Much has been made of Chris Pratt’s Mario voice in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Maybe too much, when you consider that Mario only ever really says "wahoo" and "it's a-me". Pratt has solid experience as a voice actor (although sure, not a lot of range), and Mario's a bit of a blank canvas. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:He's not Charles Martinet, and I get why that disappoints some people, but I've never been too hung up on this. Therefore, you might want to take this with a pinch of salt when I say Chris Pratt's Mario is great.

You can read 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:my full review of the movie here, and as the big talking point ever since the cast was revealed, I do mention Pratt's voice in there a little. However, given the non-stop discussion over casting a popular leading man as the main character in a children's movie, I've decided it was worth special focus. Here's a full rundown of Chris Pratt's Mario, and why I think it works.

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First off, we know this version of Mario is an isekai - he's not native to the Mushroom Kingdom, but instead from the very human New York City, and is accidentally transported there. For the first part of the movie, Mario and Luigi are penniless plumbers, and Pratt and on-screen brother Charlie Day have excellent chemistry. Pratt has the character's personality down - he's a strong, fearless leader when it comes to protecting his brother, but a clumsy loser throughout most of his life.

mario in the super mario bros movie
via Nintendo/Illumination

This holds over when he gets to the Mushroom Kingdom and the pair are separated - Mario has it in him to be a hero, but he hasn't quite found how to bring it out yet. We don't really get much of Mario's personality in the games, where even the more narrative-driven ones like Odyssey just have him kinda stumbling into situations and being a generic nice guy, so I think this is the perfect direction. Pratt has a naive warmth whether he's with Day's Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy's Peach, or Seth Rogen's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Donkey Kong, and it's this camaraderie that makes the movie land.

I also think the trailers made the grave mistake of trying to underline Chris Pratt as Mario, the real Mario, the one true Mario, the Mario 64/Super Mario World/Mario Party 7 Mario. He's not. He's just a dude. Most of what we've heard from the trailers have been the 'wahoos' and 'lets-a gos', or the straining of the Brooklyn accent in "Mushroom Kingdom, here we come!", but his Mario is far more natural than those lines make him seem. In fact, only the Mario Kart wahoo even exists in the scene we see it in during the trailers, with the other too moved to other spots.

Mario and Luigi in the Mario Bros. movie.

As a result, it's easier to buy that Mario is still learning to be the Mario of the games. He hates mushrooms, which is a nice little gag, and in order to use them in the movie's reality, he has to physically eat them. We also see him 'platforming' in style as he runs through Brooklyn for a plumbing gig, but then struggling with the challenges of actual platforming with Peach. It again underlines that Mario is a hero, he just doesn't know how to be one yet.

Pratt brings a lot of charm to the table as Mario. He's not an inept loser who needs Peach to save him, but he's also not a flawless hero lacking in any personality of note - which, despite Martinet's enthusiastic voice work, he sort of is in the games. The movie does a lot of work to round Mario out, and Pratt is a key part of that.

peach mario and toad sat on a mushroom in the mario movie
via Nintendo/Illumination

This is a very endearing version of Mario and if there are to be sequels and a universe built around him, I’m here for it. There's enough Brooklyn twang that it's not just Chris Pratt, but it's not so far removed that it feels forced. It's a nice cosy voice for a nice cosy character in a nice cosy movie. I'm sure you'll all be extremely normal about it.

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