Super Mario ManBabies

I always have the impression of The Legend of Zelda or Super Smash Bros. fans being the biggest babies for Nintendo franchises. I think Super Mario might have just eclipsed it for the time being. There have been plans for an animated Super Mario movie for quite a bit of time. Going back to around 2017 or 2018 did I hear something about it. Illumination and Universal have their cast. Chris Pratt and Charlie Day are Mario and Luigi. Anya Taylor-Joy I believe is the Princess. Bowser will have Jack Black's voice, and Seth Rogen will be Donkey Kong.

I've seen worst casting, but it's not a slam dunk. The only one I'd feel any confidence in is Black. He could seriously give Bowser a menacing presence. Rogen seems like a very weird choice for Donkey Kong. I can't comment on Taylor-Joy, but at 25 years old, maybe her voice is suitable for the Princess. Day, I hope the production crew are looking beyond just the Charlie Kelly personas that he does on Always Sunny. Maybe he does a surprisingly good job, but I need to see a trailer first before being critical.

Pratt being Mario I'm not sure I like. Sure, he's done Parks and Recreation, but when's the last time he did anything that was full on comedy? The problem is the fans being the absolute worst in reacting to the casting. Almost universally panned. A lot of them wanted the game series' voice actor, Charles Martinet, to do the role. I know he's had a very long tenure as it, but Martinet's voice of Mario is very awful and has been since the GameCube days. It is the definition of very generic and trying to be very high pitched. Mickey Mouse, he is not. And it is very grating to hear. There was a sweet spot during the Nintendo 64 days, but that was long ago.

Voice actors are also not recognizable outside of the gaming community. Cartoons, maybe, but not in video games. And Martinet doesn't have a huge resume, either. Not to mention he is in his mid-60s. It's like asking Mel Blanc to keep doing Yosemite Sam into his 70s and 80s. I can't imagine him doing Mario's voice for 90-100 minutes. Also, who can you get that is recognizable and do the voice? Not saying Pratt is the best choice, but fans don't seem to want to see other alternatives beyond Martinet.

My final word is this. Let's wait for a freaking trailer to drop before we fly off the rails. If the trailer doesn't impress you, don't see the film and vice versa. But the fans are acting like the most spoiled rotten children on the planet. Let's hold off on the rage meter before we even get a shred of footage. It's just a kids film. I'm sure Nintendo is paying attention to what Universal and Illumination are doing, casting or not.