The “Super Mario Bros.” world has always been a family affair — it’s right there in the title. The wildly successful 40-year-old Japanese video game franchise features a pair of Italian American plumber brothers from Brooklyn who spend their time powering up and jumping around the Mushroom Kingdom. But their motley crew of friends and enemies hasn’t had its own sibling dynamics explored until now, in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the sequel to the 2023 smash animated hit “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
This is the third film based on the blockbuster “Mario” video game empire, even if Nintendo’s executives would likely rather pretend that the 1993 live-action “Super Mario Bros.,” starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper, didn’t exist. (That film is now a niche cult classic but let’s save it for another rant.)
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is based on the 2007 game and its 2010 sequel and is once again directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, with a script by Matthew Fogel. It takes our mustachioed friends to new heights, literally — every character is constantly being snatched or beamed into space by a giant robot or space ray or UFO of some kind. But our titular bros Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) have never been much for keeping their feet on the ground anyway.
The plot revolves around two different estranged families coming back together. Initially, we meet Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson), a blond with a big side-swept bang and a gaggle of Luma babies — adorably airborne star-shaped critters. She’s kidnapped by a nasty little reptile who goes by Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), who hopes to use her stardust to power up his boomsday weapon.
As it turns out, Rosalina is the long-lost big sister of Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), who has lately been wondering about her roots. Bowser Jr., well, it’s not hard to suss out that he’s the progeny of snapping turtle Mario antagonist Bowser (Jack Black), who has been miniaturized and imprisoned in a tiny castle in Peach’s kingdom. When a little Luma crashes Peach’s birthday celebration seeking help for his mama Rosalina, the whole team springs into action. Peach heads for the Galaxy Gateway with Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), while Mario, Luigi and their new dino pal Yoshi (Donald Glover) hold things down with the ‘shrooms — for a while anyway.
This breathless, busy sci-fi adventure ram-jams through space, time and the last 50 years of popular cinema history as our characters bop from planet to planet, making various stops and side quests. First it feels kind of “Indiana Jones,” then it gets a little “Blade Runner.” We get a quick nod to “Jurassic Park” before it goes full “Star Wars,” especially with the introduction of Fox McCloud (Glen Powell), a rakish space pilot with a decidedly Han Solo swagger (small justice for the fact that Powell should have starred in “Solo: A Star Wars Story”).
Fox McCloud has made the leap from another Nintendo property, “Star Fox,” also by “Mario” game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He doesn’t entirely fit in here, but the movie is hectic enough with a T. rex and a queen bee (Issa Rae) and so many crazy action sequences that it’s OK that Fox’s appearance is hardly more than a fan service-y cameo.
It’s a relief when the movie slows down for a millisecond to take a breath, letting Peach take in the magnitude of finally understanding where she comes from and reunite with her sister. A reformed Bowser does somewhat comprehend the gravity of the violent, vengeful life lessons he imparted to his young son, but he still insists on getting his bell rung by Mario and his brother, again and again.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” feels a bit more mature than the previous film in that it hints at Mario crushing on Princess Peach. It includes wildly perilous scenarios and action sequences that don’t skimp on the danger. But the animation, by Illumination Entertainment, is remarkably beautiful, the world and characters both true to the 8-bit source material and deeply cinematic.
There are lots of references, Easter eggs and hat tips to hardcore gamers, but it’s still fun even if you’re not a Nintendo die-hard. Like its predecessor, this film is noisy, fast and unrelenting — not one you watch so much as allow to lightly steamroll your senses. At least that’s a fairly swift and amusing enough process.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
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