Chris Pratt initially came under scrutiny when it was announced he’d be doing the voice for the iconic Nintendo plumber and protector of the Mushroom Kingdom in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and that’d it be “unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before,” (in an interview with Variety); when trailers revealed that Pratt’s Mario sounded… kind of like normal Chris Pratt with a Brooklyn accent, fans were disenchanted, to put it lightly. However, with the movie nearing its April 5th release date, the 43-year-old star of Guardians of the Galaxy star, and voice of Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie has doubled down on his confidence that his voice work for The Super Mario Bros. Movie will satisfy fans, as will the movie’s overall quality.
“You know, come watch the movie,” Pratt said to ExtraTV. “Go watch the movie, and then we can talk. I really think that once you’ve seen the movie – you know what, in all honesty, I think you probably need to watch it twice.”
Pratt continued, “In all honesty the answer, though, is that this is a passionate fanbase and it makes sense. I understand, I’m part of it.”
Prat added that he understood the significance of bringing to life a character like Mario, a personality who has been likened to this generation’s Mickey Mouse.
“This is the soundtrack to your youth,” Pratt added. “You don’t want someone to come along and cynically destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that, you do not want that to happen, and there are so many hearts and souls and minds dedicated to making sure that didn’t happen.”
Continuing his conversation with ExtraTV’s Jenn Lahmers, Pratt said that The Super Mario Bros. Movie both honors the video games and sets the stage for what he thinks could constitute a movie universe with even more Nintendo characters.
“You saw the movie. It really honors the video game, it honors the world of Mario and it’s very promising as to what we could expect over the next 10 years, like an entire universe of these types of movies.
“They’re super nostalgic, they’re really fun, it’s Illumination so they know what they’re doing, and it’s great because – especially for me, now that I have kids, I have to see every animated movie whether it’s good or not, so I’m really grateful when a great animated movie comes out, and that’s what this is thankfully. And hopefully there’ll be more.”
More? Like an Illumination film centering around Mario villain turned frienemy, Donkey Kong, who is voiced by Seth Rogen in The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Rogen is game.
“[A Donkey Kong movie] would be fun,” Rogen told ComicBook.com. “I honestly had a great time doing it and I think it’s a big world, gigantic, and it seems to be a thing that people are excited to see.”
Rogen added that although he didn’t foresee himself as a convincing voice for a character like Donkey Kong, the performance just seemed to work itself out once he began the voice acting process.
“I was very clear, I don’t do voices,” Rogen explained. “And if you want me to be in this movie, it’s gonna sound like me and that’s it. And that was the beginning and end of that conversation.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie/Illumination
“I was like, ‘if you want Donkey Kong to sound a lot like me, I’m your guy’. But it did seem to work, you know. I think in the film and in the game I think all you really know about Donkey Kong is that he throws barrels, and he does not like Mario very much.
“That’s honestly kind of what I ran with – this idea that he hates Mario, that they have an adversarial relationship, that he’s annoyed by him, that he doesn’t want to be stuck with him, that he wishes he was on this adventure without him. To me that was funny and that was kind of the root of the character, and it was born out of the mythology of the games.”
Are you looking forward to Chris Pratt and Seth Rogen’s voice acting performances in The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Do you think the spirit of the games will translate to the film? Let us know in the comments.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which according to Toad voice actor, Keegan-Michael Key, will include musical aspects, is slated to hit theaters on April 5th. The movie will feature the aforementioned Chris Pratt as Mario and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, as well as Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Jack Black as Bowser.
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