I’ve spent most of my life watching movies made for “kids.” That’s partly because I love animation and superheroes, media that can easily be filtered through a lens of all-ages entertainment and often codified in the public imagination by family films like those produced by Disney, DreamWorks, or Illumination. Those styles of stories can be directed to all ages, with all sorts of genres at their base. That being said, there are some movies that are directly aimed at young children, and they should be regarded as such.
The crux of this piece? I’ve seen The Super Mario Galaxy Movie more than you have, and I think that it gets a bad rap. Is it flawless? No! Could it be better? Absolutely, I’d say the first one (also an imperfect but charming kids flick) is better by a solid margin. However, I’m frustrated by critics who decry it as the end of modern filmmaking or an offense to the senses. It’s part of an overarching trend I’ve seen from film criticism as a whole, where our expectations for the art we want blinds us to the art we get — and I really need people to stop giving it such a hard time.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is The Definition Of Fine
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, like The Super Mario Bros. Movie that came out before it and the generations of games that inspired it, is predicated on being entertainment for all ages. They are well-crafted on a technical level, vibrant, and light-hearted. For forty years now, Mario has been a herald of gaming specifically designed with younger players in mind, a mascot of goofy charm where stakes are low and your worst enemy will sometimes join you for kart racing. As such, I never expected the movies based on the games to be looking to win an Oscar. All I needed was a film that was fun in a similar vein to the games, and this felt like it.
Take Yoshi, a goofball who joins the cast early on because they met him – that’s it – and could arguably be removed from the plot with little impact on the narrative. In doing so, the film would lose a silly character who gets some good action beats, some great comedic moments, and speaks to the underlying focus on charming goofiness at the core of the film. He’s a character that appeals to kids easily, because that’s what Yoshi has always done. He’s a silly green dinosaur who throws eggs at people and exists in a nebulous space between friend and pet. He’s another flash of colorful comedy for the film to mine for all it can, which it does. He’s fun, which is exactly what the movie is trying to accomplish.
The Difference Between Subjective And Intention Is Key
None of this is to say that if you didn’t like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, you’re wrong. Even beyond art being subjective by its very nature (and you can therefore like whatever you like or dislike whatever you dislike), the film lacks clear thematic arcs, drops character development without warning, and really doesn’t have an emotional through line as it does a series of events that happen for the sake of happening. It’s flawed! It is not perfect by any stretch.
However, I think it does manage to do what it sets out to do, which is entertaining on a base level and endearing itself to lifelong fans who recall the joys of those characters from their own youth. Intention within art is an important gauge for the effectiveness of storytelling. A very funny movie meant to be a serious drama is, on a creative level, a flawed creation. If The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was really looking to explore a deeper tale of the burdens placed on us by family, it would be a disappointment for its lack of interest in those deeper themes. However, it’s not trying to be that. A modern descendant of the way that early silent film was often broadly slapstick to be universally appealing, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is basic narratively and deeply impressive technically. The visuals are bright, the music is memorable, and the action is well-staged. It’s a movie about having bright colors, silly fan service, and a great sense of adventure. In those regards, it succeeds.
This argument is partly stemming from having a young son who ADORES this film. I doubt it will be his favorite movie when he’s grown – he’s a little kid, I doubt it’ll be his favorite movie in a month. However, at the screening I attended with him, he loved every instant of it. He made sounds with the explosions and gasped at Bowser Jr.’s plans. It was a movie made for wide-eyed audiences like him, with a childish enthusiasm for big explosions and goofy characters. That’s what the filmmakers were looking to do, and it worked. I get thinking the film isn’t up to the Pixar standard, but calling it an insult to filmmaking (like I’ve seen in several reviews and video essays) frustrates me. I’ve seen this film at least twenty times since it hit home release, and every time it manages to be charming, silly, and entertaining – exactly as it set out to be. Don’t like it? Call it a bad movie. But when you decry as the dying embers of society, I feel like pointing to a century of entertainment “made for kids” that didn’t have the clear level of technical craft and effective goofiness put into effect. It’s fun, which is exactly what it was trying to be. Sometimes, that can be enough.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now available on VOD.
