Ring Team 
I'd disagree on western animation being too focused on gags, at least nowadays. Yeah, we hacve cases like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, where at least 65% of all the episodes are just disconnected collections of gags. And the first Steven Universe episodes were not particularly great. However, it's not always the case.
Over the garden wall is western and it's not as focused on gags as someone would expect. And there's the spanish film Birdboy, which is creepy, terrific, bloody, too real at times, etc. And some Pixar films of the last years, with the exception of Lightyear and the brief high school part of Onward, have scenes in service to the story, not the other way around. And then there's Kipo.
I'm not as critical as I was with Illumination in the past (because it's easy for me to find enhanced alternatives), but if the Mario movie ends up being minimally good, then that's a good thing.
Over the garden wall is western and it's not as focused on gags as someone would expect. And there's the spanish film Birdboy, which is creepy, terrific, bloody, too real at times, etc. And some Pixar films of the last years, with the exception of Lightyear and the brief high school part of Onward, have scenes in service to the story, not the other way around. And then there's Kipo.
I'm not as critical as I was with Illumination in the past (because it's easy for me to find enhanced alternatives), but if the Mario movie ends up being minimally good, then that's a good thing.