The new Super Mario movie is already breaking records, despite a critical mauling, but does the Nintendo formula really make sense when applied to motion pictures?

Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most important creative geniuses of the last century. As the creator of Mario and Zelda, and innumerable other Nintendo characters and franchises, it is impossible to imagine the modern video game world without his input, and yet until very recently he had no experience in making films.

He’s also not directed a console game in decades (he’s 73 at this point) butinstead he’s busied himself with being a producer and ensuring a new generation of talent. That changed when Nintendo got into the movie business, and he was credited as the co-producer of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The film was a massive hit but a critical failure, with this month’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie likely to end up as one of the worst reviewed major releases of the year. That is not a situation he will be used to, but since he didn’t take any notice of the criticism from the first film it seems fair to assume he doesn’t care – especially as the new movie has already been a major hit, right out of the gate.

I watched the film on opening day, along with my autistic nine-year-old nephew, who seemed to enjoy it even more than the first movie – even though his favourite, Donkey Kong, didn’t have a starring role. He squealed with pleasure every time a character he recognised appeared and often shouted out (but not too loud) their name.

It wasn’t just him though, half the audience seemed to be doing this, with the loudest laughs and noises of recognition coming from what were clearly adults. Everyone seemed thoroughly entertained and I have to say I enjoyed it more than the first, with everyone given something to do, despite the surprisingly large cast, with Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and even Fox McCloud all enjoying several moments in the sun.

There was a certain amount of character development for Bowser but in truth all the characters are paper thin; although that’s still substantially more rounded than the video games, where they’re just colourful avatars with little or no discernible personality. Not only is that not a flaw – nobody wants to have to stop playing an action game like Super Mario to watch a cut scene – it’s always been the attitude of Miyamoto, who insists on paring down the linear storytelling to a bare minimum.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is many things but it’s certainly the most authentic video game adaptation of all time. The characters look and act exactly as they do in the games, down to the smallest background details and even mimicking specific gameplay elements – in one case to the detriment of what little character growth Mario shows (I can’t be specific because it’s right at the end).

Miyamoto’s insistence that the cameos of Fox McCloud and Pikmin (I’m sure I saw Samus’ gunship too) are not leading up to a Smash Bros. movie are hard to believe given how random some of them are, especially the one in the final battle which makes absolutely no sense and is given no context whatsoever, even to people who know what it is.

So you have a movie that is both blatant product placement (rumours of a new Star Fox game are now very easy to believe) and an endless stream of memberberries, where there’s no joke or clever excuse for a character’s appearance… they’re just there, with no explanation, and you’re supposed to get enjoyment from that alone.

I’m not surprised to see some film critics decrying the death of cinema, after having watched the film, because I can absolutely see their point. Especially as anyone not familiar with the games is going to find it all absolutely baffling.

The Galaxy Movie might be nonsensical, but it has at least some kind of emotional heart, with a likeable line-up of characters. It also doesn’t have the incongruous pop music of the first film and despite all the different characters none of them is the screeching, overly talkative and infeasibly incompetent boob that most animated movies seem to consider a necessisty. There’s also virtually no potty humour or fart jokes.

Clearly, it gets nowhere near the artistic or philosophical highs of the best Pixar films but that’s not what it’s trying to do. Many balked at the idea of Nintendo teaming up with animation studio Illumination in the first place, given how low brow the Minions films are. But it’s now clear why they did. Whatever faults they might have, Illumination movies are always far more abstract than their peers, with less focus on storytelling and plot. And as far as Miyamoto is concerned that’s a positive.

There are multiple sequences in the movie where it’s just an elongated action scene, often based very closely on an existing game and… they’re all great. There’re no stakes, because you know no one’s going to get hurt, but they’re very competently shot and framed and genuinely exciting. Like a family friendly John Wick.

Miyamoto is not interested in exploring the personality of Mario, because he doesn’t really have one, and yet you still get a bit of new lore and Peach in particular is portrayed far better than almost any of the games, especially the asinine Princess Peach: Showtime! (That’s not entirely fair as the usual joke with Peach is that she’s so hilariously old-fashioned and borderline sexist that she wraps around again to being cool, but that’s never going work in a modern movie).

Miyamoto doesn’t like stories in his games, and he apparently doesn’t like them in his films either. And they are his films, so he can do what he likes with them, especially while they continue to make money. Could there have been a way to make a proper movie with more complex humour? Almost certainly, since all you have to do is follow the lead of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but that’s a fairly niche corner of Mario’s gameography.

The intention with these movies is to recreate the joy of playing the games on the big screen, of turning something interactive into non-interactive entertainment and still having it inspire some of the same emotions. Story and character complexity are not a part of it because they’re not part of the games either and while Miyamoto is in charge that’s very unlikely to change.

How long the franchise can remain popular, given how many different game references they’ve already packed into the last two films, remains to be seen but the real worry is what happens with The Legend Of Zelda movie. It seemed an immediate mistake to make the film live action, not only because of the difficulty that will create bringing the world to life but because having barely any plot or characterisation is going to be a lot more off-putting in live action.

There is more story to the average Zelda game, compared to Mario, but not that much more and so either the film is going to have to add a lot of padding or you’re going to end up with some weird indie style experimental film with more vibes than dialogue.

Nintendo’s move into movies – and theme parks and other merchandising opportunities – is very purposeful and it’s been going on for years now. As Miyamoto plainly stated in a recent interview, the number of people playing console video games is not increasing and yet the cost of making games is, so new revenue streams are needed from somewhere.

So far, the plan to become a movie studio has worked perfectly, but while it’s easy to understand why the film has not reviewed well it would be a mistake to regard it as artless or overly cynical. It’s simply the formula for making Nintendo games applied to a movie and while you wouldn’t want that all the time it is a fascinating divergence from the norm.

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