When Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) is kidnapped by Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), the heroic Super Mario Brothers and friends set out on a rescue mission. 

This time, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are joined by Yoshi (Donald Glover) on their adventure. Whilst Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) head out on another. 

At this point, I could potentially just direct you to my review for the first movie – The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Because this one has even less storyline than before, with just a multitude of references to Nintendo games and characters. That is not to say that this will not hugely entertain its target audience of children and big kids who grew up with Nintendo games. I am a middle-aged man and still found myself trying to register every single reference point. My favourite reference was probably the Pikmin one. 

Where the film dazzles is in its vibrant, beautiful animation and its ability to wedge in as many game references as possible. 

Bowser (Jack Black) does threaten to have an actual character arc before it is abandoned. Bowser Jr. is a fun villain that matches his game character precisely. Yoshi is fun to look at without really doing much. Rosalina is a rather vanilla princess. Leaving one major game character from a beloved Nintendo franchise to steal the show. It is such a beloved character that I am not going to spoil it here, but if you have been playing Nintendo games for a few decades, you will love the appearance. 

There are diminishing returns this time round, and there is no way anyone outside the target audience will have much to latch onto. But this feature achieves exactly what it sets out to and will keep fans and children appropriately dazzled by its references rather than its lack of story. This is a video game movie after all. 

Oh, and make sure you hang around for a mid-credits and post-credits scene.