In case you hadn't noticed, the teaser trailer for The Super Mario Movie went live yesterday, and, as is so often the case, the internet has opinions.
There was already some degree of disquiet when it was first announced that Chris Pratt would be providing Mario's voice, and the trailer – as nice as it was – did little to allay such concerns. Pratt appears to be talking almost entirely in his own voice rather than attempting to engineer an Italian accent (for some, that might actually be a blessing).
Those of you with long memories will recall the exact same thing happened a few decades ago when the late, great Bob Hoskins stepped into Mario's red overalls. The Englishman adopted a Brooklyn accent for 1993's live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, in keeping with the film's storyline that placed the Mario siblings in real-world New York.
In fact, while we're on the topic, it does seem rather rich that so many people are kicking up a stink about Mario's voice in this new movie when you consider how much of the 1993 film deviates entirely from the subject matter. Of course, back in the early '90s, filmmakers lacked the computing power to create a convincing fantasy world entirely in CGI – and there was the small matter of Mario's world not being as fleshed-out in the video games as it is today.
Still, we do wonder what would happen if the 1993 film had been released today – Mario's voice would be the least of the internet's concerns, we'd wager.
Here are some edited highlights, and the trailer, to remind you of its utter magnificence.
Comments 7
I saw the trailer. It did not excite me. But I genuinely, without irony, loved the 1993 movie. I actually only saw it last year, for the first time.
I avoided it back in the day due to bad reviews, and only in 2021 did I watch it. And you know what? I loved it. Everyone complains the film is confusing, when actually it's very coherent. The plot is easy to follow and makes sense. Just watch Rick & Morty to get a handle on multiple universes.
The brotherly love between the bros feels authentic - maybe the result of the actors bonding over how difficult the shoot was?
Also the female characters all have agency to them. Princess Daisy is the heroine of the film; the villainess Lena, played by Fiona Shaw, is also an agent of change.
The visual effects are great, with minimal CG and lots of practical, and again - the story made sense.
On a deeper level it's a criticism of populism and fascist governments, depicting a downtrodden and oppressed society. The film is more relevant today than ever before.
Finally, I love seeing cross-media adaptations of my favourite source material, reimagined through entirely different eyes. I would like to see more of my favourite things reimagined differently (the Virtua Fighter AI characters is a good example).
I regret listening to the critics back in the day - the 1993 movie is the perfect game to movie adaptation.
You also might not want to check out the French version of the Mario movie trailer. Because he clearly puts in 10 times for effort than Pratt does.
I remember when Mario’s voice in Mario 64 sounded weird. Prior to that we’d had the deep and gruff voices of both Bob Hoskins and Cap’n Lou Albano voicing Mario, so Martinet’s high pitched voice was the one that sounded weird until I got used to it.
Chris Pratt’s take is much easier to handle compared to that change! 😅
@BulkSlash I’ll second that. I grew up with the cartoons in 80s/early 90s and was used to Mario and Luigi having Brooklyn accents. It was quite strange when I later got Mario 64 but got used to it very quickly.
I can’t see the problem; to me Sonic was a similar story, but went from silent protagonist to whiny kid on his cartoon to a happy medium of young and enthusiastic in the movies (it helps that he sounds the same as one of the three ducklings in the new Ducktales who is played by the same voice actor. Btw, if you have never seen the new Ducktales series it is really rather good, totally different from the original but does it’s own thing. David Tennant as Scrooge is casting genius.
I mean... people aren't actually upset about the voice acting, right?
People just don't like Pratt. And for valid reason — he's repeatedly said problematic things and affiliated himself with problematic groups. But they're clearly taking that distaste and redirecting it toward his work, whether or not that work really deserves it on merit.
We've heard like three understated lines so far. And from that very limited evidence, it sounds like he's going for a low-key Brooklyn Italian affect, wisely steering clear of getting too hammy with it. Two hours of WOOHOO ITSAMEE would be ear poison.
The trailer looked great.
My friends and I agree the live action movie caused what we call "the cinematic gaming apocalypse of 1993". Not saying that the movie is too bad but, in that time there was few lore on super mario bros. and felt the director misunderstood the concept as the movie was more inspired by the mario bros arcade game than the proper super mario bros game of 1985
I think my big problem isn't with Chris Pratt. My big problem is that Charles Martinet was Mario for decades, and when an animated movie actually happens, he's not given a chance to be his iconic Mario we've all come to know. He's been passed up for star power to help sell the movie.
It's just. . . It sucks. So many fans say the guy is just the nicest person.
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