Voice Of Mario Charles Martinet Thanks Fans For All The "Love And Kindness"

Charles Martinet will always be remembered as the first person to give Mario's videogame adaptation a voice. A great honor indeed.

While Mario's voice by Charles Martinet is a trademark, I personally prefer neutral male voice without being faked into high pitched Mickey Mouse voice style all the time.
I heard pretty frequently Mario's voice by Charles Martinet from every Mario games I played but Ratchet (James Arnold Taylor) , Clank (David Kaye) and Rivet (Jennifer Hale) voices from Ratchet & Clank games are my favorite character voice.

My favourite memory is when Nintendo shafted him in favour of Chris Pratt. (Seriously gutted he didn’t get to do the voice, he’s the only Mario we’ve ever know and does it so well)

it should have been you, Charles.
it always should have been you 😭

Met him about 6 years ago, hes a wonderful man. Wish he was doing Mario's voice in the movie.

I think everyone wanted him for the voice. Nothing against Chris Pratt, I'm just kind of tired of him. Oversaturation is real.

He plays Mario voice so exceptionally well and it gives the games so much enthusiasm, energy and joy. Really fun to hear, I especially like hearing Mario in the Mario Party games.

The legend himself hes irreplaceable no one can outdo him.

I still think Charles Martinet could be Mario and Luigi and company could be the same as advertised.

@Anti-Matter Mario is an animated character, more artificial voices suit him well. The problem starts with the fact that Chris looks more like Sonic than Mario.

PS: I also like Martinet's work as Paarthurnax in Skyrim.

I rarely care for knowing much about actors beyond their work, but wanted to say that Charles Martinet seems to be a genuinely awesome person, from reading people's stories of meeting him.

He's my Mario.

I have never met him always wanted to and say thank you to him you making my memories happy ones while playing Mario games throughout my life…from his tweets and photos with his fan’s a truly warm and genuine man so fitting to Mario’s voice ❤️❤️❤️

The guys at illumination drank from the wrong cup on not going with this one. They chose poorly.

Y'know, as much as his voice resonates as Mario today, when Mario 64 came out, his voice took some getting used to. I'm going to give this new voice a chance for the film (but they better not go replacing Mr Martinet any time soon for the games.)

@Cronodoug That's kind of ironic, considering how Chris was originally planned to be in the First Sonic Movie as Tom.

He’s just iconic. When I think of Mario, I think of his voice.

He is the best.. hopefully, this is some kind of big joke to promote the movie.. but on the off chance that it’s not all a joke, I hope social media shuts this down like with the weird Sonic look.. I’d happily wait another 6 months to have the OG Mario voice instead of one that sounds like Linda Belcher 🤦‍♂️

I have never heard him do full voices for characters than only the sounds "waha! Auwauwauw! Mama miaaaa...." Or am i wrong, cant remember.
And i think for marios new voice its just a matter of getting used to. Same as the mario cartoons back in the days, marios voice sounded like the mario movie we get today, but better. I would rather have the silly italian voice, but hey they choose this path, and im watching this one for sure!

Mr Mar10net... wahoo

I never met the guy but I do have a Yoshi amiibo with his autograph on him sent to me by a good friend which I still cherish to this day. I'd love to meet him one day for sure!

I was in school when Mario suddenly was talking. It was amazing, along with everything else about Super Mario 64.

While I love and respect his contributions, this particular version of the Mario voice is better suited for small doses in-game. A game-accurate voice portrayal of Mario, Toad and Peach would be a lot to take for 1.5 hours of screen time

Oh please. Captain Lou was doing Mario's voice long before Charles Martinet, and he actually sounds like an Italian plumber, not some series of high pitched squicks. Martinet's voice is okay for a few short sentences in a video game, not a two hour movie.

Tara amd Charles be like:
https://external-preview.redd.it/M5W8-nXvSVar_2P5crcyHsetbDE49Nml2wXNzUWB_cE.jpg?auto=webp&s=379826460f9f9b66bcb0a1391b67ac47a614838d

The man. The legend.

Mr. Martinet is in the movie. I hope people don’t get so obsessed with supporting him that they tank the movie. For a new generation of fans this will be the first time Mario has spoken for long lengths of time. Let them have that experience. Honestly I feel like the high pitched Mario voice would be very taxing to produce for an hour and a half. This likely saves Mr. Martinet’s vocal chords. Show your support by seeing the movie.

Charles is a professional actor and absolutely has the range to do a more movie appropriate Mario. I think it’s nuts that Mario, one of the most recognisable characters on the planet, needs star power to sell cinema tickets.

Charles Martinet is a great voice actor. He could've done a version of the Mario voice that was dialed back a bit. That would've worked for a 2 hour film.

@sleepinglion,

Exactly, a full movie with a high pitched Italian voice, no thank you.

@WolfyTn,

It's not happening, the movie will go ahead whit Chris, and be better for it.

On a more serious note, how many more articles can Nintendo life get out of "Mario Voice outrage"..

Charles is to Mario (and various other Mario characters) as Mel Blanc was to Bugs Bunny (and various Looney Tunes characters and he’s going to be remembered for than generations down the line.

This is just the wholesome thing I needed today. It definitely washed away some of my stress and anxiety. Thank you, and what a wonderful man Charles is.

I wanted to meet Tara at a convention a couple years ago along with Grey DeLisle, but things didn't quite work out. As an animation enthusiast, I'm a massive fan of their work. Two of the most talented women in the biz. Tara (doing an offstage Harley Quinn voiceover) actually introduced Reggie on stage at E3 one year when they were showing off a Batman game ahead of the Wii U's launch.

He may not be the first to play the role of Mario, but he is easily the most iconic, having voiced him for almost 30 years now.

I've never met him myself, but I remember hearing Ross O'Donovan from the Game Grumps tell Dan Avidan a story about how he was at a convention and met Charles Martinet (who was voicing Mario on a screen, interacting with the attendees).

Charles asked Ross if he had a princess in his life, and Ross (who was still married to his then-wife, Holly) said that he had a wife. Charles asked him where she was, and Ross said that she was somewhere at the convention. Charles then said that he missed his own princess, since she made his heart go "bada-bing, bada-bong," and made a lip-popping noise at the end.

In fact, Ross told Dan that story while they were playing Skyrim, which Charles Martinet was also in; he was the voice of Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards. If I ever get to meet Charles Martinet as Mario, I'd tell him that not only is Super Mario 64 one of my favorite games, but so is Skyrim, to see if I can get him to do his Paarthurnax voice as Mario (or a melding of the two).

Makes me happy to see all this love for good old Charles.😊 Looking forward to hearing his voice appearances in the movie.

I met Charles at a local state convention back in 2018. My mother and grandmother took me to go meet him. I would've been 16 at the time.

He was so full of joy and genuine excitement. Even though he obviously wouldn't have remembered everyone he's met, he leaves such an impression on everyone he meets.

I got him to autograph my Gold Mario amiibo and he signed it from both Mario and Charles. As I left, he said in Mario's voice "Thank you so much for playing my game!" and I awkwardly replied in a Luigi voice "Thank you so much for making your game!" and he came back with a gleeful "Heehee!" as Mario. It was such a fun experience meeting him. He deserves the world.

Hollywood is gonna do what Hollywood does with movies unfortunately. Charles martinet isn't mainstream popular like chris Pratt. He doesn't have a world famous name like say Harrison Ford. He's really only known among the gaming community so naturally he gets passed on the Mario movie. It's sad but at the same time I'm glad we might get a pretty decent movie anyway and who knows maybe Chris Pratts voice work will impress us once we see the final product. At least we'll get a Mario movie that isn't complete dog poo like the one from 1993. Though i still for some reason have nostalgia for it.

@DiggleDog Indeed. It does not have to be 100% as it is in the games. It's all about direction. At this point though, Mario being a silent protagonist would work better in the movie than Chris Pratt.

I've enjoyed Pratt in many other things, including animation.

I think Tara is right on point to show her support. Voice actors don’t get near the support they deserve in the the industry. Big name Actors doesn’t necessarily equal good voice actor.

@DioBrando,

Just out of interest, who is everybody?, surely the core fans, but how many people outside of that are even aware of who the guy is, Chris Pratt on the other hand....

I'm not the biggest Pratt fan but at least we didn't get Eminem to play Mario or some crap. I liked Chris in those Jurassic Park movies and Guardians of the galaxy. I understand why they ditched Charles. He's not Hollywood. If you randomly picked 50 people off the street and asked them if they've heard of Him i bet 70 percent or more would say no.

I fear that the film's comedic timing and humour is going to be just like Wreck it Ralph, the Lego movie and many other big CG Hollywood films. It's going to be very dry and sarcastic about the absurdity of Mario's world, rather than fully embrace it for what it is, like you would see in a Japanese anime.

While the Sonic films aren't amazing, I feel they do a great job of perfectly nailing Sonic's (and Tail's) personality.

Whereas, I fear that Mario is just going to seem like a generic dude, who's in a fish out of water scenario, constantly making sarcastic quips about how weird everything is.

@yuwarite,

I guess we will have to wait for some plot details before we make anu judgement, some humor with stuff like this pretty much a given, lets hope the balance is right.

A lot will depend on weather or not Mario is in the real world at the start, then transported to the mushroom kingdom, in that case a little wonder and disbelief in his new surroundings would be expected.

@PessitheMystic but was he willing to do it? Was he offered?

@yuwarite

At least they didn't go the route of Mario appears in the real world somehow and starts hanging out with Chris Pratt instead of being voiced by him. I hate when they take some popular videogame character or whatever and try plopping them in the human world. I hated it in smurfs and I'm Still not crazy about it in sonic.

@CharlieGirl,

Once again personal subjective opinions, that are tainted with your irrational dislike of the actor chosen for the role.

Perhaps most movie fans will be more than happy with Chris, and not even aware anyone has voiced Mario before, or even who Charles Marinette is for that matter.

@AndyVGR,

I think Marinette was desperate to do it, there was an article on here saying he was asked about the upcoming Mario movie, this was in the very early stages of production, he was asked would he be willing to voice Mario, he said he would see it the studio wanted to reach out to him.

I think by this point he feels there is nobody else that can truly voice Mario, and is entitled to the gig by default.

I've had thoughts about Charles not doing the voice for the movie, but until we know why he isn't (if there's a legit reason please tell me) I can't fault those involved, Maybe he didn't want to do a high pitched voice for 2 hours? Maybe he can't do sentences on end for a movie? I don't know. Why wasn't Jaleel White a cameo in Sonic?

@johnvboy makes sense.

@AndyVGR look at him at any kind of convention. You can tell he absolutely loves what he does and he completely embodies the characters he plays.
I don’t think there’s any chance he was offered. Hollywood probably just want to attach a big name to get some more people to come see it.

@WolfyTn,

There is a world of difference between this and the Sonic movie, the studio caved in and changed Sonics look, much to the annoyance of Jim Carrey in all fairness, to which he did have a point as it's up to the Studio how the movie is presented, as he said where will this all end up, we just do not know.

Now if the internet had suggested for example that Jim was replaced. I guarantee you the studio would not have even considered it for even one second, same here Pratt is their choice and love it or hate it, he is here to stay.

With him not voicing Mario, it’s just not Mario. I have no interest in the movie without him.

@Kiyata,

Why would you not wait until the movie is released, I know you will probably not change your mind, but you could be missing out on a great movie.

It's pretty clear that the studio is working very closely with Nintendo on this project, and look to have the visuals spot on, and pretty sure they would have told Nintendo they were going with Chris Pratt for the role, so there must have been some sort of mutual agreement.

@PessitheMystic,

What a studio spending millions on a movie, then caring about ticket sales and making money, what a shocker.

Thanks Charles for your work! I’m also looking forward to see what Chris does.

Replacing him for the movie wasnt a bad decision. Choosing Chris patt on the other hand...

This guy is so amazing. I really hope to meet him someday.

@DiggleDog Agreed. What was Cambell's line in Brawl again? Oh yeah..... "There's probably not a single person who doesn't know Mario, he's THAT famous!"

@johnvboy nae need for your unwarranted sarcasm, I know how film marketing works, thanks.
You seem to be way too invested in this given the number of comments you’ve had in this article.

It was never going to be him because they needed a big name to generate more revenue. That’s the only reason.

@Truegamer79 Yes, I prefer that Mario fell in to the mushroom kingdom, and not that Mario fell in to our world, like in the Sonic movie.

That said, they did a great job with Sonic and the idea of him being lonely in our world; it was surprisingly touching.

I think the Mario film will be enjoyable, in the same way I enjoy other Hollywood CG movies, like Wreck it Ralph and the Lego Movie, etc.

But I worry he won't have the same vigour from the games, or the Japanese-quirks that they have added to the character over the years. And if he does say his catchphrases, like 'Let's a go!', etc, they will only be said as a punchline to a joke, or in an ironic way.

But yeah, it's still way too early to cast judgement; my opinion is literally based on a few seconds of him talking. The Bowser and Luigi part of the trailer far exceeded my expectations, and looked amazing.

@PessitheMystic,

Only a slight joke, no harm was meant by it.

And if you understand how movie marketing works, why make the comment phrased that way.

As for comments, there is no specific rule as to how many you can make, it's no different from the same individuals making the same comments in every article related to this, or the fact Nintendo life seem determined to post a million outrage articles about the subject.

Just offering a counter argument to all this doom and gloom.

@johnvboy based on your numerous comments in this thread, I can ascertain that you have a very personal attachment to this movie and while I respect that, I also stand firm in my disdain for who voices it because that - his voice - is the core of the Mario we know, and it has been replaced, and with a voice that doesn’t even come close. This just ruins it for me much like the replaced voices in modern Peanuts movies, and how they did this with Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and many others. I am not only old school, but old myself, and some things should remain as they were or they will no longer have their classic charm. I understand that people may die or otherwise be unable to fulfill these voice roles but I do think at the very least they should at least try to replicate the originals.

The closest I can get to "meeting" Charles Martinet was when he recorded the GameStop preorder delivery notification automated phone calls for I think Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Getting even a pre-recorded phone call from Charles was pretty sweet.

@Kiyata,

Not really, I just believe in giving something a fair chance before I totally denounce it, and in that respect many have been quick to judge the movie before seeing the final product.

And just because the videogame Mario sounds a certain way, does not mean you can't alter something if you feel it's better for the movie, but all this will be subjective personal opinions, whatever side of the fence you are on,

He wouldn’t be good in a long speaking role as Mario. Honestly. I wouldn’t bay an eye if they replaced him as Mario in the games entirely.

His high pitched voice work for Mario is awful and outdated, and I’m tired of hearing it.

@The-Chosen-one he frequently talks in full sentences during fan meet and greets as Mario.

It’s just…too much. It’s too high. It’s obnoxious and for movie it wouldn’t work.

@Kiyata The thing is, there isn't just one Mario in Nintendo's universe. Charles has handled the "video game" Mario, which he originates from the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant (Yoshi's Island, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, etc). The TV/movie adaptations are all based on an adult "Brooklyn" Mario, where Mario is a stranger to the Mushroom Kingdom, with a different voice/accent (which we've heard from/seen Lou Albano and Bob Hoskins).

Yeesh, people are ragging on him as if that's the only voice he can do. Voice actors are versatile, and are capable of doing more than one tone.

He speaks in thar high pitch voice because that's what Nintendo wants him to do. That does not ever mean it's only one he can do.

If you have problem with the voice, blame Nintendo, not the actor who is getting payed for it. They love it!

Wile I personally wouldn’t want to hear is voice in 2 hour film. I don’t think anyone else can voice him in the videos games, he is just to iconic.no love his voice in the games.

@PKDuckman You have a point. However, Captain Lou Albano passed away years ago and therefore is unsuited to do the voice of Mario in this movie.

Hey gang, can we try not to let ourselves get divided over this stuff? We can love Charles' work as Mario and we can also love this new movie. Letting articles or social media try to stir up this false dichotomy so we all fight each other is ... unnecessary.

Is this still about Pratt doing the VA for Mario? Wow. I am almost impressed by the craziness. This is a movie not a video game lol

I enjoy Martinet's work as much as the next man, but Illumination clearly wanted to use maximum Hollywood power for the movie. Considering the Hoskins‐Leguizamo Mario movie was a big factor in Nintendo barring their IPs from being made into movies for decades, Illumination probably wanted to play safe and stick to voice actors the masses would know, not one who's known only to franchise fans (and even then that's not everybody).

Anyway, Nintendo doesn't seem to have a complaint with Pratt and the others, so why should we? Unlike "Ugly Sonic" who clearly needed a rework the moment he was revealed, Pratt's Mario voice isn't apparently problematic, else Ninty would probably be the first to point that out.

Personally, I think Martinet's cameo would be in the form of him taking over for Pratt for the moments where Mario's iconic woohoos and yahoos are needed. That'd be neat.

EDIT: Corrected the mentioned cast of the SMB live-action movie. Thanks to @RamenNumerals for the correction.

Love this man. His voice always does Mario & Luigi justice. I know Chris Pratt and Charlie Day WON'T do justice for the brothers.☹️☹️☹️

@Chocobo_Shepherd Exactly. Peace. Get used to it guys. It's not so big deal. Come on, move on.

@LUIGITORNADO
I never heard it myself, but i imagined as such lol. For me it would be anoying indeed for a full hour or more 🤣

I still think it's ironic they thought Chris Pratt was the thing which would sell tickets.... Only for him to become a giant liability to this films success!

(Although most things are a bit circumstantial, don't think I'll cancel him juuuuust yet. But he's on thin ice! 😂)

They should get him to dub over a scene so people can understand why he wasn’t considered but hell I doubt it would succeed . Unless Nintendo is trying to screw him out of what might as well be a guaranteed contract with them or not paying him and his family royalties this isn’t worth losing sleep over.

@SalvorHardin for Tara it's also the worrying trend of casting famous people over voice actors... While voice acting is a waaay different thing from usual acting.

So you get these flat performances.

Here’s an idea for the filmmakers: how about getting Charles to perform Mario as an alternate audio track on the Blu-Ray? That way, the people who wanted him to play Mario in the movie still get to hear his version.

Charles Martinet is Mario. That's the voice we know and love, and that's the voice that should have been in the movie. Those of you saying it would be annoying hearing his voice in a two hour movie are just looking for an excuse. I think it's the opposite. Hearing these characters giving long dialogues with well-known Hollywood actors seems awkward.

@LUIGITORNADO,

Totally agree, and like I said there is a world of difference to playing a video game where your mind is occupied by controlling Mario, yes his voice is there but after a while you just switch off to it, and listening to a voice for ninety or so minutes, where your sole input is to just watch it and listen.

@RetroBox,

No excuses needed, he is not voicing Mario in the movie, period, and pretty sure if he was the correct choice as you suggest, then Nintendo would have stepped in and pushed him forward for the role, illumination stated they have worked very closely with Nintendo on this project, and it all started around seven years ago, they have worked on the look and feel of the movie, so sure they must have discussed who was going to voice the characters, and had no issue with Chris Pratt and co.

I think as lot of this is core fans wants and needs not being catered for, and as usual them suggesting it's also everyone else who is up in arms over this.

@johnvboy

Every single person I have spoken to in person has said they would rather have the original voice actor. They might not know him by name, but they say that's who they want. Some are core gamers some are casual gamers, but they all say the same general thing about it.

@RamenNumerals Thanks for catching my error there. It's been corrected.

Same here. Grew up watching the SMB Super Show. The show itself was rather blatant in disregarding the canon, but I enjoyed Albano's performance nonetheless. His voice is still the one I hear whenever I imagine Mario speaking complete sentences. Waiting to see if Pratt can dethrone him from my head.

@DioBrando,

It's not enough of a sample size to be definitive, and of course most core gamers will will want what they are used to, even if they in reality do not know how it will play out in a feature length movie.

As for everyone else or more casual people, you are down to internet and social media comments, which again is not that many people considering the sheer amount of potential customers for this movie.

So agree with you point on a personal experience level, but outside of that it's far from being definitive either way, and to counter, people I have spoken too have said they like Chris Pratt in the role, but again I can't suggest this speaks for the wider movie going demographic.

@johnvboy Yeah, I'm sure Pratt was the correct choice because of his award winning voice acting and not because he's a Hollywood B celeb who did a few terrible movies that were box office hits.

They choose Pratt simply because of his star power from starring in huge franchises (none of them good).

@Westone32bit ya buy at least he's in the movie, somewhere. Some voice actor don't even get asked to make some appearance

@DripDropCop146,

Your own subjective opinion, Chris Pratt is fine as an actor and gets people into movie theaters, I would hardly call him a B rated celebrity.

But of course the internet minorities are very toxic and do tend to hate on anything or anyone that's popular, great that nobody outside of this really takes much notice if their insane ramblings.

Cracks me up people are here still complaining about him not doing the voice in Mario..like what?

Mario is known for saying what, 30 lines total in his career? The intonations and inflections used for one liners would NOT carry over in any way when trying to have a normal conversation. It would be headache inducing trying to listen to that.

@SteamEngenius Imagine a voice actor having range for different kind of directions for a character....
Instead they stuntcasted Bland-Voice Pratt.

@SteamEngenius,

Whenever I have seen Marinette at these conventions etc, and he speaks to people in his Mario voice, I can't help but cringe, the people at the convention are in awe of the guy, which just goes to show how niche and nerdy the core fans are more than anything else, they just do not get it that regular people might not like what they like.

Which to be honest is pretty much most video game discussions and most people on here, and other various forums and social media sites.

Chap is just iconic as Mario, i heae his Mario voice and thats a Mario . All other voices just feel like someone playing or attempting Mario. Like David Hayter as Solid Snake/big boss or Mark Hamils Joker nothing else feels quite the same.

@johnvboy Yeah, criticizing equals hate. Don't use words outside of their meaning where it doesn't apply.

I don't care for Chris Pratt and he's more of a movie star than an actual actor. If people love him and his mediocre movies so be it.

However, saying anything negative is far from hating on someone. Don't throw out such extreme words simply because you disagree.

I'm pretty sure he's gonna voice Wario in the movie (if he appears). He does a wonderful job voicing Mario, Luigi, Waluigi, and Wario!

@DripDropCop146,

You said he was a bad actor and in bad movies, this is only your own subjective opinion, I get it you don't want Pratt for the role, but not sure what you expect from all this, a cuddle perhaps.

Also suggesting me pointing out the very real toxic behavior of certain fans on the internet, and suggesting it's just valid criticism, is a little rich considering your almost irrational dislike of an actor and his movies... just just can't make it up on here sometimes.

Wow, people really pulling hard for what is most likely an average movie. Nintendo just trying to make bank. If they truly cared about making a one of a kind, award winning movie, featuring their most beloved icon; They wouldn't have went as cheap as possible both with the studio and the cast chosen.

@johnvboy All I said is I don't care for him and think he was poorly chosen. All I said is his movies are mediocre to me.

You have no idea what the word hatred truly means if you keep poorly applying it where there is none. Not everyone likes an actor or their work.

@DripDropCop146,

I never stated you personally hated him, i said there was internet hate on such things, I think the last thing I sad was your irrational dislike for Pratt.

You also said Pratt was more of a movie star than an actor, but he is in movies not on stage, and the types of movies he is in are more action orientated, he does not get to control the movies direction, he will just act as he is required to. And who knows how the guy would do in a more demanding and serious role.

I accept not everyone will be happy with Pratt, but by the same token, not everybody will be upset, works both ways.

People really aren't getting that they are using the old characterization of construction worker turned plumber from the borroughs of NYC here. That's why he doesn't have the super thick "my grandson taught me English after I immigrated here ten years ago" approach the games have been using. They have Sebastian Maniscalco playing Mario's boss from WRECKING CREW. If you aren't old enough to get that reference, that's probably why them not going with Charles is confusing to you. And if you need a primer on what an Italian-American sounds like vs Italian native speaking accented English (as Charles goes for), look Sebastian up. Haven't heard enough of Pratt to know how well he's hitting that, but that seems to be the direction here.

Where was all this for support of Roger Craig Smith?? Sonic actually has, you know, dialogue in games and various animated series', but I don't remember any big reactions over Ben being hired to basically play his Leonardo over Sonic. Preference aside, I'm talking about this reaction of "disrespecting the existing voice actor." This support was kicked up by Tara Strong (if you go into the thread, she goes a bit harder on the topic than what's shown here), with outlets touting her as the voice of Harley Quinn. But, she's not the OG VA for Harley. She's not the voice in the animated series. None of the live action tv or film projects have asked her (she does do some live action acting). I mean no disrespect to Tara, but this notion of one VA holding a monopoly on a roll in ALL adaptational media is unrealistic and absolutely not even her own professional experience.

I will play the games and I will see the movie and I'm at peace with that.

@Kisame83 1000%

Might be hot/lukewarm take but I'm guessing Chris Pratt was more of an Illumination decision whereas Martinet being part of it was down to Nintendo. Like most movie adaptations of existing franchises may usually shoehorn in a cameo from the original medium but judging from the cast announcement, Charles was referred to making 'surprise cameos' suggests he'll be taking a few minor roles (Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth). Maybe it's me speculating, I'd like to think Nintendo pushed for Martinet to play a notable part in the movie. It must be a nice little payday for him too

@PessitheMystic

yeah, they really screwed up, huh?

this whole thing reminds me of the Simpsons Movie when the powers that be decided to shaft Alf Claussen, who wrote dozens of musical pieces every episodes, in favor of (admittedly brilliant) Danny elfman, who wrote one piece for the show ever: the theme song.

I was fairly scandalized at the time, and to this day I still haven't seen the Simpsons movie. it's a winning strategy that I think I'll also employ for Mario. 👍

@Kisame83

you seem to be arguing from logic, while what people are expressing here are emotions.

you know that people love CM's Mario even though they know he wasn't the original voice actor, right?

and, even though Mario has otherwise traditionally sounded more Brooklyn / italian American, Luigi has always (afaik) sounded like a native italian speaking ESL, and it's never been explained nor did it need to be really.

as far as the sonic thing, you seem to be saying that Charles martinet fans are hypocrites for feeling the way they feel. well, they aren't.

furthermore, Jaleel White is the real sonic and I won't hear otherwise!

✌️

90 minutes of Charles Martinet would be excruciating and I'm really glad they went with a different actor.

No offense to Charles but his Mario voice would not suit a dialogue heavy scenario like a feature film.

@johnvboy you seem like a very delightful person in real life.. so personable

@-wc- you're making some assumptions. I'm not attacking people for liking Charles, and have nothing against him. I'm questioning some individual takes in this very thread, as well as general media clickbait reactions. Also, not that "logic" should be seen as a dirty word, but let's apply some. Luigi, in most of the very projects referenced where Mario was played as a New Yorker, was ALSO as such. Luigi was adapted to sound like video game Mario after Mario took on that voice. Danny Wells, Tony Rosato, John Leguizamo were the contemporaries to the voice actors I mentioned for Mario.

@GrailUK Right! To me, Mario had that Brooklyn-Italian accent like he did in the cartoons - not actually Italian. It was jarring to hear his first in-game voice and it was like that. Not that I dislike it - I love it and Charles - but it was a different and new take compared to what we knew before.

For the record, the first voice of Mario was Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen in the Donkey Kong portions of the Saturday Supercade cartoon in 1983!

@-wc- Jsut a note, Hans Zimmer scored the moive, not Danny Elfman. Your point still stands that it was not Alf Clausen.

@WolfyTn,

Glad you noticed it, to some my qualities are totally overlooked on here, but in the heat of battle things do get a little strange.

Joking apart no offence intended, sorry if you think there was.

@-wc-,

So you basically agree there is no definitive way Mario should sound, and perhaps different approaches to different scenarios may be the right option.

I have no issue with Charles and like most on here have grown up with him voicing Mario in the videogames since Mario 64, and I also totally agree these videogames and future ones would not be the same without him.

But in this instance putting all emotions aside for one second, I do personally believe the Studio and Nintendo made the decision to go with Chris Pratt a long time ago, and the internet sites knowing full well it's more than likely a major studio is going to opt for a big star to voice Mario in the movie, pretty much asked Charles a loaded question as to if he would like to perform as Mario in this latest venture... they must be so shocked as to the way all this has turned out.

My honest opinion is the Movie despite all the complaints will turn out pretty decent, and Pratt will do just fine.... only a personal opinion however.

@BrianJL

oh really? I love Hans Zimmer haha. (true romance ost!!) but yeah point stands! 😊

Awww he's such a wholesome amazing dude

@johnvboy lol no offense taken mr random internet stranger sir

Charles Martinet is honestly one of the most wholesome people I've ever known about. I'm excited to see what roles he will bring to the table in the movie, and excited to see where his career as Mario and Luigi will take him in the future.

God, I love this man.

@WolfyTn,

It's funny when you step back and think about it, we all seem to know each other, while at the same time having no idea who anyone on here actually is.

He's awesome and I've never met him, but seems to me everyone who does loves him. Just like Mario

@PessitheMystic he's still doing the voice tho

@DonkeyKongBigBoy,

Who, Charles or Chris?.