Chris Pratt Will Voice Super Mario In An Upcoming Animated Film, And The Internet Has Thoughts On That
Super Mario, the world’s most famous princess-rescuing Italian in overalls, will be getting another big-screen Hollywood movie. Mario’s first was the 1993 fever dream Super Mario Bros.: The Movie. This new one is an animated movie and the actor whose voice will bring Mario’s peppy, joyful Italian-accented personality to life is…Chris Pratt. If your immediate response was to check and see if I spelled someone else’s name wrong, well – you’d be in good company with the rest of the internet, who also have no idea why Chris Pratt got the job.
Variety says that this still-untitled Super Mario film courtesy of Universal Pictures is scheduled to hit theaters on December 22nd, 2022, and the full cast was announced yesterday. Joining Chris in the Charlie Day is Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, Jack Black is Bowser, Seth Rogen is Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen is Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson is Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco is Spike. But who will voice the bad bitch in heels with the Restylane mouth, Wendy O. Koopa? You can’t drop casting information and forget critical pieces like that.
This news was announced at the annual Nintendo Direct conference. Chris Meledandri, founder of the animation studio Illumination (who is working with Universal), broke the news with this statement:
“Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honored to have the unique opportunity to work so closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and the widely imaginative team at Nintendo to bring these characters to life in an animated movie, unlike any film Illumination has made to date.”
The producers noted that each actor was cast for their ability to capture the unique spirit of each of their iconic characters.
It all kind of feels like some of these actors were cast by just randomly pulling names out of a large, cartoonish red hat. Which of course had the internet making many a joke about this movie, the most frequently made of which was that they might as well just go full-nonsense and cast Danny DeVito as Mario’s evil equivalent, Wario.
chris pratt is playing mario pic.twitter.com/KiWVoVkY5z
— Vincent Martella (@VinMan17) September 23, 2021
Imagine surviving two recessions and a pandemic only to have to endure Chris Pratt as Mario
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) September 24, 2021
Just saying pic.twitter.com/j1rYJc3mDf
— IGN (@IGN) September 23, 2021
To make the situation even worse, here’s Chris Pratt saying, “Its-a me, Mario” and sounding more like someone who doesn’t know Mario, trying to steal Mario’s identity during a security verification process with Mario’s bank.
I just have to wonder how Chris will put his own unique personal spin on the character. First things first, a scene where Chris’ Mario declares apropos of nothing that Rainbow Road in Mario Kart has been renamed Just Regular Road For No Reason Stop Asking.
Pics: Wenn.com, Nintendo