Poll: So, What’s Your Verdict On The Mario Movie Trailer?

Was impressed by everything - animation, Bowser, Mario, voice acting, all of it.

I'll definitely be seeing the movie in April.

tbh i didn't see anything i disliked. really liked the penguins and bowser, and glad the visual style is still very very nintendo

Trailer sold me on it. Happy that bowser is finally acting like a threat. Not the usual take a princess away story.

I'll skip it for sure and stream it. Sounds like it will be a mildly passable yet forgettable film. Mixed reception with the critics, hit with the fans who will bash the critics for not liking it and the movie will gross half a billion. Or heck maybe even a billion. it is Mario after all.

There's a high chance I'm wrong though and it could be great.

Not bad so far, but I'd like to see more before I have a solid opinion.

At least it looks like something you would see in the games, that was my main concern.

I could definitely see Jack Black's expressiveness in Bowser.

I liked what I saw. Definitely watchable.

I love it! I’m sorry for those of you that don’t like Mario’s face, voice, and ass.

Well, it was okay.
I will watch the movie anyway.

Looks so good. They nailed the tone. Only issue is Chris Pratt sounds like Chris Pratt. Should have sprinkled in more Italian accent.

I thought it looked awesome and was pretty damn funny too

@Slinkoy1 Bowser is definitely going to kidnap peach for sure. Peach's only contribution to the film will be a montage of her trying to escape Bowers castle.

Nintendo is dead set on that kidnap princess plotline for everything. It would be nice if it is just Bowser terrorizing the mushroom Kingdom, but I doubt it.

Honestly, if little kids like it, thats great. And if their parents are the type that would have seen it anyway then it could be a fun family outing. I'm not one that even acknowledges movie adaptations of video games, they never feel right and i'd get more out of just playing the actual games. I was never going to see this anyway. My feelings on pratt and "mario's" weird face aside, if the majority of you guys are excited, thats awesome. Enjoy yourselves.

@Foff you're assuming pratt has the acting chops to pull off an italian accent, real or cartoony. If thats what they wanted, they would have just paid Martinet a fat check and hired him.

I can't and won't get over how empty and lifeless Mario's voice is.

I'll be there at the premiere, overpriced popcorn and all.

My son and I loved it. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Can't wait to play it! Oh right, it's just a movie. Pass.

@SpaceEcho be careful with those jokes, we could end up with a Street Fighter The Movie: The Game situation 😩😩😩

Should be a fun movie. I liked the trailer.

I for sure want to see more. I'm sold on everything except Chris Prat's Mario voice, but they gave him almost 2 lines in the trailer so I'm not sure I feel comfortable judging that too harshly yet. You can tell Jack Black had the time of his life voicing Bowser and the rest of the voice work felt good. I'm looking forward to the next trailer and hoping we get to see and hear more of the rest of the cast.

This was way above my expectations
To the point that I want Nintendo to acquire them

I'm impressed, but still not 100% sold it'll be great. This trailer was overall really good outside of Mario's voice (I really hope it was just that one scene where he sounds really plain), although it could also be that they chose the best moments for the trailer and the rest of it will be more of the typical film I'd expect out of Illumination. That being said, I've moved on to cautiously optimistic now, and it seems like I'll be seeing it in theaters since my family wants to see it when it comes out.

They need fix mario face. All the rest is really good.

Considering only thing people are complaining about is Marios voice, id say its good overall.

@Royalblues A stereotype of a Brooklyn native isn't better.

I'm sold on this. It's Mario enough to look familiar, but it's different enough that it can be enjoyable on its own level, kind of like the Sonic movies and Detective Pikachu.

Definite HARD pass for me, considering I'm not in any way a supporter or even have the mildest of interests in what Illumination offers in terms of their so-called "movies" that look like cringe tbh.

Plus, Sonic 2 was and always will be better than whatever this movie brings to the table.

Visually, I think it's pretty solid. Mario looks a bit weird, but not awful. Not sold on the voice acting, though. Chris Pratt and a New York accent are still definitely a choice, and I like Jack Black, but Bowser could use a pitch shift or something, because he just sounds like a human. The penguin king went freaking hard, so it's too bad he'll probably only have a couple more lines if any.

I am in and looking forward. Really feel those skeptic of this movie before seeing this trailer rushed to judgement. I liked how they sounded, looked and interracted. The movie reminds me of the World of Light cinematics. Not absolutely predicting a home run but looking on the brighter side. Also wondering about Yoshi or Daisy if they're in it.

I've never been interested in movies from video games, so I'm not the demographic. I hope those that are enjoy it.

@OctoCallie20 Well yeah their films lack a heart and soul, but this might be the one in the box that has one.

I'm no fan of Chris Pratt playing Mario (for me it's just a matter of over-saturation of the guy), but that said, hot take alert:

Charles Martinet < Chris Pratt < Captain Lou Albano

I'm not sure why most people didn't seem to hear it, but it's obvious Chris Pratt is doing a Brooklyn accent, which is at least a step back in the right direction after 25 years of "insane Venetian gondolier". We'll see how he actually sounds for a sustained 100 minutes but for now I have no real issue with it.

But I think the truth of the matter is that, when all is said and done, people will remember the gloriously bonkers Super Mario Bros. (1993) long after Super Mario Bros. (2023) is gone and forgotten. Eccentricity, however hard to swallow at the time, will always outlive contemporary broad appeal.

I think the movie looks great. Bowser seems really well done and I’m looking forward to hearing Mario and Luigi talk more in the upcoming trailers. I’m excited and will definitely be seeing the movie when it’s out.

just the fact the trailer isnt focusing on illuminations typical slapstick/gag reel footage is enough to give me hope theyre putting more care in the movie. nothing to dislike for me personally, other than pratt not really sounding unique as mario, but he sounds fine

To those that say they won’t watch it and will stream it instead I despise you. Stating won’t pay for it but are interested enough to illegally stream it is hypocritical.

It just looks like a standard illumination movie with a Mario skin on it. That's not a bad thing but unless you love all things illumination or just these tropey 3d movies from your usual dreamworks, pixar, etc. in general, I fail to see how this looks amazing. Definitely the kind of movie you watch with friends and family just cause it's dumb fun from your usual 3d animation studios

Mario still looks uncanny to me with the weirdly rendered head and being a little more expressive than video games ever allowed him to be

It certainly looks like everything is shaping up well with the look of it. Mario’s design is well adapted for a feature film appearance.

I’m sure much attention and criticism will be leveled at the voice. I hope most people will be open to the tweaking that basically had too happen. Let’s face it, the classic, Charles Martinet Mario is what we know, but it would have been a very difficult thing to flesh out on this scale. It’s an ethnic stereotype caricature voice, and what works in little phrase bites in the games would have a harder time not being offensive to some when stretched out into conversational character dialogue.

Which is the other concern. Video game characters are often best served by not speaking. They’re an avatar for the player and it’s easiest to slip into their role if they’re not chatting it up and reminding us that they’re somebody other than us. Sonic was long ago a little spoiled by Sega giving him a rad dude voice first chance they got, so his movie debut didn’t shock us much. In the beginning, though, Sonic also worked better keeping his mouth shut and letting us slip into his skin with our controllers.

Mario has always been a bit more of a Harpo Marx/Charlie Chaplin kind of figure, who is best served by not constantly articulating his thoughts and having an attitude. Spinning a modern CG feature out of such a character is possible, but that would be a trickier movie to make and certainly not what any film studio would set out to do. And you’re not going to get a marquee star just to have him say “Mama Mia” and “woohoo” a couple of times. Might be best to look at it like an alternate universe type of thing. In one world, Mario remains the quiet observer we can identify with and see as an extension of ourselves, in another, he’s chatty and shows a range of thoughts and emotions that we watch from a third party perspective.

The plain fact is, if we want a Mario movie, then we’re going have to get on board with a movie Mario.

For what it was, it was mouth watering. I liked the entire scene shown, and thought the design was good looking. Even the images of Mario was satisfying. I noticed a little variation, somewhat nostalgic feeling to the 90's cartoon, but nothing to say that's not Mario. Excitingly waiting now for a full blown trailer.

It looks fantastic. Mario's voice is fine. It's not just Chris Pratt, he's clearly putting a New York accent on in the final dialogue of the trailer. That works. Do you really want Charles Martinet's high pitched babbling for 90 minutes? There's a reason he's limited to soundbites in the games. If he broke out and started talking full sentences like that, then THAT would sound weird.

Of course we still need to see more to get a better impression, but they’ve mostly nailed the teaser. More of Mario and Luigi and an official appearance of Peach would’ve been even better. Already though, I’m hyped enough to go see it as soon as I can next April, so it succeeded at that! Really hope it’s not too long before the first full trailer.

"For a teaser, we got a surprisingly good look at what is in store for us come April 7th, 2023, and if we're being honest, we were pretty darn impressed."

(suggestion of a different version of this part of this article: For a teaser, we got a surprisingly good look at what is in store for us come April 7th, 2023, and if we're being honest, we were impressed.)

@Royalblues I'm just pointing out a stereotype is a stereotype is all.

@Hero-of-WiiU Um..You do know that rentals are no longer strictly physical discs right? When someone says they will stream it, it could very well mean they will stream it as rental when it comes to home video.

It works. It's not eye-dropping like Detective Pikachu but serviceable and will be a fun time. Might be better reserved to streaming as a simple popcorn flik. Honestly I don't think any major Hollywood video game movie can top Detective Pikachu for me.

I told y'all it would be good. The 90's Mario movie and garbage like Hotel Mario is why Nintendo quit lending their properties for two decades in the first place. They were only gonna do this if they had heavy creative control over the project, and it shows. Super excited for it!

@Bratwurst35 Yes I am aware of that but I have seen plenty of people imply that they wouldn't do so in that way

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 change from Albano to Martinet would be the more drastic and shocking change of the two. But I eventually got over it and ended up loving Martinet's iteration. I'm sure that, in time, many current haters will eventually be fine with Pratt's (seemingly more understated) approach, performance, as well.

Everything was stellar, but (of course) Chris Pratts voice. Other than that the trailer pretty much blew me away. Needed more Luigi though, he didn't even talk.

@Mario500 What was wrong with the original text? The original sounded fine, if not entirely better and more colorful than your blander suggestion 🤣

Jack Black did a good Bowser, menacing but with a hint of comedy about him.

I needed a few seconds to adjust to Mario's Illumination look, but I once I did I had no problem. Crisp Rat (heheh) did sound like Mario, though a few sound bites aren't enough for me to be sure.

Keegan-Michael Key's Toad was also okay. Reminds me of Toad's voice from the 90's Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoons.

Overall, the teaser didn't disappoint. Looks like Illumination put effort to remain faithful to the source material. Looking forward to the movie even more than before.

I posted this elsewhere, so forgive me if you've read this before, but here's my 11-year-old daughter's reaction:

I called her into the living room saying I wanted to show her something, then played the trailer without telling her what she was about to see. She initially thought it was a new game and, as she's pretty opinionated about game trailers that don't show gameplay, started doing her flat "this is a movie" routine, balked HARD at Magikoopa speaking English, so you can imagine how she felt about Bowser speaking too. By the time Mario showed up, she fully realized this was indeed a movie and couldn't accept that he didn't sound or look like he does in the games. She really hated Toad, who's game voice she loves because it's do obnoxious. As the title screen showed up, she got up and said, "This is a disgrace to all Mario-kind!" She then left the room, missing the Luigi interjection. I was laughing the whole time and urged her to try to separate game Mario and movie Mario, who must be different because movies, unlike games, are all about telling a story. She jokingly dismissed this, insisting, "If the REAL Mario (as if there's a real Mario) saw this he'd be ashamed, Dada. ASHAMED!" Then I showed her the trailer for the 1993 Super Mario movie, which released when I was 12, but I haven't shown her yet because I can't ever find it anywhere. To this she said, bizarrely enough, "At least they got Mario's voice right!", which inspired, from me, great guffaws of confusion. Oddly enough, and much to my amazement, her assessment of the 93 trailer was, "It's more acceptable, Dada, because it's like they didn't know what they were doing because it was the 90s." I totally understood this and was very impressed and proud of her in this moment because she nailed it completely. Oh, and she keenly and correctly pegged those penguins as Minions stand-ins.

TL;DR Kids are going to be more confused by this than the 1993 live action adaptation because it feels closer to the games but is just different enough to be wrong somehow and most of you sound like an 11-year-old girl who was raised by a guy who thinks he's funny.

@Andy_Witmyer I was 14 when Super Mario 64 came out and didn't care one single solitary bit that Mario didn't sound like he did on that dumb cartoon I knew was bad and cheap even in elementary school. I was so happy with what a miracle Super Mario 64 was at the time the very last thing I was thinking about was Captain Lou Albano. Nobody I knew had a problem with it either, though a particularly haughty friend of mine did opine that he always felt Mario would sound more Italian-American, a wonderfully pretentious quote coming from a 14 year old I still to this day paraphrase.

@Jimsbo Congratulations. You have won the prize for the most pretentious comment here. Your punch is in the mail.

Everything looks good except Mario is slightly off.

Also Chris Pratt's "voice" is just Chris Pratt. What a joke.

I preordered.

I love that they’re not doing the ‘fictional character that drops in the real world’ that in my mind has been done a ton of times. Such as Sonic, and the Smurfs,

There might be a disservice this film does: I now expect the next main series Mario title to look at least as good as the movie.

Reallly hyped, trailer nailed it!

Wondering if anything, what Nintendo may do around this release game wise. It's a marketing dream. Are we due a new Mario game? A game tie in of similar plot later in the year?

I'm looking forward to the soundtrack, hear some new arranged SMB themes.

It looks beautiful, what a pleasant surprise. So excited

As a long time fan of Mario platformers, they've always been about the exquisite gameplay and innovations each new generation. Most of the time the story is just a vehicle for the gameplay, so without that I've got little interest in this movie at all.

Why has Mario some kind of Shirt instead of a Pullover?

I haven't seen it and I won't see it. Ever since I stopped watching trailers for movies/series/video games I'm excited about, I enjoy them so much more

As I said in the other topic: Very impressed by it!

@Andy_Witmyer

"What was wrong with the original text?"

(answer: certain parts of it found to had been unpleasant and unclassy)

@Ooyah

"Wish you'd stop doing this. It's disrespectful to the original writers, and your suggestions really aren't any better than what was originally written."

(note: no disrespect was intended)

I will say yes, it's really good. I feel to wait and see more, but so far it's a lot better than I thought, thankfully. I was a bit too skeptical, but I did want it to be good, so I'm glad it looks good so far. I think overall it will have mostly positive reactions. Which is very good. Will still wait to see more before reaching conclusions, but am convinced of that, otherwise.

It's still probably not something I'll see and watch, at least at cinemas, but it looks good to me and I'm happy to keep my eyes on it. I hope Nintendo is working on a new 3D Mario game for next year, haha. I find that more something I would want.

My least favourite part of the trailer was probably Mario himself. The look just seemed a bit off to me - not to an Ugly Sonic degree, but certainly off-brand Mario and after all the pre-release hype Chris Pratt was doing for his voice work, it ended up sounding just like Chris Pratt, which was a shame, especially when Jack Black was so spot on with his Bowser voice.

I'm excited to see this! I'll go the opening weekend; and I rarely do that anymore.

I like the look of it and all of the voices besides Mario

It looks fine. I'll reserve judgment until I see it, cause Mario is a great example of entertainment that respects young audiences and Illumination is the opposite. But anyway, I guess what matters is I'll go to see it w the kids and they will have a blast.

It seems kind of obvious they would release a videogame about this movie;
Mario Bros-the movie-the game.

Its ok, im not psyched for it...

I don't want to be a critic about the trailer, but I'm afraid of Chris Pratts mario voice. It didn't really sound that great, but I'll wait for the official release 1st to make my complete opinion. Everything else was great and looks really nice.

Its colourfull, funny and a bit 'scary' Probably a movie my kids will watch way too many times when it comes to streaming services so i hope i will like it also

It’s okay but I think Mario and Luigi voices should be in Italian accent.

@Vil This is the most real comment. I’ll be getting the overpriced popcorn and icee too 😂

I’m-a-sold! I like Pratt’s Brooklyn brogue. It’s reminiscent of Lou Albano’s Mario Super Show in the late ‘80’s, early ‘90’s.

But we better get Yoshi.

I just wanna see Bowser and Wendy O. Koopa sing a duet of “It’s My Life” by Wendy O Williams. It was actually written by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Jack Black’s KISS joke is still in my head.

@OctoCallie20 looking back, the Mario Movie was actually Illuminations 2nd best after Despicable Me 1, and I would genuinely rewatch it over Sonic 2 (especially after Sonic 3).