Chris Pratt's Mario Voice

Overview

Chris Pratt's Mario Voice refers to the voice acting performance actor Chris Pratt gives in the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie as the title character, Mario. When his casting was initially announced in September 2021, fans were trepidatious about what he might sound like as the character, who for decades was iconically voiced by Charles Martinet. After the film's first trailer was released in October 2022, many fans expressed disappointment in his performance, expressing that it sounded too much like Pratt's normal speaking voice, inspiring commentary and memes shortly after.

Background

On September 23rd, 2021, Nintendo announced that an animated Super Mario film was in development and that Chris Pratt had been cast as Mario. The casting concerned some fans who felt Pratt did not have the voice acting talent to bring the character to life. This was partially expressed in meme templates including Super Mario Bros Film Cast Announcement Parodies and Chris Pratt Voices Everyone.

In June 2022, Pratt stated he was very proud of his performance as Mario, and said it was like "nothing" viewers had "ever heard before." This did little to assuage audience fears, as many felt the most likely outcome is that Pratt's performance would simply be Pratt's voice.

On October 6th, 2022, Nintendo debuted the first trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which showcased some of Pratt's performance as Mario.

Online Reactions

In the immediate wake of the first trailer release on October 6th, 2022, many felt that Pratt's performance didn't fit the character and that his Mario voice was too similar to his regular speaking voice. For example, that day Twitter user @Nibellion^[1] recalled Pratt's interview saying his Mario voice would be like "nothing we'd ever heard before," joking, "I guess technically we haven't heard Chris Pratt's normal voice in the Mario world." Their tweet gained over 3,800 retweets and 25,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter user @Kirawontmiss^[2] then posted an image captioned "A toofpick changes everythang" to joke about how little difference there was between Chris Pratt's normal voice and his Mario voice (shown below, right).

As the trailer went viral, many also joked about how Pratt's voice sounded like the character Linda from Bob's Burgers. For example, on October 7th, 2022, Twitter user @DavidToons_ posted an animation of Linda saying Pratt's lines, gaining over 7,600 retweets and 40,000 likes in eight hours (shown below).

Chris sounds like Linda from Bob's Burgers, so as an animator: this had to be done. https://t.co/glfQdgfFXH pic.twitter.com/WgJauwIW1w

— David Toons (@DavidToons_) October 7, 2022

Others discussed if Mario's longtime voice actor Charles Martinet should have gotten the role. Some, such as Twitter user @StorySlug,^[3] argued that while Martinet's voice is iconic, it would become grating over the course of a full-length film (shown below, left). Others, such as user @Possqueen^[4] contested that point, arguing Martinet could have made it work with his talents as a voice actor.

Search Interest

External References