Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Bowser, and more Nintendo favorites are back in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which opens in theaters this week. The first reviews of the animated video game adaptation are now online and mixed. Some say it’s even better than the previous feature, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, while others say it’s so much worse. Of course, either way, the fans will still eat it up, and it’s made specifically for them.
Here’s what critics are saying about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie:
Does it live up to expectations?
If the first film got you on the train, just know this sequel isn’t losing any passengers anytime soon; it’s simply picking up speed. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
I was surprised, like anyone, to enjoy The Super Mario Galaxy Movie…The sequel levels up. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
It never stops feeling like the product of someone mashing lifeless action figures together. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
It’s more a loud, overstuffed reel of loosely connected comedy and action beats presented in mind-boggling onslaughts of color and detail. — Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine
How does it compare to the first movie?
It’s a far superior sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
The operative word for this sequel to 2023’s smash hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie is “more,” as in more action, more characters, more Easter eggs, more everything. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie offers a similar mind-numbing experience. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
The first movie… was one of the best animated films in years. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is one of the worst. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The sequel hits the sweet spot in terms of what its target audience wants. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
It may feel like more of the same to some, but anything that takes me back to a CRT TV and SNES is a feeling I’ll take 100 out of 100 times. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
While the film leans into “newer” character tendencies to attract younger viewers, it honors the original enough to embrace both the old and the new with enjoyable results. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
Will anyone else enjoy it?
Adult non-aficionados will find little of interest other than the starry vocal cast. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
This isn’t a film that’s going to win over its skeptics. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
How is the animation and world-building?
This may be one of the studio’s best-looking efforts yet, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie feeling even more visually alive than its already stunning predecessor. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Featuring some of the most beautiful and dazzling animation you will ever see, it is, at times, truly jaw-dropping. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
There’s no sense of discovery when it comes to these planets, meticulously created to resemble the games without nary a wrinkle of surprise to be found. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
Even though the Star Fox character is nothing more than a way to introduce a sequel, the other supporting characters and easter eggs throughout are richly rewarding. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
It’s as if it exists only for us to pick out the game-referencing background details in panoramic action shots… and to threaten us with us with a Super Smash Bros. cinematic universe, given the multiversal cameos by non-Super Mario Nintendo characters. — Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine
The film keeps throwing things at you. It’s an orgy of video-game Easter eggs. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Is the action worthy of the source material?
The action is exciting and inventive. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
The film’s surplus of action and chase scenes follows the same rigid formula of swooping camera movements and game power-up deus ex machinas that no sequence ever proves particularly exciting. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
Does the movie’s pace seem to have gotten a mushroom boost?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t leave you time to catch your breath. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Most of the time, the film exists to speed-shuttle audiences to the next visually overwhelming set piece. — Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine
If anything, the film only loses energy as it goes on, with the final confrontation proving particularly anemic and rushed, as if the film is hurrying along to avoid having to delve into its storylines with more than a surface skim. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
Matthew Fogel’s screenplay, which mostly pays lavish fan service to its inspiration, also weaves in a few emotional elements. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
It isn’t aiming to be a grand, life-affirming story, but pure escapism. That approach doesn’t always land, but when it does, it delivers a charming, whimsical ride. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
The sequel’s plot is unusually heartfelt, with the villains being three-dimensional, which is welcome. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t have a story to tell or themes to express so much as stick to a mandate of audience boxes to check. — Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine
Does it do a good job adapting the game?
It has a story that embraces the simplicity of the original game. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
While [it’s] all clearly designed to appeal to young gamers, I don’t mean that the film replicates the experience of playing one of the Super Mario Bros. games. The first movie actually did. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Somehow on screen, it all registers as flat, imagination packaged into the most cleanly corporate and focus-group approved form possible. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
Most of the jokes land, ranging from cute to amusing to downright funny. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
There’s a funny visual gag revolving around Mario’s inability to draw. And there are some amusing lines that seem designed to make us feel like we’re in on the jokes. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
One of the most successful gags in the movie is essentially a reskin of the famous Sloth DMV bit in Zootopia. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
How’s the voice cast?
The voice cast delivers across the board. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
It’s an embarrassment of vocal riches… Many of the stars’ contributions here, especially those of Black and Glover, are outstanding. — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Is Yoshi a great addition?
Donald Glover taps into a Groot-like tone for Yoshi, and it works surprisingly well. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
Don’t expect him to get that much to do, though: he’s here because he’s an iconic character rather than as a part of the story. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
I found myself relating to the bratty Bowser Jr. way more than the lead heroes. — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
The real standout is Jack Black and Bennie Safdie as Bowser and Bowser Jr. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
Somehow, two Bowsers add up to less of a wowser than one. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Does it have any other major problems?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn’t necessarily fix the frustrations that held the first film back. The story still leans thin, certain characters feel underutilized, and those looking for something deeper won’t suddenly find it here. — David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel
Charlie Day offers nothing to the Luigi character other than, to put it politely, a distinct voice that brings a beloved character down, which is grating. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
Will it leave us wanting more?
There’s a distinct romantic vibe between Mario and Princess Peach (which I can’t wait to be explored in the next installment). — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a fun placeholder while we wait for a Super Mario Bros. film worthy of the titular characters that fans deserve. — M.N. Miller, InSession Film
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens in theaters on April 1, 2026.
A still from ‘Enola Holmes 3’
| Photo Credit: Netflix
Enola Holmes 3sees Philip Barantini (Adolescence) take over direction from Fleabag’s Harry Bradbeer while Jack Thorne (another Adolescence alum) continues as writer from the first two films. The supposed darker take is not very apparent in this tale featuring the consultant detective’s sister.
Based on Nancy Springer’s charming The Enola Holmes Mysteries, Enola Holmes 3 opens with a wedding in Malta. Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill), and a detective in her own right, as we have seen from the earlier films, is getting married to sweet, idealistic Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge).
Sherlock is in Malta for the wedding which he strongly disapproves, believing Enola will not be able to pursue her career as a detective once she marries and becomes Lady Tewkesbury. Enola has her own doubts about the marriage — not about Tewkesbury but about his world, the people in it and their expectations.
Enola Holmes 3 (English)
Director: Philip Barantini
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Himesh Patel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, Susan Wokoma
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Runtime: 105 minutes
Storyline: As Enola prepares to marry Lord Tewkesbury in Malta, her brother goes missing and the game is afoot
When she finally gets into the carriage for her wedding, she realises she is being followed by a masked rider. After a thrilling chase involving the dropping of many bridal veils, the pursuer is revealed to be Dr Watson (Himesh Patel), Sherlock’s flatmate, friend and chronicler (not yet, though). The mask, the good doctor explains, is for allergies.
He was thundering after Enola because Sherlock has vanished, probably kidnapped, as he was working on another case. When Enola’s future mother-in-law, Lady Tewkesbury (Hattie Morahan) also goes missing, the wedding is forgotten as Enola races against time to solve the mystery.
A still from ‘Enola Holmes 3’
| Photo Credit:
Netflix
The pieces of the puzzle include the Battle of Khost in Afghanistan, looted gold, the Maltese fight for independence in the person of Mikiel Mizzi (Joe Azzopardi) from the Partito Anti-Riformista, and the criminal mastermind Moriarty (Sharon Duncan-Brewster).
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Enola’s mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) and her friend Edith (Susan Wokoma) are skulking around giving Enola invisible support as Eudoria is in trouble with the law for her dynamite-forward ways.
Enola Holmes 3 zips by in a series of frantic action sequences, quips and callbacks. The storybook look is propped up by those amazing pop-ups. Darker themes arrive in lines such as Moriarty saying “There are few British names that are not tarnished with the pain of its empire.”
Brown has created an endearing heroine in her Enola, even if her habit of breaking the fourth wall, while definitely reduced, has gone way beyond twee to be outright annoying. Cavill’s Sherlock is brave and beautiful and just that little bit cross, while Carter’s Eudoria walks the line between gently eccentric and decidedly odd as she dispenses gems of wisdom including “the puzzle is always as devious as the setter.”
Fast, fun and eminently forgettable, this is popcorn entertainment at its most efficient.
In Sender, writer-director Russell Goldman’s high-anxiety debut, the filmmaker expands on his 2022 short Return to Sender, in which Allison Tolman starred as a woman who receives packages she didn’t order. That may not sound like a premise that would result in a paranoid, darkly comedic thriller, much less a feature. But in extending his story from 18 minutes to just over 90, Goldman follows a maddening scenario involving an online retailer called Smirk, a fictionalized Amazon counterpart. More significantly, he captures the frenzied mindset of his protagonist, who grapples with staying sober and several other major life changes—all compounded by a layer of justifiable paranoia brought on by the endless packages. Goldman’s tweaky style and elusive scripting create a peculiar, out-of-whack presentation that destabilizes the viewer, firmly placing us in his main character’s perspective. However, by the end, the journey through this cine-manic headspace doesn’t add up to much, and the potential character study at the center feels somewhat lost in the mechanics of the conspiracy.
Britt Lower (AppleTV’s Severance)stars as Julia, who has just lost her job and moved into a rental home to get her life on track. She is backed financially by her overbearing sister Tatiana (Anna Baryshnikov), who occasionally comes nosing around to verify that Julia doesn’t backslide. And she doesn’t. Julia attends regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where she meets the steely Whitney (Rhea Seehorn), who isn’t interested in being her sponsor. But at home, Julia receives a Smirk package with her brand of lipstick. The problem? She didn’t order it. She calls customer service, and the representative doesn’t help much before telling her, “Be sure to stay alert and aware.” Wait, what? Sender is loaded with nagging, unplaceable details like this. They’re often amusing, intriguing, and exasperating in the same moment. But these pieces don’t complete a whole picture, at least not a narratively satisfying one.
The Smirk packages, delivered by the outwardly helpful, nice-guy driver Charlie (David Dastmalchian), contain a random assortment of objects, from drum kits to protein powder. The squirrelly Julia, already coming apart at the seams from her recent drama, doesn’t know what to make of it. She’s convinced there’s some plot against her, perhaps by someone at Smirk. To what end, she doesn’t know. But Goldman gives us a glimpse of the long-term consequences of her ordeal in the prologue, which features Jamie Lee Curtis (also a producer) as Lisa, a woman in circumstances similar to Julia’s. Lisa’s response to receiving a box of soil with a broken shin pad (with “Can’t Can’t Can” scrawled on it) entails an attempt to suffocate herself with the bubble wrap, only to do far worse with a sharp edge of the shin pad. To show Lisa’s fate, Goldman’s imagery becomes twisted and surreal but also cryptic.
Sender’s disorienting mood is matched by a skewed formal presentation. Cinematographer Gemma Doll-Grossman’s wide-angle lenses and arch angles might feel at home in a Ken Russell or Terry Gilliam feature such as The Devils(1971) or 12 Monkeys (1996). Julia’s half-remembered drinking binges, accented by blurry close-ups, suggest she may have slept with any number of coworkers. She can’t remember, and it embarrasses her. Her rental is dressed in simple if shabby décor, which gives way to Julia’s erratic collage-like overhaul. Melisa Myers’ stuffed production design makes the most of heightened colors and banal, cluttered rooms that lend a normality to the bizarre, ever more disturbing predicament. Nathan Ruyle’s erratic music delivers what must be described as a soundscape rather than a traditional score, with collusive sound effects and tones driving our certainty that Julia is onto something. Along with Marco Rosas’ discordant editing, Goldman’s technical approach effectively reflects Julia’s fragmented, sleep-deprived mind. But his work as a writer hasn’t done enough to justify this level of technique.
After Julia makes a revelatory discovery that small cameras have been embedded in the products from those mysterious packages, the eventual explanation about what has been happening and why strains logic and underwhelms. It also raises even more unanswered questions. Although well-made and acted—Lower and Seehorn should be on track to movie stardom—Goldman’s script could have used another draft to better work through what unfolds. Sender doesn’t give us enough of its characters’ inner lives beyond the situation at hand, so Julia, Charlie, Tatiana, and Whitney feel like devices in a scenario rather than well-drawn human beings. Even so, Goldman fills his film with deeply broken people who try to gain control of their lives by controlling others, exposing and preying on their weaknesses. Despite the material’s potential resonance, Goldman’s style is overpowering. Still, his kernel of an idea and the way he explores it demonstrate his clear skill, and for much of Sender, its sheer oddball energy earns admiration.
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