I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten
Critics Consensus: N/A
| Critics | Score | Number of Reviews | Average Rating (Unofficial) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Critics | 46% | 46 | 5.60/10 |
| Top Critics | 29% | 14 |
Metacritic: 42 (15 Reviews)
Sample Reviews:
Odie Henderson, Boston Globe 2/4 – 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.
Kevin Maher, The Times (UK) 0/5 – The film is torturous to sit through and, for me, provoked periods of actual physical discomfort.
Clint Worthington, RogerEbert.com 1.5/4 – It's cute, and breezy, and rock-stupid, and will probably make a billion dollars again. Such is the world in which we live.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian 1/5 – Of course it’s intended for little kids, but it surely didn’t need to be such a visually dull screensaver of a movie, with even more of the cheesy, Euro-knockoff look of that first film.
Matt Singer, ScreenCrush 4/10 – If all you want out of this film is Nintendo references you’ll get your money’s worth. But shouldn’t a movie, even The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, be a little more than that?
Soren Andersen, Seattle Times 3/4 – Watching it is akin 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.
Tim Grierson, Screen International – These comparisons are meant to evoke warm nostalgia, but the old-fashioned game sequences actually prove far more exhilarating and charming than what this leaden blockbuster has to offer.
Adam Graham, Detroit News B – It's a solid action-adventure built squarely for kids, with some nods that longtime Nintendo nerds will appreciate.
Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (UK) 2/5 – 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.
Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence B – Is it a ride that includes clear story structure, comprehensible stakes, or narrative momentum? Not really. Is it a ride featuring a lot of bright colors, familiar characters, and the occasional deranged moment? Absolutely.
Wilson Chapman, IndieWire C- – There’s no sense of discovery when it comes to these planets, meticulously created to resemble the games without nary a wrinkle of surprise to be found. The animation style doesn’t help: this galaxy is an impossibly shiny one.
Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter – Relentlessly fast-paced and filled with hyperkinetic visuals, the sequel hits the sweet spot in terms of what its target audience wants, even if adult non-aficionados will find little of interest other than the starry vocal cast.
William Bibbiani, TheWrap – So lacking in substance and purpose that after a while you can’t even hear the dialogue over the incessant sound of Aristotle’s ghost punching himself.
Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine 1.5/4 – The film is an unpretentiously vapid cocktail of big-budget technical mastery and lack of artistic ambition.
SYNOPSIS:
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros., and follows The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was released in 2023 and earned more than $1.3 billion worldwide.
CAST:
- Chris Pratt as Mario
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach
- Charlie Day as Luigi
- Jack Black as Bowser
- Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
- Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr.
- Donald Glover as Yoshi
- Issa Rae as the Honey Queen
- Luis Guzman as King Wart
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
- Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina
- Glen Powell as Fox McCloud
DIRECTED BY: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
SCREENPLAY BY: Matthew Fogel
BASED ON MARIO AND SUPER MARIO GALAXY BY: Nintendo
PRODUCED BY: Chris Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Yusuke Beppu, Brett Hoffman, Bill Ryan
MUSIC BY: Brian Tyler
RUNTIME: 98 Minutes
RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2026
by chanma50
32 Comments
55 Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes score in the high 60’s-low 70’s
Edit: 43 Metacritic with 7 reviews
Here we go. The moment of truth. Can it at least get a fresh score on the tomato meter this time? First movie had a 59. It only needed one more point and it would have been fresh.
Now, it goes without saying this shit is going to be ***completely*** critic-proof; Mario is just one of those invincible IPs like Pokémon or Spiderman that is literally too big to fail, the brand power is too strong.
***That being said.***
I have an inkling this one is going to review pretty terribly. The usually gushing, corporate-tinged social reactions have been a mixed bag (lots of ‘it’s fun but not much more than that’) and there seems to be a consensus the actual story is garbage and the pacing is rushed, which was perhaps inevitable given the number of characters crammed in a 90 minute runtime. People have long predicted this from the early trailers and now the proof will emerge.
There’s also the factor of critics probably being less kind this time around because Illumination had their practice run with the first movie, and sequels are the point where the gloves kind of have to come off and you need to get your shit together narratively; there’s not the novelty or grace period anymore.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it scores lower than the first. It might surprise, but it really does seem like it’s going to be 100 unabated minutes of key-jangling and references.
1 review and it is positive. Always knew this would reach 100% approval.
I’m going with 42%. Bad but fun bad
Reviews are mostly on par with the first one, which means that it’s still fun enough that it’ll make a billion dollars. Hooray!
Predicting a score in the high 40s low 50s on rotten but who cares its making a billion
Looks a little bit worst reception than first
Idk if it’ll have a higher rotten tomatoes score unlike fnaf 2
Reviews don’t matter, sadly. Gonna make coin no matter what.
But as a Mario fan, it’d be nice if this was better than part one.
Please. Please clear at least *that* bar.
Edit: They all say it’s a cameofest. Oh God. Oh, fucking ***hell.***
It’s 0? I know this movie is critic proof but I at least wanted something good! /s
Starting out with a 53/100 on Metacritic with 4 reviews
Reviews look significantly worse then the first
Man i do hope its better than the first movie.
>In The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as in the 2023 film, surprise character cameos, nonstop gags and action, and references to 40 years’ worth of games that fly across the screen at 100 mph take precedence over plot, character development, and pacing.
Fuck. They made the same movie again…
Edit: Might even be worse than the first one from what i’m seeing.
https://preview.redd.it/d8ggghelifsg1.jpeg?width=896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91dfec2ffdb57d71b4570917a3e85c46813f5468
Just like the first film where critics doesn’t seem to like it, the audiences however will still like it and will easily make over a billion
It’s Mario.
The animation is great but it’s unfortunate that seem to be putting so little effort into the plot and story.
I’m going to guess 40%-45%. The pacing I have heard is even worse than the first movie. But everything else is practically the same in terms of quality.
EDIT: Out of the 38 reviews here, 20 are positive, meaning it’s around a 52-53% score: [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_super_mario_galaxy_movie/reviews](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_super_mario_galaxy_movie/reviews)
Pretty much what I expected to be honest, it’s ‘jingling keys’ the movie
Liking by the movie depends on how much you’re fine with that
My guess: 55% RT, 40 Metacritic, 95% audience
Can illumination ever touch 80% RT again?
Surely they can try to make 1 prestige flick like the wild robot just to show what they are capable of.
From the Independent:
>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.
Also:
>There is only one real, solid joke in this film. And it’s mostly just repeating a bit from Zootopia.
I am going to make a prediction as to what this is, feel free to pop back and tell me if I’m right or wrong tomorrow. I think this will be ROB at the reception desk in the Gateway Galaxy going really slowly (as the real ROB unit did) to attend to Peach and Toad, in a ripoff of Flash the sloth.
I know this will be a standard illumination movie(fun enough, with barely an depth) combined with 3billion cameos, which is fine. But man I feel like they could do a bit more with Mario than just: “It’s fun”. I assume it will be like the first movie: A fun enough movie that I forget about 1 week later… I really hope I’m wrong/enjoy this one more, but I doubt it
The Guardian’s review calling it worse than AI actually pisses me off. Look, I’m not expecting the movie to be great by any means, but people nowadays calling the media they personally don’t like AI-generated really grinds my gears
Get ready for a million “it’s for the fans” excuses to defend this movies quality.
Really not looking forward to fans of this movie acting like FNAF fans when their movies got terrible reviews lol
50 on RT with 42 reviews
This thing is absolutely critical proof money wise but there does seem to he a bit of a mixed response overall. Not anyone saying it’s *the worst thing ever of course*, but similar complaints to the first that it was overstuffed and focuses a lot on references than substance.
Considering how beloved the Galaxy games are I can’t help but feel like this is gonna split the Mario fandom a tad more than the first did
The first one had 59 critic and 95 audience. It’ll be interesting to see the gap between critics and audiences in this one
46% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Illumination with the first Mario, and the entire Despicable Me franchise post-second movie have already proven that bad reviews won’t be impacted in any way shape or form.