The first trailer for the Super Mario Bros. Movie has finally dropped, and while the animation is nothing short of impressive, the voice of one half of the titular siblings?
Not so much.
Actor Chris Pratt's voicing of Mario himself has fallen far short of fans' expectations, and they're roasting him pretty hard about it on social media.
Particularly after Pratt gushed to the entertainment media about his process for the role earlier this year, fans were pretty surprised that his take on the iconic Italian plumber sounds neither Italian nor particularly distinct from Pratt's own voice.
See for yourself in the trailer below.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Official Teaser Traileryoutu.be
Yeah that's... basically just Chris Pratt coming out of Mario's mouth.
Which really is odd. In a lengthy Variety profile about the film earlier this year, the film's co-producer, Illumination Entertainment's Chris Meledandri, really gassed up Pratt's voice work in the film, calling it "phenomenal" and an "updated" take on the character.
And Pratt spoke quite rhapsodically about his artistic process.
He told Variety:
“I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear."
He went on to speak about the uniqueness of his take on Mario.
"It’s an animated voiceover narrative. It’s not a live-action movie. I’m not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over."
"I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”
Well that last part certainly seems to be true, since what we're hearing in this rendition of "the Mario world" is just plain old Chris Pratt.
On Twitter, people were definitely unimpressed and the dunks came hard and fast.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie comes out next April and also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen.
No word on whether they'll also be using their normal voices.
