“The Mario Galaxy Movie” And The Changing Shape Of Video Game Adaptations
4/9/20261 hr 27 min
This week, it's The Mario Galaxy Movie! The second film in the Nintendo/Illumination franchise is already a global hit despite less than stellar reviews. It is nevertheless a fascinating film: an amalgam of stunning animation and music, full of hyperactive action, with little interest in the typical conventions of narrative storytelling, and like, plot.
On this episode Alison and Richard, along with producer Benjamin Frisch, discuss the film, its beauty and weirdness, offer a sidebar on Shigeru Miyamoto as-artist, and delve into the history of video game adaptations.
We discuss producer...
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First 90 secondsMarie0:00
[upbeat music] From Blank Check Productions, this is Critical Darlings, a podcast about the movies everyone's talking about, one new release after another. Please welcome your hosts, Richard Lawson and Alison Wilmore.
Richard Lawson· Host0:24
[Applause] Thank you as ever, Marie, for that spirited introduction.
Marie0:30
Oh, you're welcome.
Richard Lawson· Host0:31
Whoa, it's a Marie.
Marie0:32
She's here.
Alison Willmore· Host0:33
It's a me.
Marie0:34
[laughs] Okay, bye guys.
Richard Lawson· Host0:36
Bye.
Alison Willmore· Host0:36
Bye.
Richard Lawson· Host0:36
[laughs] That rarely happens. [laughs] It's the magic of the world of Mario. Um, so as, as, uh, as hinted at [laughs] subtly- [laughs] Uh, we are talking about, uh, the Super Mario Galaxy movie today, um, which, you know, was obviously a huge bomb, so it was bomb. [laughs] Zero interest in it.
Alison Willmore· Host0:58
Yeah. It made, what, $190 million this weekend.
Richard Lawson· Host1:03
Yeah.
Alison Willmore· Host1:03
The biggest, uh, m- movie of the year. It easily outpaced Project Hail Mary. It also had, like, the Easter long weekend, so, uh, a lot of kids around, a lot of families looking for a way, place to, you know, treat their kids and have a night out of entertainment or an afternoon. So lot of things going in its favor, including the fact that the first movie made, uh, a trillion, bazillion dollars. I think scientifically that's the term. So.
Richard Lawson· Host1:28
Yeah, yeah. These are just money-printing