Thoughts on the movie ( the second one duuh )
I wanna say spoilers below, but I think everyone has watched it already. Its long read ahead, you've been warned
Yes it was fine, quite more chaotic than the first one. I can see why some people are complaining about the "no plot/ substance" thing, but seriously, there is a plot and substance...just the bare bones of it is all. This movie kind of felt shorter than the previous one. There were simultaneously too many stuff going on and also nothing much happening inbetween, idk.
The highlights:
Bowser and Jr. So glad they had this much screen time. The first movie didn't have nearly enough screen time of Bowser I think. Jr in particular really stole the show, and all the Bowser/ Jr moments were perfection.
But the "downgrade". Compared to first movie, Bowser is all over the place. He's completely OOC for most of the movie in my opinion. I can't see him ever agreeing to any kind of "therapy" or joining a book club of all things. He's too conceited, too manipulative and too full of anger for those things to ever work on him. The cracks show throughout the whole movie, because you can't stuff down all his bad traits. They're all definitily still there, seeping out when he inevitably loses his temper. And he might be apologetic at first, saying stuff like "still working through my demons", but I doubt he ever wanted to change to what they made him in the movie. People say that Jr. brainwashed him back to being 'evil', but I think the real brainwashing was this "therapy session". We are definitely missing a massive chunk of what happened during his imprisonment, and what made him fall for "therapy".
Personally I think his mind just cracked from desperation and loneliness. He was locked up and surrounded by people he hates, and who hate him back, for what looked like many months. He was probably deeply humiliated by his defeat, and having creatures that he deems much weaker than himself, treat him like a small pest and locking him up in a tiny cage made his failure even deepr. And most likely, he was by himslef most of the time, no minions to keep him company, nothing at all reminding him of home and being stuck in enemy territory, completely at their mercy. And worst of all, the one who defeated him was also there, being all friendly with "his Princess".
And maybe he thought he could fool them, be 'good' and 'work though his demons' just long enough for them to trust him and free him, which would've been in character for him. And it worked just as he planned, people were beginning to trust him, or fall for his act rather ( well except for Mario). But somewhere along the way he started to lose himself, becoming something that he wasn't, hence we get this 'good and reworked' version of Bowser.
And I was half expecting for him to finally drop the act when Mario lost his own temper and made him big. But no... instead we got more of brainwashed Bowser, who proceeded to make frineds with Mario now, something he would never ever do under any circumstance. Mario is ,and will awlays continue to be, his rival when it comes to princess Peach, and his enemy. Someone Bowser easilly hates and somone who he sometimes reluctantly works with. The only time Bowser acted even romotely friendly like in the movie, was in the game Brothership. And even then everyone was in a state of dreaming. That's how much Bowser being friendly with Mario is utterly ridiculous, and out of character for him. If anything, it just solidifies that he's been brainwashed by 'therapy' for him to act this way.
This brings us to the other OOC thing. His 'friendship' with Luigi.
Yeah, what even is going on there... I wanted to excuse Luigi somewhat, for he is naive and genuinely sees and encourages the good in people around him, but I can't. He's OOC here too. Both in the games and first movie he's afraid of Bowser, understandably so. I can't think of a single time where he isn't with Mario if they're 'forced' to work with Bowser. I doubt he'd ever go near him if he's by himself, even more so after the first movie. Bowser tried to kill him, said he'd do so infront his own brother even, and Bowser even tortured him a little bit. Luigi saw first hand just how frightening Bowser actually is, and the second movie completely erased that fact. Instead Luigi has become a part of Bowser's "therapy". He encourages him, he trusts him, he's friendly with him.
My "kind of excuse" for his attitude? Luigi has forgotten how frightening Bowser is because he's small and in a cage. He treats Bowser like a pet for the entire movie, even after he gets big, because Bowser still acts 'good'.
And from Bowser's side? He latched onto Luigi because he was the first one to fall for his 'act', and continues to fall up untill Bowser becomes himself again.
Jr. is the one who saves Bowser. He reminds him of who he is and where he belongs, and Bowser finally errupts with the feelings he has most likely pushed and buried deep in him so he could act 'good'.
"Good Bowser" would've made sense if he cut the act the moment he became big ( or when they left him alone with the Queesn Bee), but instead they messed him up. I feel like, even without Jr's help he would've eventually found himslef again. And he didn't need "therapy" to bring out his 'goodness', because he already has good traits. But, he only shows them to the people he most cherishes, like Jr. for example. And he can be cooperative and work with the enemy, but nothing like he did in the second movie. This Bowser was completely wrong, and not how he should've been portrayed.
About princess Peach and Rosalina.
I'm not sure about the sister thing ( and no, I don't ship them..) It's just, what does it even mean? Rosalina seems like an ethereal being that's lived for..probably as long as the cosmos has existed, and Peach seems like a..normal human. Rosalina has cosmic powers, and Peach has nothing at all aside from being kind of agile. Them being sisters kind of makes no sense. Is Peach going to manifest some god-like powers in the third movie now? She's already overpowered normally, I don't know what giving her even more powers would accomplish.
Like, I'm happy she finally found her real familly, but whats the point of her being a cosmic being and not a regular human.
All in all, this movie is a mess. Hopefully the third one will be better, but eh...it probably won't be.
