Chris Pratt has responded to criticism over his lead role in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie, telling people to “watch the movie, then we can talk”.
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When the first trailer was revealed last year, fans quickly took to social media to criticise Pratt’s voice work as the titular plumber.
His casting was also questioned by celebrated voice actor Tara Strong who believed Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario in a variety of games for the past 20 years, should have been offered the role. Former Luigi actor John Leguizamo also said the casting for The Super Mario Bros. Movie “kind of sucks” following the news that both Mario and Luigi (Charlie Day) would be voiced by people who weren’t of Italian descent.
Back in July, producer Chris Meledandri said that “when people hear Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism will evaporate, maybe not entirely – people love to voice opinions, as they should.”
Now Chris Pratt has responded to the criticism. Speaking to ExtraTV, he said “I think once you see the movie [it makes sense]. In all honesty though, you probably need to watch it twice,” he joked.
“It’s a passionate fanbase and [the criticism] makes sense. I understand, I’m part of it,” he continued before describing the Mario franchise as “the soundtrack to your youth.”
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“You don’t want someone to come along, and cynically destroy it as a cash grab movie. I fully understand that. And there were so many hearts and souls and minds dedicated to making sure that didn’t happen.”
“The movie really honours the video game. It honours the world of Mario. It honours the characters and it is very promising as to what we could expect over the next 10 years, like an entire universe of these types of movies,” he continued. “They’re super nostalgic, it’s really fun and Illumination knows what they’re doing.”
“Now that I have kids, I have to see every animated movie whether it’s good or not so I’m really thankful when a great animated movie comes out, and that’s what this is. Hopefully they’ll be more,” said Pratt.
“They took such care for somebody who’s a Nintendo fan in general, to really give the audience what they would want from a movie like this,” added Charlie Day.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is scheduled to be released in cinemas on April 7, 2023.