Enter the Mushroom Kingdom in the first clip from the upcoming animated adventure, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The new footage comes courtesy of the official The Super Mario Bros. Movie Twitter account, and finds the Nintendo legend embarking on an adventure in a strange land alongside his escort, Toad. Check out the newly released clip from The Super Mario Bros. Movie below.
From Nintendo and Illumination comes a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. The animated outing will follow a similar path to the beloved video games and finds a plumber named Mario traveling through an underground labyrinth with his brother, Luigi, and trying to save a captured princess.
Leading the Super Mario Bros. gang is Guardians of the Galaxy and The Lego Movie star Chris Pratt as Mario, with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and fellow The Lego Movie star Charlie Day as his plumber brother, Luigi. The rest of the cast includes the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike. Additionally, Charles Martinet, who has voiced the character in the video game series since 1992, has been confirmed to feature in an undisclosed cameo.
Alongside showing off the vibrant animation, as well as several Mario staples including floating platforms and warp pipes, this latest footage also shows off a little more of Chris Pratt’s accent. Only time will tell whether the casting of the Marvel actor as Mario is growing on fans or not. The actor and the studio have come under fire for the casting call, with many feeling that Charles Martinet should have been allowed to play the character as he makes the leap from pixels to the silver screen.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Cast & Crew Have Defended the Casting of Chris Pratt
Despite early criticism leveled at the decision to cast Chris Pratt, and the somewhat negative response to his performance so far, the actor has the backing of producer Chris Meledandri and co-star Khary Payton. "Chris was cast because we felt he could give a great performance as Mario,” Meledandri said earlier this year. “And now that we've done about 15 recording sessions, and the movie is three-quarters done, I sit here and say that I love his performance as Mario."
“People always overreact online,” Payton adds. “I actually think that he's doing kind of like this New York, Italian guy — like a cousin of 'The Sopranos' or something, which, I think, is kind of a fun take on it rather than being, 'It's a me, a Mario'.”
Directed by Aaron Horvath (The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!) and Michael Jelenic (Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League), who together brought audiences the acclaimed animated outing Teen Titans Go! To the Movies back in 2018, and from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is scheduled for release in the United States on April 7, 2023, and in Japan on April 28.