n a galaxy far, far away – it would seem – bedtimes stories about Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her Mushroom Kingdom, alongside the exploits of two skilled Italian plumbers, regale a horde of glowing, star-shaped children. Mother of the Stars and Guardian of the Cosmos, Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson), reads from a book as if this fairy tale was penned hundreds of years ago, yet the events of the previous film are incredibly recent. Regardless, as she puts her pudgy offspring to sleep, she’s attacked by Bowser Junior (Benny Safdie), who is intent on princess-napping Rosalina in order to power his planet-demolishing doomsday weapon.

During this introductory sequence, plenty of events transpire, each one exhibiting bright colors and lights, fiery explosions and destruction, and action-packed combat with magic wands that shoot beams of energy. It’s eye-poppingly vivid, with oodles of excitement – of the most generic kind. It’s immediately apparent that the overuse of magic will become a sizable problem; with no definitions or limitations or vulnerabilities surrounding the spontaneous conjuring of mighty forces, it all feels so exceptionally meaningless. Just as it can be used to generate arbitrary predicaments, magic can also whip up convenient solutions, revealing that no crisis is ever really a big deal.

As superhero handymen Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) attempt to take care of the Mushroom Kingdom after Peach rashly leaves her birthday bash to venture off to another world (following the plea of a yellow Luma, who inexplicably locates her with zero guidance), they must contend not only with the arrival of new dinosaur ally Yoshi (Donald Glover) but also the shrunken, bewitched Bowser (Jack Black), who yearns for domination. Once again, the lives of these enchanted people are, nonsensically, like a video game, particularly as they race across the stars to visit various galaxies, all while doing battle against wave after wave of pesky minions. Expectedly, despite a considerable amount of cartoon fighting and violence, no one is actually susceptible to harm – be it hero or villain or innocent bystander; there’s absolutely nothing at stake here. “Everyone okay?”

For fans, the addition of countless new characters, places, creatures, props, and obstacles will be amusing, joined by all sorts of references to the source materials. But plenty of repetition also arises, ranging from modestly humorous one-liners to time-wasting asides for extra cuteness to zipping through glittering environments aboard physics-breaking spaceships to bouncing on boxes to gain special abilities. Unfortunately, the premise is entirely for kids, leaving little for adults – outside of the nostalgia factor and subtler nods to the games.

In the moment, backstories may appear serviceable (a quality that probably wasn’t much critiqued in Mario’s humbler ‘80s platformer origins), but here they often sound conspicuously trite – such as when Rosalina is said to have been born from the stars. This carries over to the designs of various vehicles and equipment, such as a starship whose cockpit doesn’t actually enclose the pilot and passengers, leaving them entirely exposed to outer space elements, and the reasons behind needing energy sources when Bowser Junior has already built a planet and fleets (and a flagship) and armies from completely unexplained resources and with unknowable construction ingenuity. Motives and world-building are pretty flimsy all around. But in the end, it hardly matters; nothing is resolved, just momentarily delayed, and everyone tends to help one another rather than defeat their enemies – which is fine for younger audiences, but will likely leave adult viewers wondering what the point of any of this was.

– Mike Massie