After Critics Panned Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Maybe Sony's Legend of Zelda Film Can Pull It Back

The sad state of cinema means the bad films that make millions are more important than the good ones that are a commercial failure.

Don't know why, but I think this will be a good movie, my source? trust me bro

Soon as the film releases it gets good reviews but Nintendo sues any cinema showing the film and everyone else because they want to.

Like Mario, all I really hope is that my kids enjoy it. If it is also a good film, that is a bonus.

I took my kids to see the Mario galaxy movie. We all loved it

Sometimes critics and audiences are worlds (or galaxies) apart

I think the amount of money the Mario movie has made, shows how little the critics are valued by the wider audience

Sony has the opportunity to do the funniest thing. Release the Horizon Zero Dawn film the same week as this.

Since when did we listen to critics?

Whether it’s the Mario Galaxy Movie or Crimson Desert (or the many other examples of out of touch critics). It’s time we remembered that the audience knows best.

Hopefully this turns out well. At the very least Link and Zelda look on point.

@rusty82 Glad you liked it. The movie's still bad.

@Kienda Or more that kids have a very low bar for enjoying a film with flashy colours. Galaxy was a terrible film and a terrible kids film.

Do critics opinions even matter when it comes to the Mario movie? Its making tons of money and its a kids movie. Mission successful.

Those Mario movies are not designed for critics and I promise you, Nintendo could not possibly care less about its reviews. Did they make bucket loads ofmoney? Yes? Mission accomplished!

Mario Galaxy was bad. The wife fell asleep halfway through.

Critics should be banned from reviewing any movie based on a game or comic book. Or literally anything that refers to itself as a "movie". Let the film critics stick to films, no one cares what they think about our movies. Pompous so & so's. 😂

Mario movie was perfectly fine. Dunno what people expect from a game series with zero story. Expecting it to be Citizen Kane all of a sudden? The Zelda movie would be lucky to have half the success Mario has.

Mario Galaxy is a movie in the same way Candy Crush is a video game: technically, I guess, and profitable. I have no real expectations for Zelda, but it will probably be less of a relentless assault on our brain cells

I dunno, I thought the Galaxy movie was fun. It was junk food for the soul.

I'll stick to Lynch, Tarkovsky, and Kurosawa when I need "cinema"

Is Link still going be a silent protagonist in the film?

@Dragoon1994 post credits scene will just be excuse me princess

”Did you say the critics didn’t like it? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of box office success!”

Back where? Even though I liked it way less than the first movie, Mario Galaxy movie is enormous success, noone gives a sheet about critics.

The film industry, at the current state, needs ticket sales. Like it or not, the Super Mario movie, today, is doing more for the industry than the vast majority of this year's Oscar nominees.

@rusty82 critics complaining about to much easter eggs in a videogame movie is so crazy.
Smells like critics have some underlying hate towards the mario movie.
This will not be different for zelda because they didn't use the euphoria actor.

If anything it has less of a chance of appeasing muh critics. Mario had the opportunity to be an amazing animated film and they chose to make slop twice. Live action video game and anime movies are always bad and the pics of link and zelda don't inspire any confidence that it'll be different. I'm still gonna watch it tho cause it's zelda on the big screen lol

Yeah the Galaxy movie was weak (with the exception of mini Bowser) but for some reason with Zelda being live action I have a small amount of optimism it'll end up better.

Really hope so anyway!

I don't care what critics think. For something like the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, they aren't the target audience. My kids absolutely loved it.

idk, if I'm watching a kids movie I ain't expecting ***** Titanic, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane and so on.
Critics must be high, or rather must be off some substances when they review kids movies.

Critics? Nobody gives a duck about what critics think, they praise the most boring, coma inducing ***** imaginable.
The Galaxy movie was fun!

According to critics I should be hating myself playing the 9/10 Marathon and not enjoying myself playing the 6/10 Crimson Desert.

Yeah...critics....

Everyone ive talked to loves the new mario movie. I think critics just kinda...dont get things sometimes. Its a story as old as time.

Saw the Galaxy movie on opening night, in a theater packed with kids, and they all loved it. Who gives a ***** about what critics think about something not made for them?

Critics for movies specifically are meaningless, just look at Emilia Perez, a heavy contender for the Oscar and winner of countless awards last year when the movie is absolute and irremediably trash with a nonsensical plot and laughable performances that couldn’t even speak in the portrayed language but were nominated for awards…

@Kienda "It’s time we remembered that the audience knows best"

No, the audiences doesn't always knows best. If that's true, they would showed up for The Iron Giant, Dredd, Blade Runner & 2049, Shawshank Redemption, Battle Angel Alita, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Furiosa, Children of Men, The Thing, Doctor Sleep and so many solid to great movies that ended as a flop...

Mario Galaxy made so much money in 72 hours it was the highest grossing film this year by a large margin. Video game movies are different and we the gamer support them. I hope Nintendo continues to do these movies, as for it keeps their audience coming back for more. I know i want a Starfox movie and game now and rumors are we are getting both.

Mario galaxy was awesome. I dont want them to make a movie that panders to critics.

@PuppetMaster These people think the audience 100% trustworthy and couldn't be wrong when that is far from the truth.

@Oram77 Nintendo is quite protective of it's IP's that is why I think the same.

@PuppetMaster That is quite the list of fantastic movies.

Let's be honest, studios don't REALLY care about critical reception. If it was your movie, would you rather win an Oscar and lose money, or get horrible reviews and bring in $629 million on an estimated budget of $110 million. Gee...I wonder.....

Super mario galaxy movie yeah critics panned it but it still made more money than the artsy fartsy movies no one's ever heard of that critics adore. And critics opinions don't matter, their freeloaders who don't have to pay to see it. But only good thing in the movie was fox mcloud. Fox being something that most of the critics don't even know about among other things because movie critics aren't gamers, their overpayed freeloaders looking for a free buffet table rather than at the movie

@IOI you say that as if this galaxy movie is good. As a long time Mario fan I am not mad I went to see it but I am mad at how they handled it. Such a waste of brain cells trying to salvage what was shown on the big screen. Unfortunately critics are right, but since it’s a kids movie and Mario all of a sudden the “kids movies don’t have to be dumb” talking point has somehow faded away lol. It’s just not a good movie

I don't think Nintendo gives a **** if critics didn't like it, the movie will definitely make over 1 billion at the box office. They're too busy printing money to care about critics who don't matter.

I liked the first Mario Movie quite a lot. It wasn't great but it was fun.

The Mario Galaxy Movie could have had all its dialog removed and nothing would have been lost. Mario has like five lines in the movie named after him.

I read a lot of games reviews, frequenting many different sites to see the vibe about certain games.
With movies, I never search for or read critical reviews. I just tend to read a synopsis of a movie and decide whether or not I want to see it, or go on word of mouth from friends etc. And if I don't like the movie, its no big deal. Only a couple of hours out of my life. Unlike gaming, which is a larger financial and time investment.
I 'm glad that the kids enjoyed the Mario movie. Not entirely sure why 'serious' film critics would review it anyway. Or anything with Jason Statham in it 😉

Mario was a blast. Just a silly and shallow as the first one. Still a great time and my 4 year old daughter (the real target audience) loved it.

@carlos82 if it manages to perform as well as the first one, then you're probably right. We'll see.

@TheDarts well that's peaked my curiosity, is it Iliberal in a particular way?

@PuppetMaster finally. A sensible comment here. What a breath of fresh air!

@Hyena_socks "everything I don't like or understand is liberal". "Everything that isn't black, must be white". For some people there is no thing as nuance.

This will definitely suck

@DennisReynolds it was a good movie. Stop being so negative.

Ofc the Mario movie 2 was bad, the first one was.

Illumination make meme moments, they don't tell stories.

@PuppetMaster

Two things:

1. You kinda just proved my point.

I said “it’s time we remembered…”

Many of those movies you mentioned were loved by audiences. Some by critics and audience. But some flopped because of critics panning them.

2. Not everything that is good will be successful. The most popular songs in the charts right now are not the best, for example.

It should have been Studio Ghibli or Ponoc.

Push clearly still hasn’t come to the realization that both film critics and gaming journalists don’t matter anymore. Hence Mario’s 600+ million and Crimson Deserts (now) 5 million copies sold.

Man, an awful lot of people on here unfairly bashing a well-established profession; you do realise that these "so called critics" are working on this very site, right? So you're saying that game critics matter, but not film critics? Many film critics, at least well established ones, are brilliant writers - they're not telling you not to see a film, they're expressing their opinion in a form of creative analysis.

Just because a film is based on a gaming IP doesn't mean it's free from criticism - Mario Galaxy Movie is lazy and derivative, they went for the easiest, low hanging fruit; didn't bother to put in an ounce of effort in the narrative department, which, if I remember correctly, is what makes up a FILM.... narrative; character arcs; themes - things which this film just doesn't bother with. A film should be judged on its own merits, despite what the source material is. I go to the cinema A LOT, and see many films; both blockbusters and the "arty-farty" stuff, and guess what, usually the art-house films end up being far more fulfilling - but that's probably because I'm a grown adult with a working brain.

Animated films CAN and SHOULD be better, they can both be fun/zany and have clever writing and rich characters (I mean just look at almost any Pixar/Ghibli/Disney/even Dreamworks films). Mario Galaxy just doesn't even try.

Box office records are really easy if you up the prices by alot of tickets. I payed 17 euros for a ticket and 14 per ticket for my kids to see Mario Galaxy. I remember a time it was less then half that price.

It was a fun movie to see, especially if you grew up with the games, but they could and should have done more with story. My kids have already forgotten most of it, just because of the lack of a story. In comparison they can tell me everything about movies like Ratatouille, Luca, Frozen, Toy story, etc. The Mario movies feel more like a celebration then a actual attempt of a movie with a story. Wich is fine for most fans and kids, but i get why it's get critized for it.

I do think Zelda movie will have that though, it's aimed at a older audiance.

Did it not only start filming? I am not hopeful

There's only one anatomical orifice for critical reception, whether scathing or awestruck. As for Zelda, I don't consider its fantasy world a manageable environment for live action and don't have enough interest in seeing it to generate any expectations whatsoever. At least Bloodborne has reportedly had better luck; for all I know, I might even end up seeing its adaptation instead someday.

@1UP-HUSKY my backlog priorities haven't had me rewatch the first Mario movie in a year or so, but I still remember what transpired therein. It wasn't TLK or even Sing tier but a worthwhile chronicle in its own right, and I expect the same from SMGM. Remembering stuff is a product of resonance in kids and adults alike; by the time I came across an opinion about The Road to El Dorado having "not a single memorable song", I could quote any of them if woken up at 4 a.m. As for box offices, they're a dice roll this decade, and I don't consider them ultimately indicative either, but if the earned money is channeled into expanding (or, as is fashionable to say online, "milking") the respective franchise and fictionverse further, cheers - regardless of my own affinity. I've never cared much for Minions that Illumination cooks by similar recipes, but those movies' existence is no skin off my back either. And the same would have applied to the studio's take on Mario if it had rubbed me against the fur - to paraphrase a Frozen character, my childhood is not fragile.

@JB_Whiting I, for one, definitely "you do realise that these "so called critics" are working on this very site" and stick to the belief that both NL and PS reviewers can take their reviews and shove them; in case this crosses the boundaries of civility, I will certainly not contest a ban, but if you ever see me say that "game critics matter", then the mods also better immediately ban my account as hacked.😆 I have my own shameful baggage in this accursed field, and even getting a degree in actual critique (aka honest fiction studies where "creative analysis" isn't a fancy hijacked name for verbosely expressed admiration/boredom) failed to promptly put a lid on it way back when; I can't even guarantee no relapse in this regard, but I don't look forward to one and I lack incentive to bridle my general sociopathy towards the yellow-papered buffoonery in question. There are unarguably more deplorable "well-established professions" out there, but it says something when TV Tropes manages to be tangibly closer to serious critique than all the "professionals" involved - and it's a site with reported roots in imageboards! Like I said above, somehow processing the previous Mario movie wasn't rocket science for me either, and I'm neither too much of a kid in my cynical 39 nor too obsessed with the franchise I have played through maybe a half dozen early entries from.

In the end, being underwhelmed by stuff like SMG is nothing to bash either - unlike pseudocritical fanbloid behaviour directed at underwhelming entertainment experiences, especially the one you're expected to profit in any way from. For all of my own obscene fanhead past, I do make attempts to follow the golden rule - "I have the right to dislike what a fiction work does as long as the fiction work has the right to do what I dislike".

@JB_Whiting (this was one comment before the system decided to debate its size😄)

As far as Zelda goes... the questionably chosen medium doesn't make it a movie aimed at an older audience per se, but it's not like the "well-established professionals" haven't been known for flinging your own list of accusations towards the latter kind of movies either. Dogs and caravans are a universal and timeless image.

@Kienda No it really wasn't. It was pretty damn awful and the critics nailed it.

I don't think much of Illumination movies anyways anymore so to me eh. I had my fun with Mario Galaxy on Wii for cheap. I don't need a movie that's got dialogue I won't even like and plenty of the galaxies/story in Galaxy 1 (not played Galaxy 2) to enjoy, I don't need a movie to market the game and not be that great anyway to tolerate.

It's probably a fine film, same with the first but they aren't my type of things, many western things aren't tolerable to me anymore.

A fair amount sure, but in animated movies, no I don't enjoy western ones that much anymore.

Zelda movie if they pull it off and don't put excuses sure, but it's the kind of IP they should be able to nail it's just if the staff choose not to and make it annoying to watch that's on them and I will skip it.

The IPs deserve better that's for sure and the staff working on them just put me off wanting to see them and will just play the games instead.

Yeah, Sony's film division is where the quality is...

@DennisReynolds I watched it with my two kids and my niece and nephew, all of whom have played a lot of Mario games, and the smiles on their faces proved the critics were wrong.

Like I said. The audience knows best.

@Kienda "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest."

This quote by C.S. Lewis sums it perfectly.

Critics pan most things that aren't white saviour bio pics

Critics are always knocking anything good down lets be honest. I watched the movie myself and loved it from start to finish. Me thinks they watched a totally different movie. I watched it in 3D as well which made it even better especially when they were in the galaxy. It truly felt like I was in the movie it was beautifuly mind blowingly good. I only wish they would bring a 3d version out on bluray to watch it over and over at home. But sadly they are only making bluray and 4K. Avatar fire and ash is bringing out a 3d version so why not nintendo. That's the only thing im not happy about. Bring back 3d purchasable films to watch from the comfort of your own home

I honestly don't get why so many 'critics' are hating on the Mario Galaxy Movie. I've seen it 3 times now same as I did the first one and I love Galaxy as much as I did Mario Part 1. Its not the greatest movie of all-time but what Galaxy is more than anything is fun. Its just a good old fashion fun movie and fun is something that we sadly don't get enough from movies these days anymore.

Very excited to see the Zelda movie which did just very recently wrap up. Eager to find out who's portraying Ganondorf and if the movie's plot is an adaptation of any of the games or if its an original plot.

@DennisReynolds Mr Lewis was spot on👌

I'm an adult and I love the Mario Animated Movies.

@sonicmeerkat Given that they're handling a Nintendo IP and not just any Nintendo IP but one of Nintendo's 2 primary IPs, I imagine Nintendo's people will be on set to ensure that Sony does this one right.

@SuntannedDuck2 You don't enjoy Western-Made Animated Movies anymore? Shame because both Mario Animated Movies are genuinely fun plus Disney's Zootopia 2 was better than expected, really loved the first Zootopia movie but had my doubts about the sequel due to Disney's recent track record these days but Zootopia 2 was surprisingly great.

There are still some Western-Made Flicks worth watching and not just animation but also shows like The Pitt, Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, Only Murders in The Building, Invincible, Fallout, Reacher and movies like Project Hail Mary as well.

@CupidStunt Actually its the opposite, filming reportedly wrapped up very recently.

@Midnyte-Monkey Film Critics especially have always been snobby & uptight and in recent years they've only gotten worst. I remember one critic claiming that Last Jedi was even better than Empire Strikes Back, yes you read that right a critic actually said that🤦 We've never really needed Film Critics to begin with. Only person who has any right to decide what's worth watching or not is themselves.

@MrGawain Mario Galaxy is not a bad film. Just because the snobby film critics say something is bad doesn't mean it actually is. I've seen Mario Galaxy 3 times already and I loved it. Its a fun movie and clearly film critics hate fun.

@AJ-11 and there's people who really enjoy The Room like myself but it doesn't change its a bad film. Showgirls has a cult following but most of them agree its god awful. Batman and Robin has its fan but not once to they pretend its a good film. You can enjoy and like the Mario films just like i enjoyed The Bride but it doesn't mean the critics are wrong about them.

@AJ-11

I've played more FMV games (Wales Interactive and Chinese/South Korean ones) than I have seen films. XD So I'm still trying in a way. Like some genres I was new to like tactics/hack n slashes/arcade racers/visual novels over the past few years, I've branched out more in games with the mindset for what they offer and fun there. Branched out to EDM/anime over 10 years now (was new to them 10 years ago but came across them in moments in the past without realising before committing to them more as a hobby), games did as well more then I did in the past.

USA (as thinking it over I can't say for most EU movies/TV series and even then on occasion British ones, just to preface and think about it, I haven't seen enough modern EU films or TV series, some Youtubers have pointed out but I don't take their word for everything or haven't seen videos on those for years now) animated movies from the music choices (forget original money and even then the original music is forgettable) to the attitude to the humour just puts me off. I don't like most western humour nowadays.

There is fun and the world may be fun, but the dialogue and more I can't tolerate. So I don't have fun with the points the movies want to make, only with the visuals if they are also not as played out.

I forget the sleeping/sandman one I saw that was ok with the sister/brother that was a fair animated movie. I think that was a fair one I saw maybe 2025. I haven't seen much in 2026 really.

Eastern humour and writing isn't better or perfect, just saying how most western humour/dialogue is presented puts me off more then the other does.

I don't remember the last time I saw a British animated movie in the last few years (maybe and forgot) (I haven't even seen Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl or Chicken Run 2 (Chicken Run 2 had the most unappealing premise I didn't even bother) and the other seems fine I guess compared to other Wallace and Gromit ones). Aardman at least is a good claymation studio but it still varies.

I've mostly watched older live action films I've never seen or heard of before, rewatched a few things here and there. Got plenty of anime movies/TV series to watch on blu-ray (not bothered with seasonal anime till blu-rays, anything else I'd have to seek out otherwise).

Illumination hasn't made a movie I can tolerate in years.

Can I respect Sony Animation turning things around after Emoji movie and others, yes, but even Hotel Transilvania made me want to just ignore them. Most of their films weren't good.

I haven't seen GOAT but it seems fine. The message is clear but eh. Even the new Pixar one is just Open Season or a 'fair' idea but not that exciting. I even watching trailers online or in the cinemas before going to a movie (rare as that is, did a few weeks ago, haven't since 2019 or so not just because of events but also lack of anything compelling to watch)/trailers before the movie plays, yeah most of them didn't really appeal to me at all. Very weak ideas in them.

Illumination are just a budget studio that tries but wants to be a wannabe studio with bad dialogue and more I can't stand, even Rainmaker is a wannabe Illumination with the Ratchet movie or any other garbage they have made over the years.

Part 2:
Disney/Pixar hasn't made a decent film in the last 10 years, 10 years ago and older they were great, nowadays I just skip them little by little to never seeing at all.

Zootopia 2 is garbage. The 1st is great, the 2nd misses the mark so much and is a messy movie.

Ember was 'ok' but I cared more for the world it was set in then the characters/dynamic of themes. Even the Disney one that was about the family and the journey and they go and find they are living on a creature, the world was more interesting then the constant back and forth of the family dynamic I just couldn't care less about.

Even many of their other ones, visuals and artstyles as colour palette or as samey or particular character designs or whatever, yeah. I'm not getting much out of them to buy a ticket let alone watching on a streaming service. I just have other things to see or do instead.

People can say the world is for the kids if they don't notice all the dialogue and the dialogue is for the adults (unless appreciating the visuals and things from an artistic point of view/tech or whatever), but to me if the dialogue is not engaging at all, then yeah they have failed and I'd rather look at the world they have presented instead of the characters.

But even in games I'd rather gameplay then any bland dialogue or human drama garbage. But the worlds/gameplay are so bland I don't even want to look at many games either. Yes even many Indies, not because of their budget, but what they are trying to convey and the gameplay is not exciting at all. It varies of course I don't cut most off, it's just mostly aren't that compelling and their inspirations are so clear as to why I refuse to buy them.

Dreamworks I haven't seen a film from in years either and Megamind 2 was sigh, Shrek 5 doesn't look good. Most of their others I can't even remember the names of or what they were advertising. I've probably seen merch, and why aren't for me and that's totally fine I don't even know what the others are I haven't remembered the trailers or the years they did certain stuff I just haven't bothered to look them up for many studios.

In terms of non-American sure, plenty of European or others I haven't seen yes, to clarify there but I haven't seen much to really get excited over.

Or just maybe Indie films in any region there is plenty I haven't seen so in terms of higher budget American made films they are all mostly unappealing and don't suit what I'm looking for.

Part 3:
I don't remember the last time i saw a British film that was live action. Maybe one of the Agatha Christie adaptations (not the biggest on mysteries but I enjoy them from time to time, and haven't seen many of her work adapted either like others around me have). I thought it was fine, I just can't remember the name of it.

There was another one I saw but forget the name of. The old people's home mystery club one, with some fair older actors. That was good too from what I remember from 2025 I think I saw that and the Agatha Christie one. But even prior to them I can't remember. Most of them don't stick with me as memorable.

Project Hail Mary has moments of being interesting from the trailers but I can tell will have moments that make me cringe, the premise good, the execution I I know I'll be unsure about. Premises either are boring, or good but have moments I know I'll hate in them.

Even The Arrival a film years ago I should like, had the most boring human message and I was like nah I'm done. I hate when they have to reflect/reference it that way. It makes me turn off, and I saw that in cinemas I think.

Still most films about going to space or games about going to space are just so overdone I go eh. They need enough of a spin on them instead of being grounded then is grounded still or spins it off in a way that's not exciting at all.

Most fantasy/scifi hasn't really done anything that exciting either.

I've been reading more manga that's slice of life romcoms then I have most western ones, I have the odd ones here and there, mostly older stuff though, not modern.

Anything modern on streaming I watch Youtubers cover and know how bad they are going to be. Even when they say they are good, I know I wouldn't be able to tolerate them anyway. The tone/culture is just not something I can tolerate.

Whilst I've read modern culture audience manga (as in more so just streamers, vtubers and other things, I don't read them that much as they don't interest me, I don't like social media in my entertainment media, so I read things that don't focus on it) and modern manga/anime that is set in the contemporary time period but doesn't bother me, because they cover things better. The USA and sometimes others love to shove what time period and culture were in and I just turn off.

When even modern anime feels like 2010s even if it's set in the 2020s it's weird but good and I can tolerate it as it focuses on what it needs to and doesn't offer more annoying things in it (unless it's tropes I already know are annoying or fine to get through), whilst with USA media they make it clear it's late 2010s or 2020s and I can't stand any of it.

Part 4:
Heck even the film I was interested in Rental Family seemed fair with Brendan Fraser, not just because I'm familiar with how rental family members, or rental girlfriends/boyfriend services like that exist in Asia but just it seemed like a fair drama movie and interesting to see. I haven't seen it yet but I still think it's interesting to cover it.

Magic Faraway Tree regardless of being based on books I've read I don't allow childhood as an excuse for things still worthy of critique, it had moments but also a lot of garbage and it's message also put me off it wasn't necessary to be there. The worlds were short and awkward, the dialogue was on point and atrocious. To me Andrew Garfield did great in it, the ones in the world were great, but some changes were fair, I'm open to some of the changes, but others were just too awkward for a film format and others were modern culture garbage that added nothing to the film even for pointing things out it offered more we want to throw this in then having a relevant purpose. I almost wanted my money back after watching it in cinemas but I already knew I'd hate parts about it anyway.

So is there few (even if not enough examples but still), but animated ones have either bad kids jokes or bad adult jokes or just ok premises but bad execution.

Even the messages/drama makes me just yawn, when the 'world' is more interesting then the characters are and we have to sit through what they say and feel and I don't care at all.