie was its wholesome nature. I had no issues taking my kindergarten-aged daughter to this movie. Michael wrote previously that the plot of the first movie was kind of simplistic, but that's what it's meant to be. There's no complex underlying themes or conspiracies in this movie, besides the importance of our relationships. Bowser and Junior. Peach and Rosalina. Mario and Peach. There were a couple of moments intense enough for my six-year-old, but she still left the movie trying to run like Peach (holding the sides of her dress in her hands). I love that movies and games like this can bring me closer to my kids and connect my nostalgia to their childhoods. It makes me excited to maybe dress up my future son as Luigi (with me as Mario again).
If you saw The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, what were your thoughts? If you haven't seen it, what's stopping you (especially since you've made it this far in my blog post)? To be fair, if my daughter hadn't asked to see it, I probably wouldn't have seen it in theaters and would've waited until it was available for purchase and/or streaming. If you fall into that category, the movie will be available for purchase this month. Streaming availability TBD.
Let's a-go!
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