Poll: What Do You Think Of Mario's Movie Voice?

It sounds like a voice

I’m not feeling either Pratt or Black but I’m not counting the movie out yet.

Chris Pratt sounded just like Chris Pratt, but I'll definitely need to hear more of his voice. Bowser and Kamek were awesome, though. Toad was also very fitting.

It sounds like some guy. Pretty mid. Jack black tho

You guys are really milking this now.

Personally, I felt like he did a pretty good job but the second line sounded more Marioish. I think this was just a test to see what people think she make final adjustments. People saying "it just sounds like Chris Pratt" need to get their ears cleaned out because he definitely has a specific accent he was doing.

@blindsquarel Yea, there Moo Moo'ing it now.

Everybody sounded decent except Mario which is the one character you don’t want to miscast when your doing a Mario movie

Sorry Chris Pratt defenders but that attempt of an “accent” doesn’t hide away that it’s still mostly Chris Pratt’s usual voice in films

The voice is bland, but it’s much better than 2 hours of “its-a me” dialogue.

That said, 11 articles in one night might be overdoing it a bit

Honestly, I'm going to stop joking here for now as these barrage of articles based on a teaser are getting crazy.

Alot of people aren't fans of Pratt and his voice work probably will be lackluster, but we've barely heard anything.

Atleast wait until the full trailer is out and then give it proper judgement. We honestly have no clue how each of these performances will be until the full release.

If his voice is passable enough as to not drag down the film, then that's okay in my book.

@Arawn93 It's like me trying to do a Kermit voice no matter how hard I try I never sound like Jim Henson.

Not to defend Chris Pratt I think he is doing a good job and trying something new, which is nice tbh.

I’d rather listen to 90 minutes of Phil Mitchell singing the Bee Gees.

It's so amazing that this big top-secret voice for movie Mario ended up being... his regular speaking voice.
It's just so empty and nothing.

I would have easily sat through an hour of Charles Martinet's wa-hoos. I could not sit through 5 seconds of this.

@Vexx234 Oh man, that full trailer is going to spawn hundreds of articles 🤣

I agree we haven’t heard enough of Mario to really judge it.

He sounds just like an everyman, and I think that's perfect for the character. If he spoke with the high-pitched voice of Martinet, a lot of people would complain about it, if he had an accent you can bet somebody would hunt any kind of mistake in his pronunciation and make a huge fuzz about it.
I think they went the safest route, a generic American voice with no accent that can trigger anyone.

While Zoomers are getting their knickers in a twist over Pratt not sounding just like Martinet, boomers like myself are still feeling the sting of the Mario in Mario 64 not sounding like Captain Lou Albano. I would argue that the switch from Albano to Martinet was far and away the more drastic and shocking radical change, when compared to the Martinet to Pratt conversion. And while I hated it at first, I eventually got over it and ended up loving Martinet's take on our favorite plumber. I'm sure that, in time, many current haters will eventually be fine with Pratt's (seemingly more understated) approach, performance, as well.

In all honesty I think no matter who they choose for mario's voice it would have never been perfect. He's just one of those characters who never had more than a few lines in the main series. So I think it was going to be weird to hear him talk regardless. I was completely okay with chris.

Mario was okay, but more lines would probably seal the deal for me.

What I really want to hear is Anya Taylor-Joy's Peach. Big fan of her roles, so I'm looking forward to hearing her take on Peach.

Not bad.
I prefer generic masculine voice over than high pitched Mario voice all the time.

Mario kinda just sounds like an ordinary guy. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. It's pretty meh.

I thought the others were really good, though! Not perfect, but I think they did a great job of capturing the general feel of the game voices. Still not a fan of casting celebrities as voice actors as opposed to actual voice actors, but this is at least shaping up to be one of the better examples of that trend.

The poll is also kind of ludicrous. Mario says about 10 words in the video. I mean, how could anyone (who doesn't have some kind of pre-existing ideological opposition to Pratt as a person) really come away with an informed opinion based off of that? As someone astutely pointed out earlier, methinks Nintendo Life is certainly going to great lengths to milk the story - which, tbh, I can't really blame them for. It's a huge reveal that will potentially generate a lot of traffic to the site. Unfortunately, doing so invariably leads to the posting of repetitive articles / polls, such as the one above.

Maybe it's because I grew up on the pre-Martinet era, when Nintendo would cast someone to sound like a New Yorker when they wanted to give Mario plot and dialogue in media...but I think he sounded ok for what little we got. My baseline requirement for Mario has never been "whoo" and "wahoo." Those are cute game sound bytes, but it's not the voice in my head for Mario in anything needing more than one line at a time.

@Link_of_Hyrule my ears are clean, it’s just chris Pratt doing what he does in literally every role, being chris Pratt lol jack black and KMK both put some thought and flavor into their characters voices, sadly you cannot say the same for old Crisp Rat. That being said I’ll still go see and love this movie, despite Pratt mailing it in

Ok, so I watched it a 2nd time, and there’s definitely some kind of alternate dimension portal thing going on. Mario looks like he’s being teleported to the mushroom kingdom somehow.

My guess is we’re going to hear him in his usual Mario voice, and then he gets transformed into realistic Pratt Mario.

Incredibly generic

@StarPoint To be perfectly honest. On the "Mushroom Kingdom here we come!" line, Pratt doesn't sound like his normal voice. It's definitely his best delivery in the trailer... but I will have to hear more. For now he sits at "not bad" for me.

Imagine the perfect moment to show off anything special with the voice acting at the end bit with Mario’s iconic phrase of “Here we go!” But Chris said it in the most boring, sleep inducing voice and also saying, “Here we come…” instead.

The other voices are good though, Jack Black impressed me, I thought he was just going to be like Chris Pratt and use his normal voice as that’s usually what “celebrity voice actors” do.

I honestly kinda dig it? Definitely need to hear more than just 2 lines but the "what is this place?" was soft enough to actually have a bit of a Martinet vibe and while the "Mushroom Kingdom" line just sounds like Brooklyn Chris Pratt...I think it's fine that they're returning to that portrayal for the movie.

@JeanPaul or they could've hired someone Italian that speaks English so they have a natural Italian accent but of course they had to get a famous name instead of someone that couldve done a much better job & wouldve been happy to do it for a fraction of what they'll be paying him

@Kisame83 Same. As a child of the 80s and super fan of the Super Mario Bros Super Show, the switch from Albano's gruff, Brooklyn accent to that of Martinet's brighter, zanier Italian-American stereotype was initally very jarring, to say the least. I would eventually, over time, come to greatly appreciate Martinet's voice over work in the games - it's hard to imagine the Mario games being nearly as charming had they gone with the cartoon's much lower pitched, New York accent, since it just wouldn't have really fit well within the brightly colored worlds as presented within the games themselves. But, in terms of Mario being in situations wherein extended lines of dialog would be required, the Martinet voice just wouldn't do it for me. In my mind, something closer to the Albano version would just be infinitely more fitting and appealing. As for Pratt's version - with only two short lines to go by, I can't really give any solid opinion on it - there's literally not enough to go by. I obviously would've loved to have heard a return to Albano's approach, but even if Pratt's version would end up being more refrained and understated (such as what we saw in the two lines that we've heard thus far), that would still almost assuredly work better - in the context of a feature length film - than Martinet's, brilliant as it is.

The issue is largely that Chris Pratt is not a voice actor. he’s done voice work for Lego Movie and Onward, but in Lego Movie he does a regular voice and services the very plain character; and in Onward he gives a messy, forced performance that prevents me from connecting with the character. I don’t think he can play characters that are different from his own personality in live action even, so he really struggles to create a character in voice work. He doesn’t need to sound like he does in the games, I don’t want that, but the voice looks so wrong coming out of the character’s mouth. Mario is so expressive and chris pratt has an extremely inexpressive voice. The accent he does only makes it worse, it just sounds so unnatural and forced. You need a voice actor in this role, and chris pratt isn’t one.

@Andy_Witmyer 1000%

Pratt did good, he’ll get the job done. But these comments bagging on him is why we’ll never get a Zelda movie. Almost nobody talks in the games, they’d have to take liberties in bringing it to life. The fact that so many people look past the gorgeous animation, the amazing soundtrack, and get hung up on a single VA is all we need to see to know some people will never be happy

@ItsOKToBeOK
Shame on us for daring to criticize something about the trailer. Doesn’t matter that most are saying that everything else was great.

I remember when the voice we all know today sounded weird. Back when Lou Albano was his voice. The first time i played Mario 64 that was pretty jarring too. Chris prat did okay but honestly we didn't hear enough of it to really know exactly what it's gonna sound like. When he says mushroom kingdom here we come it almost sounded italian.

If we ever get a zelda movie just wait for the backlash when Link speaks and he'll have to. They'd never do a zelda movie where he never speaks. It would never work in a movie.

Jack black was amazing! But I need to hear more of Pratt.

I was more stoked with Black's Bowser voice. But I'll give Pratt's Mario a chance

This poll shouldn't exist with so little to go on.

But, I DO think Chris Pratt will be perfectly fine as the voice of Mario. I couldn't sit thru 90 minutes of "Weee, it's-a-meeee, MAAAAARIO!! Okie-dokieee!! MAMA-MIAAAA!!" I mean, it's fine for the games and all, but not for a full length movie. And that's why we have Chris Pratt.

Remember, this is going to be the first time EVER hearing Mario in actual meaningful dialogue. I know, I know... alot of you THINK you've been hearing Mario dialogue this whole time, but you haven't. All we've had from him are those tiny little "It's-a-meeee" and "Mama Mia" lines. I think Chris will bring so much more to the movie. Nintendo certainly believes in him and so do I.

So yeah, I'm really looking forward to this.

It was fine. A little strange at first, but I can’t imagine an entire movie with the Charles Martinet voice TBH.

Unlike Jack Black’s Bowser (which I thought was great), there wasn’t enough said by Chris Pratt’s Mario to make a clear judgement.

But there are quite a few people here and there, some more obvious than others, that clearly have a bigger/personal issue solely on the fact that it’s Chris Pratt.

I think the biggest reason for Chris Pratt getting such a deafening "meh" is that he doesn't have the Fun Personified characterization that we're accustomed to having (at least from what we've seen so far). If anything, he comes off as the Straight Man /Fish Out of Water archetype.

Everything about Mario in the trailer I hate. And I was hoping not to hate it genuinely. Everyone else was fine, even better than fine.

People are so gung ho on Bowser's voice. I think it sounds pretty good, definitely better than I was expecting - but, if I were to nitpick, I don't think Jack Black's voice sounds just ever so slightly higher pitched than I might have liked. Don't get me wrong, his technical delivery is spot on and hits all of the right notes, but in terms of capturing (what I believe to be) Bowser's naturally darker resonance and timbre, I might have preferred to hear the projection of his voice coming from somewhere closer to a low baritone. Doing so would have lent a deeper, more cavernous and booming gravitas to his presence - qualities which Black's voice, as it good as it is, seems to fall just short of. Even still, it's just a minor nitpick. So, while I kind think that, tonally speaking, Bowser could sound slightly better, I also think that Black's delivery seemed rather inspired. If it's that good throughout, I'll probably very quickly forget about any of my present misgivings. But, I guess we'll see!

@Andy_Witmyer You aren't the only one. You can hear he's forcing a lower pitch in that last scene. Not to say it's a bad thing, it's just something you notice from people with naturally high pitch voices trying to sound deep.

It might be one those occasions where an actors natural voice overlaps with their performative ones, which can't be helped.

@Kermit1 Miltanking it.

Personally, I didn’t mind the voice. I think a lot of people are just wanting the original. Unfortunately, they need to realize that that’s not really possible and this is a more talking Mario in the trailer. It looks like this new Mario is skeptical of the mushroom kingdom based on the tone of voice used, but I think he’ll do fine

Meh, I'm gonna need to hear more in the future, but right now its as average as I expected.

The trailer itself was great, but the voices were crap. Pratt's was mega crap.

It would have gotten pretty annoying sitting through hours of Mario's regular voice. You can tell that Chris is doing a specific accent in this movie though. (It's hard to hear since he only has two lines in this trailer). Just give it time, and even if it is his normal voice, it could be a lot worse...trust me.

@Saban You win.

I didn't even recognize that it was Jack Black until I came to the comments. Being asleep in a crypt for hundreds of years will do that to you.

@Andy_Witmyer Exactly. I love Martinet's Mario voice, it's iconic. But after half an hour of hearing full sentences in that voice, a lot of people that are not Nintendo fans would've complained about it. And they won't risk an Italian accent because people would target them for cultural appropriation or something similar.
Pratt's voice is very generic, like an everyman, and it works for the character, I mean, he already voiced a character that was an average joe in Lego Movie, so yeah, his voice works. But since these days is "cool" to hate him, people are just going crazy about it, and to be honest, for me it's just stupid.

Way better than that obnoxious and annoying squeaky "Mickey Mouse" Martinet voice. God, I hate that sound. I always turn down the volume when I start Mario Kart 8 when he screeches "Mario Kaaaarrrt Eiiiiiiiiiiigggghhhhhhtttttt!" Good God, that sound makes me want to punch a baby.

The gruff voice (with slight New York accent) of Captain Lou Albano is the REAL Mario voice. Thankfully, Chris Pratt is going in that direction.

@Nerdling Hehe yeah, half an hour of Mario's voice would be more than enough before someone goes crazy. And don't get me started when they start crying about stereotypes, they would start canceling him before the movie title comes up.

Pratt will be fine, he already did a really good job in the Lego movie, where he was an average joe, and here he's going to act another one.
I'm so ready for this movie!

Another hour another poll. Yeesh

Having to write, read, voice and/or listen to meaningful dialog over the course of a feature-length film, with Mario's voice and colloquialisms in mind, is a recipe for madness. Pratt's likely not the ideal choice, but it's going to be a blessing in disguise that they went in a different direction.

@Nerdling I agree 100%, although it would be somewhat incorrect to say that this will ve first time we've heard Mario delivering any meaningful dialog. The (awesome) Super Mario Bros Super Show featured tons of dialog, as did the (terrible) live action movie (unfortunately). But, it will certainly be the first time in three decades that we'll have been treated to Mario saying more than just a few throwaway, borderline unintelligible lines. I can't wait to hear a talkative Mario again, in all of its feature length glory.

I'd need to hear more of Pratt's work in the film to make a more informed judgement, but he was hitting some of the notes already when it comes to my expectations. I remember the days before Martinet's style, so I don't have him pegged as the sole way of doing the Mario (pun fully intended). I've heard what's essentially the Mickey Mouse of gaming, a gruff Nuw Yawhkeh accent and a generic hero voice. Pratt's seemingly going for an everyman with a hint of Martinet in his delivery.

Jack Black as Bowser honestly sounds great, though they could pitch his voice down an octave. I'd love to hear him do lines from Paper Mario. Bowser's all ham and Jack Black works best with roles where he can ham it up.

I am really hyped about this movie. Everything was just spot one!!
Design of mario, even his voice reminded me of marios voice in the cartoons.
Man this movie trailer made me happy.

Everyone sounds great except Chris Pratt. Obviously not a lot to glean from the trailer but he just sounds so lifeless and bland compared to the other cast members. Jack Black as Bowser rocks though, you can tell he's really having fun with it.

I heard the French dub of the trailer and that version of Mario is better. It's got a touch of Martinet, but not the same level where it would get grating.

@ReaperMelia you do realise that voice acting is all apart of regular acting during drama classes etc, most actors can sing, voice act, even dance. So yea these ppl are all trained in voice acting 🙄

And yet no one is complaining about Keegan-Michael Key not sounding like Toad?

And wait see there being little to no uproar about Luigi, Peach and Donkey Kong just sounding like normal Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy and Seth Rogen.

I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy Keegan Michael-Key's particular brand of comedy so him as Toad - meh.

Jack Black is pretty impressive as Bowser, especially the line "Open the gates!" But I still hear Black in there and it's going to be difficult to separate his well-known voice from the character. Still, he's off to a promising start.

I would not have chosen Charlie Day for Luigi, but he oddly kind of - fits? (Shrugs) We'll see, I guess.

As for Mr. Pratt: I thought I heard a bit of Brooklyn Italian accent. If so, go with that. I personally don't want Mario to sound "unlike anything (I've) heard in the Mario world". There's good reason a lot of people would have preferred Charles Martinet: he IS Mario, and Pratt needs to get as close to that as possible without outright copying the voice. Good luck, Chris: I feel confident enough to speak for all Mario fans in saying I don't envy you that task.

his performance is very underwhelming next to a cast thats actually trying to sound unique. its literally just his voice

ill be fair that the generic voice could call back to mario's also generic and safe character (also emmet from the lego movie now that i think about it). but i hope they add some accent or slightly higher pitch to the voice, they made it work with toad without sounding grating

It's a film. I wasn't expecting 90 minutes of 'Wahoo' and 'Mama Mia!' Yeah, a regular voice I suppose is more relatable to a broader audience who have probably only heard of Mario. So for me, I get it's not Charles Martinet, but it's not offensive. We have only had 2 lines delivered, unlike Bowser. We'll see. But if there isn't a Charles Martinet alternate audio version on the blue ray, we riot!

@driftydrift Yeah, but that doesn't mean they're inherently the best pick for the characters. Most animated movies these days just go for name recognition over finding the best fit. Does anyone really believe no one could voice Mario better than Chris Pratt? No, they chose him because he's a very famous and recognizable person who will help get parents to want to see the movie with their kids. I'd rather see movies look to people who specialize in voice acting and are better fits for characters than just throw in the same people you see in every other movie.

Jack Black being good at Bowser was expectable. Chris Pratt sounding like himself is deplorable after all that hyping up, but objectively? Tolerable. Still confused why it's him and not anybody else. Heck, Jack Black would have probably done a better job in terms of likeness.

@ReaperMelia of course they're going to go for big names, it's a business and they want to make as much money as possible. Using Chris Pratt will make them more money. Also, look at the attention it's already getting because of him. Doesn't matter if its good or bad reactions, here getting a lot of people talking.

I was prepared to have to get used to Pratt as Mario, but I really didn't mind. It seems right, even though it's different.

And Jack Black was actually a really good Bowser. Like I forgot it was him and not just "Bowser" (Who never has much dialogue in the games anyway unless it's an RPG or Sports game) until partway through the trailer..

Need to hear more of his dialogue before judging but honestly, I think Charles Martinet doing the high pitched voice would have got annoying especially since we've not heard him "act" before and only saying a few words. Just look at the Minions.. Despicable Me was a funny family film but the Minions movie was too much. You don't want too much of a good thing. I think they're going for a more "realistic" theme as well and his high pitched voice would have sounded off.

So the initial reaction the majority of people had was he was just going to play himself because he can't act any other way. Then for months he said 'actually no it's amazing, we're doing a lot of work'. Turns out it is just himself.

He set himself up to fail.

Now on to people saying 'we need to hear more'. Well I think we can safely assume his voice isn't going to change throughout the movie so it is going to be this. Also we only got a couple lines with Jack Black as Bowser and we all understand what he's doing why not apply that same logic to Chris Pratt?

Way too early to say. The trailer only showed a calm scene presumably in the very beginning of the movie. I'd imagine this movie will have some character development for Mario, which could also affect the energy and confidence in voice.

I can’t help but picture Emmett when I hear the voice, and I just don’t know if I want to deal with that the whole movie.

@NinjaNicky I know it's the logical thing to do from a business perspective, I'm just saying I don't like it personally. I never said it's a bad business decision, I just wish studios would take more risks instead of hiring from the same small pool of people for every movie.

@Nerdling "this is going to be the first time EVER hearing Mario in actual meaningful dialogue."

Not a 90s kid, huh? Between the Super Show (Lou Albano), SMB3 and World cartoons (Walker Boone), live action movie (Bob Hoskins), and Valiant comics book-on-tape (I don't know), Mario has had several voices that spoke full dialogue.

I guess there's Hotel Mario (Marc Graue) too, but with lines like "all toasters toast toast," I question how meaningful it is.

I think it was good

I guess it's kinda acceptable, but compared to Mario's voice in other languages, it is by far the worst one.

@ReaperMelia I think one of the main reasons for the change was his stereotypical Italian accent. I know there's plenty of people that could have done a "better" voice for Mario but I'm just glad they haven't gone with his squeaky game voice.

It's absolutely fine. Maybe stop baiting folks into bashing stuff based on a couple of lines of dialogue?

Bowser was great, Kamek was good, Toad was meh, and Mario erm, yeah.
Didnt really hear Luigi, but looks like they are going the scared of everything vibe, which is a shame bring back MR L

I could get used to it but he sounds better fitted for being a Smurf. I guess he wasn't wrong when he said it was going to be "unlike anything you've heard in the Mario world" as that did not sound like a Mario.

I didn't mind it. If this movie was released before the internet, nobody would've cared if Mario was somewhat altered or his voice sounded different. I don't even recall what Mario sounded like in the cartoons way back when.

The voice make mario more mature i think that he needs.
Myself im little tired of that high pitch voice.

Bring back Bob Hoskins!

It's impossible to judge by the two lines said. Anyone judging either way in that has next.ti nothing to go on. Would need to hear at least a coherent and connected few lines in a row of normal speaking to be able to judge fairly.

The rest were awesome though, love JB.

Voice was more than fine, don't think we need all these articles though.

I'm sure I'm the same as everyone. Jack Black nailed it, but Chris Pratt's voice coming out of Mario, it's just weird to me, even if the alternative would have been grating, I would've still preferred it, and I don't even have anything against him, I'm just neutral on him.
But I'm not the biggest Mario fan ever, I just play the games casually so this movie wasn't made for me.

Their is not a person or voice that would have been good enough for the internet.

I was fine with it.

If you pay attention you can hear him speaking in a higher register and almost breaking the voice to go into falsetto, which is what everyone is praising the french dub for. It's fine, they surely have gone through many versions of the voice. Remember: whatever will come out in the end, it's not lack of talent by Pratt, but a choice from the production.

Mario sounded good, but it was not enough to give a proper opinion. Bowser was the star: I think he also spoke the most during the trailer. The toad also sounded nice, but again just a small snippet.

There's not really enough to go on with Mario to make a final judgement, so I can't really say whether or not I can get behind it. For all I know, he could be voicing it like Captain Lou Albano did in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

But I have to say, I am quite impressed with Jack Black as Bowser. The fact that he has a higher-pitched voice in real life naturally made me concerned, despite people assuring me that he has quite the vocal range. But hearing a deeper, gruff voice puts my fears to rest.

Toad is pretty decent, too. Still a little high-pitched, but not to such a degree that he becomes annoying. At this point, I just wonder how the rest of the cast is going to sound, especially Princess Peach.

Mario is clearly a normal guy dropped into a fantasy world in this movie. It makes sense to have his voice be more 'normal' sounding then over the top colourfull. That's where the other characters come into play.
From the little bit that I've heard I think it will work out fine.

We barely heard anything in the trailer. Hard to tell at this stage. Waiting for longer trailer/more words.

So long as Chris Pratt's voice is used for Link, Pit, Captain Falcon & Kirby in their respective films, I'll be fine with this.

I was never a fan of the Chris Pratt choice. But there aren't many other big name actors who could do a young-ish lighter pitch everyman voice. Everybody else is in Hollywood too old. As much as it would make sense for Danny DeVito to do Mario, I'm sure that's not what Miyamoto wanted. The only other actor that I can envision ironically enough is Rob McElhenney as it would play off the "Sunny" too well with Charlie Day.

all the others actors voice on the characters(Bowser as Jack Black, Keegan Micheal Kee as Toad and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek sound so good) Cris Pratt as Mario is the only character that only awful, at least, the brazilian portuguese dub of the movie give Mario the italian acent he is know.

@6thHorizon Bob Hopkins cant voice Mario he died in 2020.

@locky-mavo Keegan Micheal Kee voice as Toad is a mix of the game and Mario TV series, i regonize that voice is sound similar to the brazilian portuguese dub of Super Mario Super Show tv series.

I think the story should be about how Chris Pratt was playing Mario one day and got sucked into the game because then the voice would at least make more sense

Why was it not Charles Martinet?

@Giancarlothomaz

Yeah, was also a terrible film lol

If you notice, when Toad first introduces himself, and Mario falls back, you can tell that Mario is supposed to let out an audible loud scream, but it sounds like the audio has been deliberately muted… I think Pratt did do a scream, and they cut it out for sounding bad / avoiding Internet backlash.

@6thHorizon yeah i know, too terrible that traumatized Nintendo into making movies/tv series of her franchises.

It sounded all right to me, not sure what the big issue is.

@Vexx234 yeah, the coverage of this screams of clickbait if I’m honest. Too much coverage for too little content. I couldn’t even reasonably answer the poll because we barely heard Chris Pratt say anything anyway

It sounded fine, i think the main issue is that many people just haven't heard Mario really talk before so it's going to be jarring no matter what the voice was (and no going hoo, haa, Whahoo in a stereotypical Italian accent doesn't count)

Bowser sounded pretty good IMO. As for Mario, Pratt sounded like himself, not so much like Mario. Having said that, I'm still gonna see the movie.

Mario sounded exactly like I expected him to do when voiced by Chris Pratt lol. Jack Black carrying the trailer as I also expected.

Yeah, I don't know why it needed to be Pratt, would've preferred someone with a more distinctive voice.

Jack Black was good as Bowser though. Sounded like he was doing his best Jim Cummings impression.

Someone tell him it's called voice ACTING for a reason 😐

Mario sounded like a crisp rat.

Bowser sounded black.

Toad sounded off-key.

Not as special as the guy getting paid to do it said.

The voice acting is terrible. Mario is meant to be Italian.

@Manah,

People seem to be having a herd time understanding this, but perhaps the studio hired Chris Pratt because that's what they wanted Mario to sound like, as if not, why spend extra money to hire him in the first place.

If Pratt was going to do an accent there would be no point is using him, as you might as well get a lesser known, less expensive actor.

@Would_you_kindly,

Weather or not someone else would have done a better job is purely subjective, at the moment we are only hearing the take of core Mario fans, used to a high pitched Italian sounding Mario.

Like it or not Chris will bring more exposure to the project.

Unless Ryan Reynolds is a midget with a red hat and steel bum, this is cultural appropriation.

@soupwoman while I'm not giving an impression on Pratt until we here a bit more, I do feel the door is open for interpretation with Mario. Martinet is great, but I wouldn't really call what Nintendo does with the character a major flex in voice acting. He's a couple of "Mama Mia's" and "Here we/Let's-go's" above what they do with Link for sound clips. Charles himself IS a good voice actor, they just don't give him much to do with and the cartoonishly exaggerated voice they go with isn't really suitable for long form storytelling. Mario's voiced history is honestly all over the place. He had some brief periods in the hands of Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen (but not the best Mario voice), and in Japan Toru Furuya (Yamcha, Tuxedo Mask, Amuro from Gundam). Then for the American cartoons he was initially Lou Albano, pro wrestler playing himself in a Mario costume (and slightly toned down for the animated voice overs). His replacement for the next two shows was also more of an actor than a VA and essentially was just Albano-lite. They leaned more into the Italian accent when they started pushing games out for computers of the time, like the typing game, but these were not great performances. Honestly, the best VA in his history is Furuya, and most people done even know he ever held the role lol. If you listen to a voice comparison, his performances run the gamut until Charles...and then that section is mostly just grunts and exclamations.

who cares what we think, they are making the movie with these voices anyway

He didn't really say enough to really judge it - I'll wait until I hear more to decide, but I think it's likely fine.

@Andy_Witmyer I completely agree. Mario 64 was certainly a change in tone, though it was quickly adjusted to because that game revolutionized the genre. And here we are. But I think there's a bit of a generational divide. Mario was created as an unlicensed take on Popeye when they couldn't get the rights (leading to Donkey Kong, though they did soon after secure the rights to make a similar Popeye game). His portrayals at the time leaned heavily into this blue collar guy from New York who had bad luck with monsters in pipes that eventually lead him to the Mushroom Kingdom, and adaptations ran with that too. Over time they've seemed to make Mario a Mushroom Kingdom native, and comparing him to the citizens of New Donk raises questions if he's even human. That plus almost three decades with Martinet leads me thinking we have two camps of fans as far as the mental concept of who Mario is or should be.

"Charles Martinet only knows how to make short voice lines, he can't do the Mario voice for 1h30m"

Armageddon production:

Ben Affleck: "Why the movie is about oil drillers learning how to go to space? Isn't it easier to get astronauts who know already how to go to space and teach them how to drill?"

Michael Bay: "Shut the f*** up."

Same here, if Charles Martinet can't do the Mario voice for 1h30m, it should be easier to teach him how to do a 1h30m movie than teaching a new actor to do the Mario voice.

And that didn't happen, Chris Pratt is doing his regular voice.

@Kermit1 i think nintendo did not want to be "sterotypical"

Sounds good to me. The fact he grew up with the games is a good sign he will voice Mario well. Great for the movie, BUT I wouldn’t want Charles Martinet replaced for games, keep the two separate. The movie looks great from the trailer.

People are just used to Charles Martinet so it is weird hearing a different voice. I remember the Super Mario Supershow where Mario used to sound like he was from Brooklyn, not Little Italy.

Those are some... remarkably polite options.

I think the Mario voice is fine, it’s nothing special that’s for certain and it will probably just have to grow on us over time. Every other voice actor was simply fantastic!

Jack Black’s version of Bowser reminds me too much of Sunshine Bowser

Mario's voice, it's fine. I'm not sure it's special but it's fine for me. So I'm slighlty more positive than otherwise neutral? I'm glad it doesn't sound bad to me, which is good. I feel I need more than a few lines to make up my mind for certain though. But so far, I think for the movie it's fine. The other voices were okay too. But, I don't want them to replace Mario's accent and voice in the games.

Sounded fine to me. Looking forward to seeing it ay the cinema.

Jack Black sounds fine as bowser but Chris Pratt no I'm sorry it sounds terrible I'm not looking forward to even hear Peach and Donkey kong voices.

The voice is ok but the face... ugh
I wish they would have done it like in the games

Have you lot heard the French dub? That one sounds like Mario! Anyway, they still have a few months to tweak Chris Pratt's voice acting if they need to. For me, it just sounds like Chris Pratt's normal speaking voice. Not impressive at all.

Overal i like what i saw and hear. The design, the action the humor. The best voice for me whas toad, that one was spot on.
For mario it was okay, getting used to it.
I dont think charles martinets voice would sound better. never heard him do full voice for his characters, than "mama mia" "aauwauwwauw"
This gives mario a more Serious tone. But overal amazing trailer, def gonna watch it. It looked even way better than i expected.

I'm not against the actor, since they are giving him an opportunity and it can be seen that he makes a good effort despite the fact that "currently" Mario doesn't sound like that.
However, if we remember something, Mario already had an official voice before the one we all know and it was in an official movie (and no, not the one from 1993), the one from the 1986 anime, which if you have seen and heard it, Mario had a voice that had nothing to do with the current one, but curiously if it has more resemblance to Patt's voice.
Very possibly this was the option why someone with that tone of voice was chosen and not the one he currently uses.

https://youtu.be/xWUHkOyhR-M

I'm 100% sold. I was impressed with everything so far. The poster was super cool looking with lots of little details for fans, the animation looked great, and the voices are better then I expected. I really enjoyed the trailer. I was expecting something much shorter that didn't really show anything. Specifically, I don't think Pratt sounded bad, I think it's just not what we're used to as fans of the game. It's almost like he's channeling a New York/New Jersey accent.

Star-Lord needs a cough drop.

I will say the sound on Prat’s part was really clear. Must have had really good reception on the day when he was, y’know, phoning it in.

I mean, really? That’s IT?! That’s what they picked over the dude who’s been voicing Mario for decades?! Not even a mild strum of Brooklyn, never mind a full-blown twang? Even Bob Hoskins made a half-decent fist of that!

Prat is not up to this gig. Not up to it, not up for it. You could see from his bit in the Direct - idiot board out of shot to his left - he couldn’t have cared less about anything but the Benjamins rolling into his bank account. This was amplified when he handed off to Jack Black, who was fully invested in it.

No. Nah. Nope, nuh-uh, not on your nelly, not a chance in all nine hells. Give Prat a Koopa, and if you’re not going to give Charles Martinet the role he’s most famous for, then give Mario to someone who might inject some personality into the part: Rob (NARF!) Paulsen, Matt Mercer, Bradley Cooper, Frank Welker - hell, WES Welker could do better; anyone but the zero-energy derptard they’ve gone with.

Not feeling it, Mario just sounds like a generic everyman rather than his cartoony self.

Now I'm even more worried about Seth Rogens Donkey Kong since he has no range as an actor.

Bowser sounds like a mix of Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson, which I don’t hate.

@johnvboy it's not subjective let's face it the guy got the job because he's a big Hollywood name not because he was the best for the role

@Coffeemonster Dude. Just no. On all counts.
2 lines. And you're already emphatically a no.

Sounds to me like you confirmation biased yourself into it.

@Would_you_kindly,

Once again your own opinion, and that of the core minority Mario fans, for me an over the top high pitched stereotypical Italian accent, would be awful for a full length movie, and pretty sure that's why the studio did not go in that direction.

Pratt is a good actor and his own voice is great, pretty sure he was chosen of his box office pulling power, and the much wider demographic that will watch this movie.

@JRokujuushi Actually... I'm a 70's kid.

Yes, I know about all these. I was referring to the GAMES. I probably should have been more clear about this, haha.

@Andy_Witmyer Yes, I was actually referring to the games when I said that. I'm so damn old that I naturally assume that no one has watched any of the cartoons or seen the original movie. Also, most of the backlash I'm seeing here is comparing Chris Pratt to what they hear in the games, sooo...

But anyway, YES, I'm very much looking forward to the movie and cannot wait to hear a properly voiced Mario!

I'm also curious to see if any of this could HOPEFULLY sway Nintendo into giving us a Zelda movie...? Maybe?? Please?!?

I mean, some of us are in that age bracket where we can only wait so much longer now, hehe! xD

Mario's voice, not good. Maybe there will be more trailers that have more of the voice, but until then I've lost all interest.

IMO they just got Pratt to do Mario because he’s a recognizable actor. The voice clip from the trailer was not did sound remotely like Mario. It just sounded like a normal person reading a script.

@johnvboy it's a kids movie they're supposed to be insufferable to watch as adults lol

He was fine. The anti-Chris Pratt people are such weirdos.
"Oh oh, the internet has fed me this preconceived notion of an actor that I really know very little about, therefore I hate everything they are associated with."

No offence meant but it’s a kids movie. Also, we heard about three words of dialogue. That is all.

Definitely liking Jack Black's voice as Bowser! Still on the fence about Pratt and will have to hear more, before I can fully judge it.

@Would_you_kindly,

Not the case these days, these movies tend to appeal to all ages, with some humor more wide ranging than in just a movie for the kids.

@Akimi,

So true, these stories always have to most tenuous links, and are the worst sort of gutter press trash.

Horrible. Makes the live action film look like a masterpiece

@Link_of_Hyrule I'm hoping you're right and that his voice served to test people's reaction. It will be interesting to see if they do to Mario's voice what was done to Sonic's appearance.

Check the french trailer, yes, the french one. The voice is way more "happier" and "Mario-like" than the english voice. It sounds more like Charles Martinet and less like "you're imitating the God-man".

I honestly don't get how anyone can fully judge it one way or another, he said like five words in the entire trailer. But from what little we heard, it sounded okay.

I didn't hear enough in Chris' voice to have much of a comment. I can say that at this point, I'm still on the fence. Hopefully, another trailer will give us more of his voice work, and I can make a judgment call from there.

@Arawn93 I'm not a big Chris Pratt fan but this take is just extremely unreasonable. He had like one very short line and a couple of grunts. There is no way anyone can judge it yet.

@CharlieGirl lol oh I'm sure.

I like Pratt…a lot. He’s a cool dude but I’m really not feeling his version of Mario. It all seemed off to me. Even Jack Black, whom I like a lot as well.

I certainly don't dislike Chris Pratt as an actor, and I think much of his previous voice over work is well done (especially Emmett in Lego Movie). Which is ultimately just his own voice in a higher register.
But I feel like this movie didn't need a name like Chris Pratt in order for it to be a success. It feel like a stunt casting. I would have prefered Charles Martinet to continue his excellent portrayal (or at least to sound remotely like it).

I need more lines from Pratt. So far it sounds a little somewhere between Walker Boone, Cap. Lou Albano, and Bob Hoskins. Very safe

I can’t believe they wouldn’t use Mario’s actual voice actor. At the very least, something similar. Chris Pratt is great and all but not for this role. May as well have given me the contract for all the good his voice is doing as Mario.

@BAN it is reasonable to judge it. I judged Ryan Reynolds voice in Detective Pikachu from initial trailer and surprise surprise Pikachu still sounded like usual Ryan Reynolds in the actual film.

I don’t see this any different for Chris Pratt because he isn’t known for voice range just like Ryan Reynolds. I’m not hearing Mario, but hearing Starlord, Jurassic World character etc, but that is fine for the movie people because Chris Pratt is a big name and attracts viewers which means job is already done.

If Jack Black can show he has voice range in this trailer due to his extensive experience in voice works in this one trailer why can’t Chris Pratt? And before you bring up “few lines” Jack Black still did a better job in “few lines” comparison too. I’m not hearing School of Rock Jack Black here. That is because Jack Black unlike Chris Pratt has range.

Sorry he is still a miscast in my eyes

Not too bad from what I heard. Obviously I know it's Chris Pratt that's playing Mario, but there's a chance that his other lines may sound better. Only time will tell.

I’ll go on record to say Chris Pratt’s voice as Mario was my least favorite part of the trailer.
He’s supposed to be playing an excitable Italian plumber from lower Manhattan, not reprising generic everyman Emmet from Legoville. If Martinet is too much than just channel your inner Captain Lou Albano, capiche?

Jack Black really nailed It though!

Mario didn't speak enough in the trailer for me to really get an impression yet. Honestly couldn't even tell who anyone else was lol. It was fine. In all honesty I'm just glad it wasnt absolute garbage lol. It actually looks good. The mushroom world actually gave me a crossover vibe with the Sonic movie.

I liked everybody's voice except Chris Pratt's. It was lacklustre.

Here's Charles Martinet instead of Chris Pratt!

https://youtu.be/qTEYe0ZZmjk

I'm calling it that a year from now everyone is going to be pretending like they enjoyed his take on the character all along.

....unless Peach or DK ruin the film — their portrayals might sway the film too far in one way or another.

They will be redubbed for local cinemas anyway. It will be interesting to hear Polish Mario (Hydraulik Marian?).

I don't know. Chris Pratt's Mario sounded like Bob Hoskins to me.

There's some cinematic shots i really do enjoy from the trailer but the film looks like it still needs some work. The characters facial expressions look off. Especially when bowser smiles. it just reminds me of Jack Black. The eyes and teeth need some adjustments too. It looks like toad put some denchers in. Mario character design looks really off. Jack Black had some decent lines but Bowser still sounds like Jack Black in the last line he says, "Who's gonna stop me?" Why is Chris Pratt playing as Mario when Charles Martinet is already there? I dont get it...

Well Mario is an Italian-American from Brooklyn. I am very fond of Mario’s Wahoo / it’s-a-me voice but errr… yeah, this is probably more the way to go for a movie.

As for the actual performance, barely heard any of it yet. I’ll wait and see.

They all sounded great! Looking forward to watching, and not being a scrooge about it

Bob Hoskins is rolling in his grave.

He is as suitable for this role as Tom Holland was for the role of Nathan Drake.

To say I want it to fail is an understatement. If there's one place Sonic can truly beat Mario in, it's the cinema

I didn't hear him say a whole lot, so I have no strong opinion.

@Nerdling No it's not. Three cartoons predate this movie.

@Ploppy It's not like the Mario movie Hoskins was in was a Cinematic darling, not even a cult classic. Most people trash talk it everytime it's brought up, and for good reason.

@Tempestryke I think you missed my follow-up comments.

I'm just excited that there's a nintendo movie coming out, my kids and I will enjoy watching this

Mario already has a voice his name is Charles Martinet. Use him or make his voice sound like his or this movie will bomb.