I remember when I got my first Nintendo growing up. I was a child of the 1980s, and the Nintendo was magical. Especially when we got to play a Mario Bros. game. For decades the games in many forms have entertained audiences.

In 2023, Mario made the leap to the big screen. That film featured a famous voice cast, a brightly colored world, and made a boatload of money at the Box Office. But it was just OK as a film, despite some fun moments and songs from Jack Black as Bowser. But unsurprisingly, that film’s success has led to more.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, out now, seeks to build on the legacy of the first. It has the same brightly colored animation, adding characters like Rosalina (Brie Larson), Yoshi (Donald Glover), and Fox McCloud (Glen Powell). All of them are joined by Mario (Chris Pratt), Luigi (Charlie Day), and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) as they try to fight for good in the universe.

But there’s a new threat—from Bowser, Jr. (Bennie Safdie)—who is determined to free his father, imprisoned and shrunk down during the events of the first film. He also has even larger aims to realize one of his father’s dreams about ruling the galaxy.

The plot here doesn’t really matter. There is a story and a plot that exists, but it’s mostly to set things in motion and drive us to the big set pieces. There are battles meant to be both engaging, entertaining, and amusing. But whereas the first film felt like it had something of a sense of humor, the jokes didn’t really land here.

That could be because this sequel doesn’t let Black cook. He has a few sequences, but it’s not quite the unleashed performance we got in the first film that was my favorite part of an otherwise unspectacular film. Don’t get me wrong, this still has a nice, animated style and brightly colored worlds and characters that will entertain and engage young viewers.

It’s the young viewers that are the target here. This will likely work well enough for them, as it did in the first film. In the screening I attended, those under 10 were enamored of it all, cheering and clapping at the fight sequences.

For older viewers, there remains pieces of nostalgia. There are some creative sequences that feel culled straight out of the old video games. That made me smile. As did the musical riffs on the iconic soundtrack that’s always accompanied Mario in video game form.

The problem here is even at 98 minutes, the film feels long. It feels long because there is little narrative to hold it all together. Often, it feels like watching an overly long cut sequence from a video game. In part that’s by design. But I couldn’t help but think that the filmmakers and this talented voice cast were capable of more.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.