If you were to believe the critics, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a steaming pile of soulless garbage. A shallow cash grab with no substance designed solely to syphon as much money out of nerds and kids as possible. 

I will never, for the life of me, understand this. 

It may not be a perfect film, but to deny that it was made with anything other than an immense amount of love is absurd. 

It is true that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is stuffed to the gills with references, but there is a bit more to it than that. There is, in fact, A plot. Not a complicated one, but enough to get the viewer from action setpiece to action setpiece, a formula that bears more than a slight resemblance to the games this movie is based on. Following his defeat in the last one, Bowser’s estranged son sets out to rescue him by kidnapping Rosalina, a celestial being capable of powering a sort of Doomsday weapon, that Bowser used to tell his son stories about. Rosalina’s children, the Lumas, seek out Princess Peach’s help in order to rescue her, so she and Toad set off to the stars to track her down, leaving the Mario Bros., and their new friend Yoshi, in charge of the Mushroom Kingdom. However, shortly after Peah’s departure, Bowser Jr. shows up to reclaim his father. A battle ensues (featuring a far more interesting and capable Bowser Jr. than has ever appeared in the games) and the castle is destroyed, leaving Bowser Jr. to wonder if he just accidentally killed his Dad. It’s all pretty fast-paced, but there’s still room for character development. Again, not a TON. This isn’t a Pixar film, it’s a Mario movie. Regardless, it’s pretty fun stuff to watch, and I genuinely thought it worked. 

Peach feels lost because she doesn’t know where she came from, and that gets explored a bit. Mario has a crush on Peach, but doesn’t have the courage to talk to her about it. Bowser actually got to be friends with Luigi, giving him a bit of an identity crisis as a bad guy, and Bowser Jr just wants to prove himself to his Dad. It’s not that deep, but it all resonated with me, because I am a part of this movie’s target audience. 

Super Mario Galaxy was made for fans of the source material first and foremost. Whether you’re 8 or 58, the emotional resonance so many claim doesn’t exist comes from growing up with these characters. When Mario gave Peach the umbrella for her birthday? When Bowser questions whether or not he’s been a good Dad? These moments worked for me, and my kids.  And the smile I had on my face at the end when Peach gave Mario a kiss on the cheek might have been even bigger than the one on Mario’s. Because it’s simple AND effective. 

I’m not exaggerating when I say that my face hurt by the end of the night from smiling so darn much. Folks can complain all they want about there being so many references, but as a lifelong fan, I was incredibly excited for all of them. Not only did I get to see modern, fully realized versions of Clawgrip, Mouser, and Wart, but the Mario 2 crew were a part of a giant Minus World reference! There’s a scene that’s a callback to Mario Odyssey, Yoshi’s Island, the live action Super Mario Bros. movie, AND Yoshi’s Safari, of all things, AT THE SAME TIME! There was obvious stuff like Star Fox and Pikmin, and less obvious stuff like Punch-Out!! and Pro Wrestling. I. Freaking. LOVED IT. 

And that doesn’t even touch on the music. Oh, this movie’s score was phenomenal, drawing inspiration from all manner of games, including Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario RPG. No unnecessary needle drops, either. 

The whole movie was done with such reverence to the source material, and I don’t think I could have reasonably been much happier. Sure, Wart and Bowser came THIS CLOSE to interacting with one another, something’ve wanted to see since I was a kid, and of course I would have loved to see Fryguy and Triclyde alongside Birdo, Mouser, and Clawgrip, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. 

Adding more plot and emotion may have potentially made it a “better” movie, but it wouldn’t have made it a better Mario movie. Because Mario games aren’t about that. At least, not the Non-RPG ones. I wanted Super Mario Galaxy to be fun, funny, and beautiful, and I got all three in spades. 

I’m still not sure if it’s a better movie than the first, but it’s certainly a more confident one, and I respect that. I have a feeling the inevitable third one, though, has some real potential to be something truly special. And what could be more true to the source material than that?