Surely no one was surprised to see people flocking to theatres to catch the first Mario movie, created by the animation masters at Illumination, who had previously brought to the world both Despicable Me and the Minions. That said, many were still a bit surprised by just how popular the film actually became.
However, not everyone liked it; in particular, film critics had their say, and opinions were very mixed. When the sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, premiered, people once again flocked to theatres to follow the adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom, but this time the critics were even angrier.
One person surprised by this is Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. In an NDW interview (via Nintendo Patents Watch), he had this to say about the matter:
"The situations are similar, aren't they? Actually, I thought the critics' reviews of the first film were understandable. But I thought this time it would be different... and it was even harsher than last time, which I found strange (laughs). People from other genres are coming in and working hard to liven up the film industry, so it's really strange that the people who are trying to liven up the film industry are so passive."
Nintendo probably isn't too upset about it, even though they certainly aren't used to Mario productions receiving low ratings, as the film is doing incredibly well at the box office and is rapidly on track to becoming the first film to gross over a billion dollars in 2026.
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