Chris Pratt On Voicing Mario: Says It's "Unlike Anything You've Heard In The Mario World"

Well yeah, because if a character is voiced by Chris Pratt, they will sound like Chris Pratt. So Mario won't sound like an obese Italian plumber. He'll sound like a normal ordinary guy who happens to be a master builder.

Imagine Mario's voice sounds like Spongebob. 😆

@Anti-Matter Great, now I want Tom Kenny to voice Toad, that would actually fit Toad pretty well.

Kinda strange they don't have trailers out for a movie that is mostly done.

my suspicion that it's just the same voice he does in every other thing he's ever starred in grows

A celebrity saying something is gonna be great has little weight to me. If it sounds diff, itll be off putting but ill probably adjust. And if it sounds the exact same, replacing Charles martinet would've been pointless

They really should have just gotten Joe Pesci to do it.

I'll give them the benefit of doubt, I've been pleasantly surprised by a lot of modern movies, and I do like Illumination movies.
And it's amazing that so many people complain about Pratt not sounding like Mario when I think Charlie Day doesn't sound at all like Luigi.

@JakedaArbok Did someone actually say that in the comments? 🙀

@JakedaArbok
A funny case of positivity surrounding this movie, but you've made a valid point. It could be mediocre but a trainwreck would definitely give it at least something. Either that or they pull a mario vs rabidds on us and it's actually decent, but who can say at this point. It's going to be surreal, that's for sure. 'Nothing else like it in the mario world.'

@BloodNinja Joe Pesci should be the voice of a Pokemon like Jigglypuff, Clefairy any other fairy type.

@somebread
Well, it definitely would be 'unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before'. It would just be 'like everything you've heard in every other world before'.

It's his voice. If you have heard him speak then you have heard it already.

@boxyguy that is what I don't understand, if they have the voice of Mario and Luigi, why bother casting? My guess is to sell the movie. Only gamers know who are the voice actors of videogames characters, but all the world knows who is Chris. The better the name, the more tickets they can sell. Sadly that's how this business works, and a lot of times it's the reason why some movies are made.

In other words it doesn't sound like mario lol

updated as in "it's a different but not bad take on the character" or updated as in "he isn't JUST reading off the script with barely any emotion at all?"

@JeanPaul mmhm, it makes it sad to see for people like charles who have dedicated their whole life to the role only to be pushed to the side once the time for a movie comes

@JeanPaul Maybe if the trailers get a bad reaction like Sonic maybe they'll fall back on Charles.

@boxyguy It truly sucks, but I'm almost sure that they did it to get more attention for the movie. Nobody paid attention to who was the voice actor in animated movies until Robin Williams voiced the Genie in Aladdin. After that, Hollywood realized they could get more people to watch a movie if it had a big name in it. Sometimes it worked wonders, other it just sucked and took jobs from professional voice actors.
And whether we like it or not, Mario's still a videogame property that sure, is very known around the world, but the sure way to bring more families to see it? Bring an A-list name that has a successful career in recent movies.

Super Mario games are a far cry from Hollywood productions (thank goodness) with top billing star power, so it stands to reason we’ve left the regularly scheduled Mushroom Kingdom here.

Waiting for the same 3 people in every chris pratt comment section haha. I'm actually excited to hear his voice for mario, because he's actually a good voice actor, take Emmet from the lego movies. I just want to hear Todd's voice actor who I'm pretty sure is keegan Michel key, because he's just such a crazy pick for toad.

@Enigk Dude, could you imagine if that happened? I'm sure people would see it just for the controversy hehe. At least it would only need to do the voice work again and not whole animation sequences.

@Slinkoy1 Keegan's gonna kill it as Toad, and Jack Black as Bowser? Now that I'm curious to hear.
I think this movie will be better than people expect it to be.

His comments make me worried now. Sigh. Why do actors have to be try hards?

@JeanPaul Sadly you are correct. It doesn't matter if there are established voice actors they are not considered when doing the movie. There are tons of examples of this. Some of us kids from the 80s might recall how they cast Tiffany for the role of Judy in the Jetsons movie. This actually happened after Janet Waldo recorded her parts, they needed a marketing deal.

Glad to see less hate towards Pratt in the comments aside from the usual bunch!
I'm gonna watch the movie regardless if it's good or bad, should be entertaining either way.

@BloodNinja And DeNiro as Luigi! We will have good Mario’s or Raging Bowser ha

@Themagusx1 Yesssss!!

NINJA APPROVED

@JeanPaul Oh my god that would be amazing! I would watch the show, just for that!

NINJA APPROVED

Very tough situation. I won’t judge until I hear it or see a trailer, but the only pick I really can’t see working out is Donkey Kong. No way Rogan can pull that off. Of course they probably didn’t make the movie for the people that play the games. If they did they wouldn’t have cared about such big names for the voices. They would’ve used the ones we are familiar with.

I absolutely adore Charlie Day since It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is one of my all time favorite shows...but on the other hand I cannot stand Seth Rogan (his stupid huhh huhh huhh laugh..ugh) and I like Pratt well enough so it's a mixed bag for me. I'll watch it anyway since Mario and well...movies being free.

@jorel262 Oh man, I didn't know about the Jetsons case, thanks for the tip. It's actually pretty bad that lots of talented voice actors got lost with all these A-list stars casting. I'm happy that now they are getting the recognition they deserve, but it's mostly TV or streaming movies.

You mean like Ryan Reynolds being Pikachu and it sounded like Ryan Reynolds talking over Pikachu?

@Takoda
Yeah, at least with a trainwreck I can find ironic enjoyment out of it. A mediocre movie just makes you bored. With a Pratt voice “unlike anything I’ve ever heard before”, there’s no way it’s going to be mediocre. If they can somehow pull something good out of this, I’d be quite surprised.

They’ve hyped this movie so much and said how good their ***** smells without showing a single second of it, this has arrogance and koolaid drinking written all over it, I think they honestly believe the often repeated meme that Nintendo would step in if they thought the movie was bad but I don’t think that will happen if it’s by appearances playing it safe enough not affect their brand image,

@HotGoomba Are you saying Chris Pratt has never sounded like an obese italian plumber?

For once, im happy that we are a minority (people who post on forums), how can some of you speak like that of something you haven't seen, that i can't understand. I like what Martinette has done for Mario but he just scream and shout waahoooo every so often, MAYBE this could be a welcome change, we'll see

@nessisonett
That’s a fair point. I’m glad I could come to better understand the problems people have against this type of church specifically.

Shocking that is

@Bobb yea but....internet, dude. You need to be angry like the rest of em.

@NotSoCryptic how does one sound obese? 🤔

"Updated" what a Pratt

Side effects of lower ribs removal surgery i suspect

@JeanPaul you are partially correct, but I guess 90 minutes hearing Martinet’s “itsamenario” would be torture

I'm open to anything after Luigi's Mansion 3. It was fine before hearing the characters quip and use catchphrases, but holding conversations? That was kinda cringy.

It would be great if we could talk about anything related to the Mario movie without it predictably devolving into a woke amd virtuous takedown of Pratt.

@Andy_Witmyer the two people here doing anything close to that are completely civil, where does the "takedown" come in

I'm very much looking forward to this movie. Hopefully, against all odds, it does end up good so we can get more films, but it'd be really funny to see a trainwreck too.

He's no Captain Lou Albano

@JakedaArbok
Yeah I bet this movie is gonna be crap but the fun kind where you can just turn your mind off and enjoy it.
And I also agree with the religion thing you shouldn't be knocking people for their beliefs.

Chris Pratt may be an odd choice for Mario, but I'm still curious to see how it's going to sound like. I think Seth Rogan is an odd choice for Donkey Kong. 🙃

@Zequio That's a really good point! Mario's voice works perfectly in small bits, but 90 minutes of it, that's definitely not for anybody.
Adapting one media to another is not as easy as it sounds hehe.

@JakedaArbok Thank you, someone had to say it!

I’m still pretty iffy, but for all we know he’s been training his voice just for this!

I'm still wonder - who will voice Mario in Japanese dub? I'm think Kappei(Mitsuo) Yamaguchi is a good choice for the role. Yamaguchi voiced Hifumi Yamada and Jin Kirigiri in Danganronpa games and Kuma/Teddie/Bear in Persona series. In Danganronpa anime, Yamaguchi's role as Jin Kirigiri was replaced by Rikiya Koyama. Yamaguchi voiced Jin only in the first game. Well... If talking about other characters... Kenta Miyake as Bowser?... Aoi Yūki as Toad?... Hm... Ayumi Fujimura as Peach?... Kōsuke Toriumi as Luigi?... And... Kazuya Nakai or Naoki Bandō as Donkey Kong?...

Why does everyone think Seth Rogan is an odd choice? His laugh literally sounds like Donkey Kong's sound effect lol.

This does not sound good to me. I hate to be one of those people but the fact that all these people are telling me how good the voice is but too scared to let us hear it…. I call shenanigans! Just looked up the directors too, well I just can’t sum up the strength to try to be positive about this one. Mario with the hyperactive tone of Teen Titans Go? Sorry just can’t see this being more than a dumpster fire when it arrives.

Yeah I'm definitely gonna hate the movie.

"Unlike anything you've heard" bruh I don't want something I've never heard - I want Mario. Good old familiar Mario. Not something new.

Chris Pratt will be great in the role. Not everyone cares to spend all day tweeting about his faith and valid beliefs.

I find it so funny, reading about how they keep talking up this role as a game changing, earth shattering performance, and then remembering it’s for the Mario movie.

@CaptainCluck Exactly. We would like to see if his voice will eventually fit in the movie. Judging from the voice that Mario has in all the past games, it will be a challenge to hear a different voice because we have used it. On the other hand, I don't mind Chris tell about his religion beliefs. If someone is offended, please don't read what he says/writes.

Maybe show a trailer or voice sample its annoying they keep defending him wow hes so good dude we haven't seen anything yet let us decide.

@JeanPaul Yeah, there's even an interview with Charles Martinet that Nintendolife did where there's a similar topic discussed on Mario speaking in full sentences:

https://youtu.be/lByX7r9BaYo?t=568

@Royalblues I agree with you, I think there's a bad habit in gamers for an extreme level of purism whether it's VA or even the games themselves.

It's alright for there to be more than one take or interpretation for a character, especially when switching between mediums (movies and videogames aren't the same thing).

I think at the end of the day Charles' take on Mario is iconic and the one everyone remembers the character for. But that doesn't invalidate or make it a wrong decision to have Chris Pratt voicing Mario in this movie.

I usually end up enjoying movies that Chris is involved with and there’s a reasonable chance that this will be a good watch. Looking forward to it personally.

Yeah, let's just wait and see, shall we? I kind of have some faith in Chris Pratt as an actor, but we just won't know what his interpretation of Mario is until we actually hear it.

Sooooooo, he's gonna curse? I'm excited

that doesn't sound good to me

Wait, shouldn't it be exactly like what we've heard in the Mario world before?

@NotSoCryptic Ouch man. You trying to hurt my feelings or something? You've succeeded!

@NintendoByNature Don't worry, the question was entirely valid and his response was way over the top. Obese people don't sound a certain way.

Mario throws out a few gay jokes Pratt got from the Hillsong church.
I hope they're at least funny!

@Slinkoy1 if u want to hear Pratt voice characters, maybe hire him to do some voice acting at your house then instead, because we want him REPLACED

Pratt is a good actor, I like what I have seen of him, but I have my concerns of Illumination. I have yet to think any of their movies as actually good. So hopefully the Mario movie will be the first. Or in worst case scenario, so bad its funny.

@Bret haha no worries here. I was just asking a silly question and they took it to heart!

@Daniel36 I know, I think his voice will fit perfectly to Kong, it will be fun to hear him laugh with Rogen's voice.

@Dr_Lugae Oh that's a very interesting interview, thanks for the link

@Tourtus I'm guessing it's a Nintendo thing why they haven't released anything as of yet. Treating it like one of their AAA games and they'll show it first in a Direct.

@pjzelda I could see that, but with no marketing I feel like the movie will fail. Like they should start with some promotional art or something if they don't wanna show trailers.

@NintendoByNature Don't be rediculous. You don't have feelings, you're a bot on the internet. lol

If you seriously do not know, there is considerable research on how your weight impacts your voice and how you speak. You can actually sound obese. As the weight gain can impact hormone levels of estrigeon and testosterine in men and women respectively. So basically if you're male and your voice will get higher and female your voice will get lower. The extra weight that generates around the throat and mouth also impacts speach and can cause sluring or tonel differences in how words are pronounced.

There is science. Though if you ever listened to someone speak who is obese you can hear the difference. Even myself who has had serious weight gain issues in the last 10 years have noticed that my voice pitch has gone up and as I've lost weight my voice has gotten deeper. Listen to vocalists sing as they age. Part of that is cause by weight gain.

there can be other factors, but then we're just getting into edge cases. Even Chris Pratts voice was a little higher back when he was on Parks and Req compared to his time on Guardians of the Galaxy after he lost some weight it got a tiny bit deeper. he wasn't obese, but I could tell the difference when I wasn't even looking for it.

@AzzyC imo chris pratt at my house would be a fun time haha. And you might as well drop the hope of him being replaced, because it aint gonna happen. Im sorry to be the one to say it, but hearing martinet’s voice the entire time would be annoying, and it wouldnt sound right hearing the actual voice actor saying full on sentences, when you usually only hear “WAH YAH YIPPE, WAHOO”

@NintendoByNature you actually can, words usually come out a lot smoother and sometimes they slip off the tongue because of all the grease in the mouth. It's not hard to distinguish

As of now there is no reason to think it won't be awesome. So, I'll reserve judgement.

People are caring way too much about this movie lol. All I want is for it to be a fun bad movie that I can laugh at for a couple hours.

@NotSoCryptic thanks for the explanation. It was honestly a throw away reply and I really didn't take your initial comment all too seriously. Just thought it was funny so I replied.

@AzzyC noted, thank you.

I assume the voice we know and love will make an appearance early in the movie and will then be discarded as not Mario's real voice (maybe he's just playing a character), and then we'll get normal Chris Pratt voice for the rest of the show.

I'm looking forward to hearing the characters' new voices!

I’m staying optimistic and holding out hope for this movie. Given how much oversight Nintendo and Miyamoto have on it I can’t imagine things going poorly. That being said 😬. Why are we trying out new voices for a character that has had a very defined presence for 30 years? The first things that come to mind are the initial Sonic movie design and the Michael Bay TMNT aesthetic changes and it doesn’t instill confidence.

What would happen to the world if there were different actors playing Batman or James Bond or Obi Wan Kenobi or Hulk or Willy Wonka or Hannibal Lecter or...?

The world would probably fall apart.

Honestly, some people in here sound like they are 4 year olds throwing a tantrum.

@boxyguy So, you're basically saying, no matter what, you won't like it? Hot take.

@Mountain_Man So, you've been smoking weed too?

@tseliot Um... what?

@tseliot nah like I said I'd get used to it, and I don't doubt Chris will do something generically safe. Charles was still the better choice

@NinChocolate No one's said it yet, so the dad joker in me must add that the ditching of game character voices due to the influence of "star power" couldn't be overcome even with a Power Star, apparently.

@Nickinator Lol!