Mario’s latest adventure may lack depth, but Charles Merritt thinks its villain sparks big questions about sin, grace, and second chances
Film: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Age rating: PG
Runtime: 99 minutes
See this if you liked: The Super Mario Bros Movie
Synopsis:
When Princess Rosalina is kidnapped by Bowser Jr., Mario and co must set out on a galaxy wide mission to save the day.
Review:
I honestly tried my best to go into this movie with an open mind. It’s no secret that I did not enjoy the first film (see my review for that here) but the trailer for this film caught my attention and I had hope that perhaps this one would be an improvement on the first film.
Nope.
Once again, the animation is gorgeous, highly detailed and beautiful to look at. The action sequences are well choreographed and manage to translate the video game experience to the big screen in creative ways.
But the story is just so basic. It’s a series of TikToks stitched together into a movie. There’ s no character development, and perhaps more crucially, no real characters. They attempt to have an arc for Princess Peach but it’s so rushed that there is no emotional pay off and it doesn’t really make sense.
This movie broke me. I audibly sighed several times and was willing for the movie to be over
They’ve also added a load of new characters too but, again, there’s no character development. You don’t get to know them. They’re just sort of introduced via montage and then they hang around. They don’t add anything to the story, they don’t provide emotional obstacles or create tension, they just exist.
The most developed character is Bowser. In a way, I was rooting for the guy. He was the only one to raise a mild chuckle within me. There was also almost an attempt at having a narrative about absent parents but this was lost in the noise of fight scenes/video game sequences and never truly explored.
Your kids will probably love it though. The last one made a billion dollars, and I imagine this one will too
Honestly, it’s hard to write much more than this. This movie broke me. I audibly sighed several times and was willing for the movie to be over. It’s not even a long movie but it felt like an eternity.
Your kids will probably love it though. The last one made a billion dollars, and I imagine this one will too, so expect there to be a sequel but I think sitting through two of them might be my limit…
Faith thoughts:
Let’s talk about Bowser.
Why is it that sometimes, deep down, we care more about the villains than we do the heroes?
Sure, he’s the villain of the movie, just as he was in the last one. But he’s the most interesting character and the only one I actually cared about.
Why is that villains so often grab our attention? Why is it that sometimes, deep down, we care more about the villains than we do the heroes?
Lovable villains for me include Ursula, Scar and the Joker. There’s something about their dry wit, their fiery personality, their greed and ambition that speaks to audiences. Illumination, the animation studio behind this movie, know of the pull of villains, their breakout hit was Despicable Me, a movie all about a villain turning good. Another of their successful films is the animated version of The Grinch – a meanie who despises Christmas and all the joy it brings.
Sin is ultimately attractive. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t fall victim to it so often
Why, then, do we love to root for those who aren’t always interested in doing the right thing?
I can only speak from my personal experience, but there’s something about their flaws that are appealing to me as a viewer. As flawed human beings ourselves, perhaps we root for them because we see something of ourselves reflected in them. They say things that perhaps we’ve all thought but never dare say – “I’m surrounded by idiots” comes to mind (thanks for this quote, Scar, it lives rent free in my head). They give in to those impulses that we fight against on a daily basis, there’s something liberating about that.
Sin is ultimately attractive. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t fall victim to it so often. It appears to be fun, it appears to be freeing, but ultimately it traps us.
Perhaps what we really like in a movie, is seeing flawed individuals being given a chance to shine
Bowser isn’t the most complicated villain that the history of cinema has produced. He’s more akin to Gaston than to the deep psychological torment of someone like the Joker. Interestingly enough, there is something of the manosphere about Bowser. He’s scorned by a woman and vows his revenge on her and all those around her. He even raises a little manosphere baby, hellbent on draining the magical powers of a woman in order to use them to destroy planets. There’s probably some slightly dodgy, misogynistic view here that women create, and men destroy, but I think that might be giving the movie more credit than it deserves.
Bowser, however, starts to go on a redemptive arc. He persuades his son not to kill Mario and his friends because he has grown to like them. He even takes their place as prisoners so that they can carry on with their adventure at one point. If we like villains, then we like villains who are redeemed even more. Loki, from the Marvel movies, is a prime example of this. Starting off as a villain, ending up as an anti-hero and now as a straight-up hero.
Perhaps it’s not the villains we like the most, but characters that remind us that we too have been given a second chance through the grace of God and the redemption of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross
Perhaps what we really like in a movie, is seeing flawed individuals being given a chance to shine. Perhaps it’s not the villains we like the most, but characters that remind us that we too have been given a second chance through the grace of God and the redemption of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
Interestingly, though, Bowser doesn’t continue on his redemptive arc. He eventually falls back into his villainous ways, pushed on by his son and their shared dream of building a planet capable of destroying other planets. In a sad way, Bowser’s love of his son is what forces him back into being the bad guy. Where have our family priorities got in the way of our faith priorities? What dreams are we giving our children – ones of creation or ones of destruction?
