This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, Yoshi, voiced by Donald Glover, and Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, in a scene from "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie." (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)

They say that the sequel is never as good as the original.

While that may apply in this case, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” had plenty going for it that made it easy to see why it blasted to the number one spot of the domestic box office’s top 10 this past week, bringing in $130.9 million over the opening weekend.

But the big problem I had with this movie, almost immediately coming out of the theater to my car, was that it felt that the writers never were able to decide what the main plot, or main characters, were going to be.

And it wasn’t a situation of “well, it’s the Mario movie, so why did the majority of the plot focus on Peach saving Rosalina?” Far from it. In fact, I felt that the focus on developing back story for Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Rosalina (Brie Larson), goes a long way to help the franchise move past the notion of the princess being the damsel in distress.

My complaint actually focuses on what ended up being the B-plot of the movie: Was Bowser ever going to actually turn over a new leaf or not? It’s the biggest “will they, won’t they” of the movie and left myself feeling like they were simply making that whole story up as they went along, only to say “whatever” and fall back on the classic formula.

Mario (Chris Pratt) and Bowser’s (Jack Black) relationship felt awkward because it was — they spent half the movie trying to get the two of them to be friends and get along, and at times you really feel like it’s going to go that way, only for Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie) to do what everyone expected him to do, and bring dear, old Dad back to the dark side.

Nitpicking over plot aside, the movie serves its multiple purposes quite well.

Firstly, this was a great kids movie. You don’t have to worry about screening this for questionable material to shove your kids in front of the TV when this eventually comes to streaming in the not-too-distant future.

My brother, nephews and I attended a Friday night showing at AMC 12 Altoona, and setting aside a slight mishaps with seating (TLDR: I bought tickets for the wrong day. Silly me), everyone in the auditorium, full of lots of parents and kids, had a great time.

Secondly, it was a great way to wrap up what has been an otherwise rather lackluster 40th anniversay for the “Mario” franchise.

While the previously mentioned plot issues left a lot to be desired for some adults, most of the kids in the room aren’t really going to notice, pay attention or care about that.

Similarly, I’m curious how many of the other Nintendo character cameos folks caught?

While I discussed in my column last week that Fox McCloud (Glenn Powell) of “Star Fox” was going to make an appearance, and he was a crucial part of the final act, R.O.B. the robot has a funny spot, as well as fun cameos from Mr. Game and Watch during one of the big fight scenes, and prior to R.O.B.’s appearance, the Pikmin make a brief stop on screen.

Lastly, and most importantly, as discussed last weekend, especially given these other cameos, this movie will likely serve as the initial stop on what could eventually become a “Super Smash Bros.” movie franchise.

The only question that remains left for me will be if the “Kirby” and “Super Smash Bros.” creator Masahiro Sakurai can be lured back to the franchise he made famous to bring one of the top fighting game franchises of all-time to the silver screen.

Digital content coordinator and copy editor Dan Isenberg can be reached at disenberg@altoonamirror.com or on X @TheseDanTweets.