The verdict is in, and critics have widely panned The Super Mario Galaxy Movie while audiences have universally praised the family-friendly sequel. This follow-up to the fan-favorite The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been in theaters for about a week since its debut on April 1, and it has already had the best box office opening in 2026, earning more than $190 million over its 5-day domestic weekend. Worldwide, it has amassed $372 million, making it the fifth largest global opening ever for an animated film. Despite the movie being a massive box office hit, however, the review scores are terribly low for the video game adaptation, and there are several reasons why.

Fans vs. critics on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

As of April 6, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has a mediocre 42% Tomatometer score from a total of 175 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes while holding a fantastic 89% Popcornmeter score from over 5,000 verified user ratings. That’s a stark 47-point difference between critics and users.

A similarly wide disparity can be found on Metacritic as well, where the sequel has a “generally unfavorable” Metascore of a 37 based on 45 reviews, despite it earning a “generally favorable” user score of a 7.9 (basically, a 42-point difference).

This gulf between professional reviews and user reviews for this sequel likely isn’t too surprising by fans of the original 2023 Super Mario Bros. movie. That film earned a 59% Tomatometer but a 95% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has “mixed or average” 46 Metascore but a “universal acclaim” user score of 8.1.

To be fair, the range of critic scores for the film is vast on Metacritic, with about seven reviews above a 60 and fifteen reviews below a 40. ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim give it a “Good” 7 out of 10 rating, noting that “it doesn’t necessarily deepen the emotional or narrative complexity of the franchise, but it refines what worked before amplifies it on a grander scale.” However, many other reviews are far less kind, particularly the 0 out of 5 rating from The Times that calls the film “ugly, overbranded, lifeless digital marketing vomit” and a review from Vulture that says it’s like being “asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy.”

Meanwhile, multiple user reviews on Metacritic are shocked at the reviews. One called the low Metascore “absolutely ridiculous,” while another asked readers to ignore the critics altogether. A different user wrote, “It’s wild to see professional critics giving this a zero. It feels like they’ve never actually picked up a controller.” And to that person’s credit, we did find that a few critics who gave low scores admitting that the film wasn’t meant for them or that they had never played a Mario game before. Indeed, the movie is chock full of Nintendo references and easter eggs, something that Mario fans will appreciate far more than anyone who doesn’t know or care about the difference between a Super Mushroom and a Fire Flower.

More broadly speaking, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has more than several traits that critics tend to dislike but that audiences enjoy. The first is that it’s a quick-paced, action-packed film, which features a handful of battles with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Toad, Fox McCloud, Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Wart. Another is that it’s a comedic adventure with cartoonish gags that are age-appropriate for kids and humorous to Mario fans who are in on the joke. On top of that, the film is a family-friendly video game adaptation, a genre that doesn’t usually score well from critics. A Minecraft Movie, another box office smash that earned $960 million worldwide (and also starred Jack Black), was equally slammed by critics with a 47% Tomatometer but lauded by audiences with an 84% Popcornmeter.

Taken altogether, the movie was almost made in a lab for reviewers to despise and for audiences to praise as a nostalgic love letter to Nintendo. Regardless, despite how critics feel, they’ll need to brace themselves for more, since the Nintendo Cinematic Universe is looking like it will come sooner than later.

Taylor Frankie Paul is breaking from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The embattled “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star announced on Easter Sunday that she’s parting ways with the religion she built her brand on.

“Born and raised Mormon (lds) and I’ll always have love and respect towards it,” she wrote Sunday in an Instagram story. “I’ll even continue to go with my family at times, with that being said, it’s time to detach myself from it.”

Paul launched her career as a Mormon mom-fluencer on TikTok before she landed “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” the reality television series that leveraged her #MomTok success.

The series offered a look at Mormon moms in Utah that subverted viewers’ expectations. Paul drank alcohol and scandalized her online following when she admitted that her social circle participated in “soft swinging” in which they swapped partners for hookups but “didn’t go all the way.” The series followed her through the aftermath of a divorce and an on-again, off-again relationship with Dakota Mortensen, all of which is frowned upon by the Mormon church.

“I strongly believe in Christ, God, the bible, the divine,” she continued in her post. “I believe we are loved whether we are praying in [a] church building or from a bathroom floor at home.”

Paul was set to lead Season 22 of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” until a leaked video of a 2023 domestic dispute between Paul and Mortensen made its way across the internet. Though the entire season had been taped, ABC nixed the premiere, and “Secret Lives” also paused production. Her casting was a break from “The Bachelorette” tradition in that she had not been a contestant on a previous season of “The Bachelor.”

Now police are investigating allegations of a second and third domestic violence incident involving Paul and Mortensen, and as a result of the inquiry Paul has temporarily lost custody of the son she shares with Mortensen. A hearing regarding the protective order is set for Tuesday and may determine whether a final protective order is granted by the Utah court.

“The last 40 days felt like hell on earth,” Paul wrote in a separate Instagram post on Sunday. The post stitched together photos of Bible scripture, Paul crying, pain relief patches and personal notes scrawled through notebooks.

“Through every panic attack I prayed for strength as I could feel my body breaking down and out from the distress of it all. … I’ve prayed since I was young and never strayed away because I believe he wants us to ask for help especially during our lowest points.”

Watch I Know Exactly How I Die on VOD

The director of I Know Exactly How I Die is Alexandra Spieth, who ensures a tight pace and some gorgeous shots. She previously directed Stag and created and starred in the web-series [Blank] My Life. The screenplay comes from Mike Corey, and I do really like the plot and evolution of this story.

As already mentioned, the star Rushabh Patel is the executive producer. As a result, this movie is billed as “Rushabh Patel’s I Know Exactly How I Die“, which I am not a fan of. Unless Rushabh Patel is famous in ways I am not familiar with – nor is IMDb, as this is his first and so far only credit there.

This is like people wondering if Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is connected to Stranger Things, because the media keeps referring to it as a new show from The Duffer Brothers. Sure, they produced it, but Haley Z. Boston created the original story and wrote the screenplay. And she’s not even a newcomer.

Okay, rant over, but I just don’t understand the marketing and press decisions of it all.

Anyway, as already mentioned, the practical effects in I Know Exactly How I Die are gorgeous. Any slasher fan should enjoy the concept of the plot as well as those amazing practical effects. And yet, you will have to endure a little terrible CGI, but this is an indie production, so budget restraints come into play. Of course, so does choosing the best talent, and that did not happen for CGI here!

I Know Exactly How You Die is out on VOD from April 7, 2026. You can rent it on Digital HD from your preferred platform, including Prime Video and Fandango at Home. The film will also be available on DVD.