See Super Mario Finally Get His Butt Kicked By Donkey Kong
The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer has arrived, giving fans the chance to hear Chris Pratt's performance, and see Donkey Kong unleash his fury.
The full trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is finally here, and it teases the matchup fans have wanted to see for decades: Mario vs. Donkey Kong. The two minute trailer, released today by animation studio Illumination, gives us our best look yet at the animated film, and a pretty good taste of the voice Guardians of the Galaxy actor Chris Pratt is bringing to everyone’s favorite koopa-fighting plumber when the film opens on April 7, 2023.
The trailer should finally set fans’ worries to rest, after the internet lost its mind when the Jurassic World actor was cast to voice the iconic character. Pratt does a serviceable job voicing Mario, although some will still be upset that a non-Italian actor was cast in the role.
John Leguizamo, who played Luigi in the absolutely dreadful 1993 live-action film, insisted that he could do a better job writing the film and voiced his displeasure that a white person was voicing Mario.
Chris Pratt calls himself a Super Mario Bros. fan, and in a video message played at last month’s New York Comic Con, he talked about going to a local laundromat as a kid to play the arcade game, before it was available for home play on the Nintendo Entertainment System. He voiced his hopes that he would do a character he loves justice, saying “I worked really closely with the directors…and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear,” he later said in an interview.
The trailer also provides a good look at the other characters and the voices they will have from the all-star voice cast. Anya Taylor-Joy is voicing Princess Peach, and we get a pretty good dose of her performance in the trailer, as well as Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario’s long-suffering brother.
Also in the voice cast are Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
Khary Payton (The Walking Dead), who voices The Penguin King, defended Chris Pratt’s performance in the film, chalking up any criticism as “people always overreact online.” Charles Martinet voiced Mario in the original games.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, best known as the creators of the Teen Titans Go! DC animated series. Their quirky style of humor is evident in the trailer, and should work well in the film.
Nintendo of Japan has been developing a Super Mario Bros. movie for years, and resisted calls to make it a cash grab and put out an inferior product, particularly after the horrendous 1993 live-action film is considered the worst video game movie ever made. Illumination Studios, who has produced a number of animated films based on Dr. Seuss books, is expected to helm a possible “Mario Cinematic Universe” that could explore the many characters and worlds in the video game series, which has become a billion dollar, much beloved franchise.
The Super Mario fan base can be measured by the fact that a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 sold for over $1.5 million last year, a record for a video game.
