I’m pretty sure it doesn’t hold up as a film per se, as it seemed like a bunch of set pieces loosely strung together. But… I don’t care. Nintendo was my childhood, and this took me back to a simpler, happier time. I almost audibly squeed when one of the lumas referenced the Super Mario Bros Super Show theme song.
All the cameos from other Nintendo franchises make me want a Super Smash Bros movie so bad. Fox also doesn’t look uncanny in this movie unlike the SF64 rereremake.
Always happy to see references to Mario Sunshine (Bowser Jr’s paintbrush, the piantas in the gateway galaxy). I seem to be in the minority of people who really like that game.
I think it’s fair to discuss and criticize films, even if they are “just for kids”. Plenty of children’s films have a deeper story or teach a lesson. Look at Illumination’s first film, Despicable Me. The film is full of heart, but it’s also got comedy.
It’s also fine to enjoy something and criticize it. I enjoyed many different scenes from the Super Mario Galaxy movie and I think any Mario fan will enjoy watching it. But is the movie ultimately forgettable? Also yes.
I liken media consumption to food consumption. “It’s just for kids” is a STUPID argument to defend a poor movie. Maybe not specifically this Galaxy movie, but many abysmal movies have been defended with the same logic.
Why?! Why would you defend feeding your children literal unnutritious slop?? If it were food, would you say, “I don’t care if it has no vitamins or minerals and is loaded with sugar, it’s for children.” If you say yea that’s fine, I’d say you’re a terrible parent. Period.
Same goes for media. Just because it’s “for kids” should NEVER mean vapid, pointless trash should ever be viewed as good. There are TONS of classics that are “for kids”, but have a hell of a lot of heart and good writing/animation/etc, even if they have zero jokes “for the parents”.
To accept mediocre as acceptable for children is straight up just throwing away the next generation’s future because certain people are too stupid to realize that children need to become functional adults some day.
I agree and I made many of the same criticisms myself, but there is a balance to be found with the level/tone of the criticism. A lot of people were weirdly angry and hateful with their reactions. Like well done for getting so triggered by a kids movie? It was pretty embarrassing on their part.
I definitely agree that some people take things too dramatically. People love to say something is a 10/10 masterpiece or (more commonly) the worst movie ever made. There is plenty of nuance and in between ratings, and it’s also fine to judge a film overall by what it was trying to be.
I think a lot of it was just the usual anti-Nintendo/anti-corporation circlejerking people like to do now. There was a bit of a hate movement against the first one too, except it didn’t go anywhere because it was genuinely good.