Josh Long

10 years ago today, one of the greatest the walking dead moments ever

I'm feeling heated and this needs to be said. Some critics and content creators are out here treating The Super Mario Galaxy Movie like it just failed a college-level film theory exam.42% on Tomatometer? Really? Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach blast off on a wild, colorful adventure across an entire galaxy full of wonder, power-ups, gravity-defying madness, and pure Nintendo charm — and somehow that’s not enough for some people. They wanted drama. They wanted soul-searching monologues. They wanted important life lessons wrapped in dark, brooding metaphors. Newsflash: That’s not what Mario has ever been about.Mario has always been simple, brilliant storytelling at its core: One crazy event (a kidnapped princess, a new galaxy in peril, Bowser being Bowser) kicks off an explosion of pure adventure. You jump in, you explore, you have fun, you save the day. The “message,” if you even want to call it that, is light, wholesome, and timeless: enjoy life, cherish your friends and family, and embrace the ride. It doesn’t need to preach. It doesn’t need to lecture. It just needs to be fun.Yet here we are — grown adults with serious review voices acting disappointed that a Super Mario movie didn’t deliver the emotional weight of an Oscar-bait drama. Creators like Andres from GameXplain openly expressed their letdown, and they’re not alone. The huge gap between the critic score (42%) and the audience Popcornmeter (91%) says everything. Here’s the reality check they desperately need:Turn your brain off for two hours. Stop looking for subtext that isn’t there. Stop demanding every children’s movie be a profound commentary on the human condition.Mario isn’t trying to fix your existential crisis. He’s trying to make you smile, cheer, and maybe hum the Galaxy soundtrack on the way home.Some of these reviewers have completely lost touch with what made Mario magical in the first place. It was never about deep, heavy messaging. It was about adventure — pure, unapologetic, galaxy-spanning joy.If you can’t enjoy that anymore… maybe the problem isn’t the movie. It’s you.

Sonic is what the Mario movies think they are. They deliver on the hype and fan service without compromising narrative or our emotional connection to the characters. Oh, and doesn't condescend its target audience?