Get twice the princesses, twice the Bowsers, more sidekick-y characters, more video game beep-boops and big loud everything in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is fine, cute even at times.

You get even more callbacks to Super Mario game play here but also a “kitchen sink cookie”-like jumble of beats that feels very Lego Movie and Star Wars and even a little Frozen. It feels a little more like one of those Oreo Reese’s candy mashups than a whole new thing unto itself.

Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voice of Charlie Day) are now sort of interworld fix-it guys, which is how they meet Yoshi (voice of Donald Glover), one of the many “more characters, less time with any specific character” additions here. Meanwhile, Princess Peach (voice of Anya Taylor-Joy) is still curious about her origins. Elsewhere, a similar-looking Princess Rosalina (voice of Brie Larson), mother to a bunch of those star thingies similar to that gleefully nihilistic star in the first movie, has been kidnapped by Bowser Jr. (voice of Benny Safdie), who is looking to redeem the legacy of his father, Bowser (voice of Jack Black), who, as the movie begins, is still in his pet-turtle-sized tiny incarnation and is trying to “work on himself” and has also taken up painting.

The Bowser family is probably the most kooky-fun element of this movie even though it does fall into the “twice as much and somehow less” overall feel of the movie. The movie has a fun visual sensibility, between the color and the sort of winking malevolent cuteness of everything. It walks up to the line of that kind of cleverness overall but never quite manages the quirky zaniness of, say, a Lego Movie that would push it into the territory of a movie with all-ages appeal. It is an engaging candy mashup fully enjoyable for kids and mostly tolerable for their adults. C+ maybe even a B- if you were a Mario player or are a kid just looking to be entertained or are a parent looking to zone out during something loud and pleasant. In theaters now and slated for a VOD release May 19.

The Christophers (R)

Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel star in what plays out like a slow-motion art heist in The Christophers, a Steven Soderbergh-directed movie.

Sallie (Jessica Gunning) and Barnaby (James Corden) are the children of artistic great Julian Sklar (McKellen). Or at least he was a great, back in the day, but his talent and drive seem to have faded away and he hasn’t painted anything in decades. Deep in the attic of one of his London townhouses is a series of half-finished paintings that would be valued in the millions if they were sold as finished, never-seen-before works. Sallie attempts finishing one, resulting in a painting that resembles that church fresco that was “restored” and ended up looking more monkey than man. They turn instead to Lori Butler (Cole), a friend of Sallie’s from art school who has talent in her own right but who is also skilled at capturing the work of other painters. Lori is meant to work as Julian’s assistant, while also finding the missing “Christophers,” as the paintings are called, and finishing them to then return them to the attic for them to be “discovered” after Julian’s death. And clearly Sallie and Barnaby, who have a terrible relationship with their self-centered father, are hoping that end comes sooner rather than later. Their interest in “The Christophers” has, however, pushed the paintings into the front of Julian’s mind, and Julian would prefer to see them destroyed than sold. Lori, a one-time fan of Julian’s, seems conflicted about what the fate of the paintings should be.

Both Cole and McKellen can at times feel like they’re doing one-person shows that bump into each other, but wow is it fun to watch them work. Cole keeps Lori’s feelings close to the vest with silences and subtle facial expressions; McKellen hides how Julian really feels in long self-important monologues which of course he delivers with impeccable dry humor. Together they push against each other’s defenses, annoying each other and also drawing the other person out. You can at times forget that there is a forward-moving plot in all this, it’s easy just to enjoy two great actors doing great acting playing off each other. B+ In theaters and slated to come to VOD in May.

Normal (R)

Bob Odenkirk plays yet another regular-joe guy who finds himself needing to kick butt in Normal, a totally fine example of this genre.

It ranks, I think, between the two Mr. Nobodys — not quite as good as the first, better than the second.

After a career- and soul-shaking incident in his hometown where he was a longtime police officer, Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk, also a co-writer according to IMDb) has become a traveling interim sheriff. He’s wound up in small town Normal, Minnesota, where he stays in a grimy motel and leaves his estranged wife long internal-monologue-ish messages. Normal is as advertised — with most of Ulysses’s work being pulling apart townsfolk fighting over something stupid. But generally, people are friendly and life seems to be going well, perhaps a little better than you’d expect for a small rural town here in the mid-2020s. And this small police department seems to have a weirdly well-stocked armory. Ulysses, policing in kind of a pleasant, semi-disinterested funk, is helpful to all, including to Lori (Reena Jolly), who turns out to be half of a duo, with Keith (Brendan Fletcher), of bank robbers. That the whole town freaks out when its local bank, which appears to have only a small wad of cash and a handful of coins, is robbed is one of many clues that all in Normal is not, well, normal. (The first clue is the movie’s opening scene featuring an unhappy Yakuza boss.)

I appreciate how this movie has a short story approach to its action, keeping us mostly in the here and now and mostly resisting the urge to load up on back stories or telling us how every single thing works out. Ulysses eventually gets a sort of sidekick in Alex (Jess McLeod), the grieving adult-kid of the previous, recently-deceased sheriff, and their partnership adds a nice plucky little element to the story. Normal is exactly what its trailer promises — a blend of low-volume humor and theatrical violence that makes for an enjoyable time. B In theaters now and slated to hit VOD in May, according to Forbes.com.

Featured photo: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie