news culture Super Mario Bros: the director of the animated film reacts after criticism of Chris Pratt
Object of criticism, the choice to cast Chris Pratt to double Mario in the animated film Super Mario Bros convinced Chris Meledandri. Director of the film, he was reassuring about the performance of the actor
“I like his performance as Mario”
At Barcelona’s CineEurope event yesterday, the head of studio Illumination (Despicable Me; The Minions) spoke about the importance of releasing movies in theaters (vs. streaming platforms) . In addition, he also talks about the animated film Super Mario Bros (animated by his studio) and in particular the controversy around Chris Pratt. The MCU actor was cast as the voice actor for Mario, which went wrong online: “Why choose him when he is not Italian?“Many people fear the performance of Chris Pratt, who must replace the voice actor (Charles Martinet) for more than 30 years of a mythical character over 35 years old! Nevertheless Chris Meledandri is not worried:
Chris (Pratt, editor’s note) was chosen because we felt he could put on a good performance as Mario. Now that we’ve gone through fifteen recording sessions and the movie is three-quarters done, I’m sitting here and declaring that I love his performance as Mario.
Super Mario Bros: release date and cast, what you need to know
In his statement, he mentions something other interesting than Chris Pratt’s performance as Mario: the progress of the film. It indicates that 3/4 of the feature film has been completed, i.e. 75%. Good news, especially when the latest information about the film mentioned its delay. Initially scheduled for the end of 2022, Super Mario Bros has been postponed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri: it is now expected in the United States on April 7, 2023 and April 28, 2023 in Japan. Regarding Europe, no date has been communicated.
Still, Chris Pratt will not be the only one to dub an iconic Nintendo character since a 5* cast has been dispatched to lend their vocal cords to the stars of the mushroom kingdom: Anya Taylor-Joy for Peach, Charlie Day for Luigi , Jack Black for Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key for Toad and Seth Rogen for Donkey Kong.
