“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” was once again directed Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic, written by Matthew Fogel, based on the video game franchise by Nintendo and is a sequel to the 2023 film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”. The film sees a majority of the voice cast return to the sequel including Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor – Joy, Charlie Day, Keegan Michael – Key & Jack Black. Joining the voice cast this time around are Brie Larson, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover & Luiz Guzman. The only character who wouldn’t return was Seth Rogan who voiced “Donkey Kong”. After the huge box office success of the previous film, Illumination quickly went in on production on a sequel. In their original meeting, Nintendo confirmed they would be interested in making more of their properties into feature films, IF the first Mario film would be successful. The sequel would be based on the “Mario Galaxy” games series with some story elements from the original game sequel.
At Comet Conservatory, Princess Rosalinda (Larson) is suddenly kidnapped by a mysterious spaceship. The pilot is revealed to Bowser Jr., (Sadie) the son of Bowser (Black), who out to search for his father and continue their quest to take over the galaxy. At the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach (Taylor – Joy) gets a message from the Conservatory about the spaceship heading towards them. Peach palms to leave the Kingdom in order to protect her people and while her & Toad (Michael – Key) leave to thwart Bowser Jr’s ship, Mario (Pratt) & Luigi (Day), along with their newfound companion, Yoshi (Glover) are in charge of the kingdom. However, when the Brothers find out that Bowser Jr. isn’t coming for Peach, he’s coming for Bowser. Mario, Luigi & Yoshi must now take Bowser from his jail cell and away from the Kingdom while Peach & Toad must find Bowser Jr. before he finds them.
You would think after the success of the first film that a sequel would be a no brainer, right ? But this film falls into the same category as “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, in the sense of “let’s do the exact same as before but BIGGER”. This film does the best to expand the universe, in a great by the way, but storyline wise, it’s the same movie as before. Princess in trouble; let’s go save her. I do believe with all of the properties that Nintendo own & done correctly, they could create their own cinematic universe that could rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve already got “Detective Pikachu” which brought into the world of “Pokemon”. Then there’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” which already 3 movies, 1 one the way & a spin off series. In this film alone, we’re introduced to new characters from other worlds & gaming franchises, so the possibilities are there. This movie draws a few elements from “Galaxy” games but also features characters from the original “Super Mario Bros. 2” game that came out in 1988. *SPOILER ALERT*. Glen Powell voices “Fox McCloud” from the “Star Fox” franchise and is fantastic as the character & reminds me of a friendlier “Rocket Raccoon”. While the movie was entertaining, the biggest issue is the overall storyline which the exact same as the first film.
Overall, the movie did everything right and even showed potential in expanding the universe. The movie hit theaters nationwide on April 1st, 2026 & had special premier in Japan on March 28th. While it didn’t match the previous film’s box office numbers, as it stands now, the film has grossed over $640 million. At the moment of writing, there’s no word on any possible future project from Illumination & Nintendo despite rumors of “Donkey Kong” film and or series being discussed.