The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Three years on from the smash-hit success of the first Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo and Illumination have returned for a second helping, loosely adapting the well-regarded Super Mario Galaxy series. After the barnstorming box office success (collectively grossing nearly $2.4 billion at the worldwide box office), it's safe to assume that the future of the franchise is no longer confined to video game consoles alone.

Desperate to avenge his father's earlier defeat at the hands of Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) kidnaps cosmic guardian Princess Rosalina (Brie Larsen) to drain her immense power to fuel a universe-destroying cannon so the Bowsers can conquer the galaxy. Enlisting the services of pilot Fox McCloud (Glen Powell), Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan Michael-Key) unite with the Mario Brothers - including a tag-along Yoshi (Donald Glover) who is quickly roped into the proceedings for a final showdown with the Bowser duo.

Marketed as the pinnacle of the franchise's 40th anniversary celebration, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie takes off at break-neck speed with an unrelenting (often exhausting) pace that's targeted very squarely at a younger demographic and stuffed to the gills with easter eggs and homages. Fans hoping to see a fulsome adaptation of the classic Super Mario Galaxy game, first released on the Nintendo Wii console in 2007 (later re-released for the Nintendo Switch), are likely in for a bit of a disappointment. Whilst a number of elements from the game certainly appear, including the iconic planet-hopping mechanic and the character of Rosalina, the truth is that the game's title has been liberally nabbed for a plot that's an entirely new creation of the filmmakers.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of the film probably comes down to whether you can get on board with what is fundamentally a children's animated film, of which the studio Illumination has a whole lot of experience. The dizzying pace, the quippy dialogue, and often nonsensical plot are a feature, not a bug. If you've seen the Super Mario Bros. Movie, you'll know exactly what to expect.

For better or worse, all of the key cast from the first film have returned to the mic booth, albeit the controversies of Chris Pratt's casting have been mostly reconciled. Charlie Day and Jack Black have a bit more to do here, and as evidenced by their engagement on the press circuit, both seem to enjoy contributing to Nintendo lore. It's nice to see genuine Nintendo uber-fan Brie Larsen fit rather well into the cast, although it's still not entirely clear what exactly Donald Glover has brought to the table as the voice of Yoshi, who communicates exclusively in the same cutesy coos as he does in the games.

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However, my personal highlight is the surprise (well, if it hadn't been spoiled by the pre-release marketing campaign) introduction of Fox McCloud from the Star Fox franchise, voiced by Glenn Powell. As I previously posited, Nintendo's renewal of the character has also heralded a newly remastered title for the Switch 2 console released in the last few weeks (it's a blast), which hopefully points to a much brighter future than the series has enjoyed over the last 15 years.

Overall, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a welcome extension of the franchise whose potential has been confined to video games, but is now being properly explored as the pop culture phenomenon it is. The studios have clearly taken on board some of the criticism of the first film, and the sequel is better for it. While I wish they would just let the film breathe for one goddamn moment, clearly there's a huge appetite for these films and 2.4 billion reasons to make more. The only question is, which pipe will the Mario Bros. jump out of next?

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with H.265 compression and finished with a Dolby Vision pass, in addition to a base HDR-10 layer.

As with its predecessor, the film appears to have been natively rendered at 2K, but benefits from a slight increase in visible resolution and the Ultra HD format's wide color gamut and HDR formats that standard Blu-ray can offer. Illumination's animation pipeline and stylings emphasize a more diffuse, even dreamy image which scrubs up well, but doesn't have the same visual bite as a typical Disney or Pixar production. Still, colors are gloriously rendered, and the HDR highlights (including Dolby Vision, if you're suitably equipped) take things to a whole other level.

A perfect accompaniment to the first film and a very nice addition to the 4K library, there's precious little to complain about here. Top marks all round.

Audio

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is presented in a Dolby Atmos mix.

Generally echoing the sensibilities of the film's theatrical mix shrunk down for the home environment, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie features a very respectable level of immersion, without setting a new benchmark for audio mixing (or more importantly, scaring the target audience). With plenty of gentle front and split surround effects, the mix is kept bright and appealing and serves as an appropriately suitable accompaniment to the on-screen frenzy. Low frequency provides a decent level of support at critical junctures.

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Bryan Tyler returns for scoring duties, liberally borrowing from the entire gamut of the franchise's soundscape of classic tunes composed by Konji Kondo whilst simultaneously weaving in his own newly composed material, including his 'Mario hero' cue that fails to hit the same heights.

Overall, a very fine, even decent effort, but I can't help but feel the sonics are more geared towards headphones and sound bars than full-blooded surround systems.

Extras

An improvement in quantity - but not necessarily quality, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie features just over an hour of bonus material. Unfortunately, it feels very Nintendo-approved (i.e. heavily sanitized), ensuring that there are few real insights and little reason to ever watch them again.

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First up is the fifteen minute long, Next Level: Making 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' which serves as a basic 'making of' with snippets from Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo luminaries such as Koji Kondo alongside the voice cast, while the collective 22 minute long Cast of Characters looks more specifically at the new and returning stable of characters. Exploring the Galaxy touches on the film's new locations, while Galactic Thematics is concerned with the (loose) connection to the Mario Galaxy series. Cosmic Tunes is an all-too-brief speed round with Composer Brian Tyler, Power-Ups takes a look at the film's use of the iconic upgrades, while Secrets of the Galaxy highlights some of the film's copious easter eggs.