Chris Pratt Has Some Eyebrow-Raising Comments About His Mario Voice

According to the Guardians of the Galaxy star, there will be some striking differences between his Mario voice over and the character’s famously exaggerated Italian accent from Nintendo’s video game series. However, Pratt knows not to take himself too seriously in the role, which he explains propels the Mario character into the future.

“It’s an animated voiceover narration. It’s not a live-action movie,” he told Variety. “I’m not going to wear a plumber’s suit walking around everywhere. I give an animated character a voice, and it’s updated and unlike anything you’ve heard before in the Mario world.”

As with video games, many people have targeted Pratt and Super Mario Bros. film itself – which has no official title as of this writing – because they disapprove of Mario’s overdone accent, which they believe mocks Italians. The biggest criticism of Pratt is that people fear he might either be overly accented or just too different for fans’ tastes. However, as producer Chris Meledandri told TooFab, this was all taken into account by Nintendo and everyone else involved in Super Mario Bros. Movie. Apparently this includes references to the negative connotations surrounding the accent. “We cover it in the film,” Meledandri explained. “That’s not the tenor of the performance throughout the film.”