The early word on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is not promising. The review embargo for Illumination and Nintendo’s sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie lifted on Tuesday, March 31, the day before Mario’s latest animated adventure hits theaters. That late embargo is normally a sign of a lack of confidence on the studios’ part or an attempt to preserve spoilers.
But now that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s Rotten Tomatoes score has debuted, it’s clear it was the former. The popular aggregator currently has 77 reviews accounted for, and the overall sentiment is poor. As of this writing, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has a 44% on the Tomatometer, which is a notable drop from the prior entry’s 59% RT score.
While some critics had positive things to say (and there’s a strong chance the audience score is incredibly high), the worse reviews for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie are a surprise. It seems that Nintendo and Illumination didn’t learn many lessons from the first movie, with many complaints about the sequel connected to it doubling down on criticisms of its predecessor.
5
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Has Too Many Characters
One of the recurring issues with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that’s contributed to its low Rotten Tomatoes score is its characters. The movie brings back all the icons from the first film: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Bowser. It then adds in Yoshi, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., and Fox McCloud into the adventure to varying degrees.
That’s nine characters for the sequel to properly handle and develop. And for most critics, that did not happen. In Jordan Williams’ 5 out of 10 star The Super Mario Galaxy Movie review for ScreenRant, she noted that the film “hardly allows enough time to capitalize” on the new dynamics presented.
Rather than keep a smaller ensemble that makes the most of each Nintendo figure, the movie shortchanges everyone. Even someone like Rosalina, who is a key figure in the Super Mario Galaxy video game, isn’t given as big a role as expected, with Williams’ review saying she’s “largely underutilized throughout the narrative.”
4
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s Story Is Too Thin
Another common critique in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s reviews is the story. The plot revolves around the main heroes working to save Rosalina from Bowser Jr., but the path to the resolution is scattered and lacking. This criticism can even be found in the reviews that lean more positive.
For instance, Ross Bonamine’s review for Collider describes the story as “thin” and says that it gets “a bit too overwhelmed by trying to do too much with this sequel that expands this universe significantly.” While that review scored it 7 out of 10 stars, the thin narrative critique pops up in many other reviews.
Williams’ review said that the movie lacks a “memorable story.” Matt Singer for ScreenCrush said that “Maybe there’s just no time for things like ‘cohesive character development’ or ‘a compelling story’ when you’ve got to service as much Nintendo IP as humanly possible in barely 90 minutes before credits.” Rodrigo Perez’s review for The Playlist calls it “empty of anything resembling an actual story.”
3
Mario Takes A Backseat In His Own Sequel
One thing that should have been easy to count on with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is that it would have plenty of Mario. He is the headliner character and Nintendo’s icon who was very much front and center for the original $1.3 billion hit. Shockingly, that’s not what happened here, with Mario getting sidelined some.
Germain Lussier’s review on io9 addressed this head-on. He wrote, “The biggest problem might be that Mario and Luigi become supporting characters in their own movie, achieving little and learning less.” Williams’ review echoed this point, noting that “little development comes from Mario and Luigi” and calling Mario in particular “far less of the standout hero” in the sequel.
This issue is connected to the original point, as Mario is forced into a supporting role to make room for all the other new additions. If they stood out a bit more, perhaps Mario’s lesser part would have been more acceptable. But that’s not the case here, as even Owen Gleiberman’s review for Variety said Mario and Luigi “often feel like an afterthought.”
2
The Humor Doesn’t Land As Well
Animated movies that are primarily targeting younger audiences typically rely on humor as a way to keep things light and ensure viewers can at least leave a showing with a few solid laughs. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has some genuinely funny moments, but a lot of critics found it difficult to do the same during the sequel.
Kaitlyn Booth’s review for Bleeding Cool said, “A movie with this many jokes should illicit a giggle, but they were few and far between.” Finding good jokes proved to be even harder for others. Clarisse Loughrey’s review for The Independent said, “There is… one real, solid joke in this film,” but she notes that it was done before Zootopia.
It doesn’t appear that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie lacks attempts at comedy. But they are not landing as well with everyone. Some more positive reviews have shown enjoyment for the comedy, so this element may really depend on what viewers are looking for.
1
It’s Overly Reliant On Nintendo Easter Eggs & References
If there is one thing that everyone can agree on with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it’s that the film is absolutely loaded with Easter eggs and Nintendo references. This is hardly a surprise after The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s Easter eggs, but critics are more divided on the way the sequel handles them.
For Williams, she wrote that “it amounts to the meme of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen for 100 minutes.” That’s all some critics and viewers will want, which could leave them a lot higher on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie than the critical consensus. But as ScreenCrush‘s review says, “Shouldn’t a movie, even The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, be a little more than that?”
Elements like Fox McCloud’s appearance and other references delighted many, yet io9‘s review discounts the meaning of these moments as “Easter eggs that mean nothing.” Many critics feel like including these references is the only real purpose of the movie, with the focus on that over a strong story and engaging character arcs a disappointing direction for the sequel.
Yet, it’s not just the blink-and-you’ll-miss Easter eggs or cameos that falter. Bleeding Cool‘s review notes, “The integration of the game elements into the movie is so much sloppier this time around.” The movie can feel like Illumination just wanted to include as many Nintendo references and connections as possible without really thinking through how or why they should be included.
All in all, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s Rotten Tomatoes score stems from multiple recurring issues: its characters, its story, the tone, a lack of focus, and reliance on nostalgia. Since it’s still poised to be a big hit, it’ll be up to the next installment to try and fix some of the lingering issues or convince critics that this is exactly what a Mario movie should be like.
- Release Date
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April 1, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack
- Writers
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Matthew Fogel
- Producers
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Chris Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto
