Super Mario Galaxy Movie Scores Near Perfect Audience Score After Brutal Reviews

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The Super Mario Bros. movies from Illumination have been huge successes in theaters. The first film, released in 2023, made $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing video game movie ever. The new sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, is expected to be almost as popular. Interestingly, both films haven’t been critically acclaimed. While the first movie received mixed reviews (a 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes), Super Mario Galaxy has gotten even worse reviews so far, with a score of just 41%. However, audiences seem to enjoy the movies much more than critics do.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on over 2,500 user ratings. This is significantly higher than the critics’ score, with a difference of almost 50 percentage points – much larger than the 36-point gap for the first movie. While critics thought the story was a bit thin, audiences are loving all the Nintendo Easter eggs and references packed into the sequel.

The website’s viewer reactions to The Super Mario Bros. Movie highlight its strong appeal to those familiar with older Nintendo games. Reviewers praised the film for including fun references, a sense of joyful excitement, and a lively cast, making it a movie people will want to watch again and again.

The Super Mario Bros. Franchise Is Critic-Proof

While positive buzz can really help smaller, standalone films succeed – like how great reviews boosted Project Hail Mary‘s performance – many big franchises do well no matter what critics say. This is because a strong, established fanbase will always show up, even if the movie isn’t critically acclaimed. The early Transformers films directed by Michael Bay are a good example – they received mixed reviews but were still huge hits.

The Super Mario Bros. movies have clearly become a fan favorite. No matter what critics think, dedicated fans will always show up and enjoy them. The success of Illumination’s first Super Mario film a few years ago was expected – it had been a long time since a Super Mario movie was made, and people were excited to see the vibrant, game-like animation. Now, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie also performing well, it’s clear viewers weren’t bothered by the simple plot of the first film and appreciate Illumination’s take on the franchise.

The success of Super Mario Bros. aligns with Illumination’s overall pattern: the studio’s movies receive mixed reviews, but consistently perform well with audiences. While a few films, like the original Despicable Me (currently at 80% on Rotten Tomatoes), have been well-received by critics, Illumination isn’t known for making critically acclaimed movies. However, they consistently earn high marks from moviegoers – every film has received at least an A- CinemaScore. They’ve clearly figured out how to make movies that appeal to their target audience, and the positive response to The Super Mario Bros. Movie will likely strengthen their position. This film also opens the door for several other potential movies based on Nintendo games.

It remains to be seen if the Super Mario movies from Illumination will continue to be popular with fans. The recent Super Mario Galaxy Movie made a significant change to the established story, which caused a strong reaction – some viewers even called it a terrible mistake. However, opinions on social media don’t always reflect what most people think, so it’s possible that many viewers aren’t bothered by these changes and will still look forward to future movies. How audiences respond to the next Nintendo film will be a good sign of where fans actually stand.

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2026-04-03 18:40