Voice Actress Tara Strong Shares Thoughts After First Mario Trailer With Chris Pratt Drops

Chris Pratt's Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Image credit: Illumination)

Not too many Nintendo fans were likely surprised when Illumination announced that it was producing an animated film based on theSuper Mariofranchise. After all, it remains one of the most popular video games series of all time decades after its inception. However, much of the Internet seemed shocked whenChris Pratt was revealed to be voicing Mario. Since then, plenty of commentators have weighed in and, on the heels of the first trailer’s release, the reactions are still coming. With this, voice actress Tara Strong has become one of the latest notable stars to share thoughts.

Thefirst trailer forThe Super Mario Bros. Moviedebuted nearly a week ago and finally allowed the public the opportunity to hear Chris Pratt as the titular plumber. Some have shared some very honest critiques, while others don’t seem too phased by the snippets of Pratt’s voice work. After the footage debuted, Tara Strong took toTwitterto drop her take and, while she didn’t reference the film by name, she did confirm who she thinks should’ve voiced Mario:

See more

Charles Martinet has been with the video game franchise for quite some time now. Not only has he voiced Mario over the past three decades, but he’s also lent his vocals to Luigi, Wario and Waluigi. So Martinet’s resume definitely speaks for itself, and one can understand why Tara Strong feels the way she does.

Shortly after Chris Pratt was confirmed to be voicing the iconic video game character, a number of commentators took to social media to share who they thought should voice the role. Many fans were specificallycampaigning for Danny DeVito to be castin the role instead. Still, not everyone has been negative when it comes to the notion of the银河系的守护者alum playing the famed hero. Some would even argue thatPratt’s casting is somewhat inspired.

Chris Meledandri, Illumination’s CEO, has since discussedwhy Chris Pratt was cast as Mario. As the exec puts it, the creative team felt that Pratt had the acting chops necessary to deliver a great performance.Meledandri spoke out on the casting backlashagain sometime later, noting that he could understand folks wanting an Italian-American actor to voice the character. Meanwhile, OGSuper Mario Bros. actor约翰·雷吉扎莫问题with the animated filmbecause no Latino actors were cast in lead roles. You can get a sense of what Chris Pratt is going for by checking out the trailer down below:

Given how strongly fans seem to feel about this, it’s likely that others will join Tara Strong in sharing their honest takes on the casting. Still, at the end of the day, we’ve only heard a snippet of this take on the video game character, and folks will have to see (or I suppose, hear) more before they’re able to provide complete analysis.

The Super Mario Bros. Movieopens in theaters on April 7 as part of the schedule of2023 new movie releases.

Erik Swann
Senior Content Producer

Covering superheroes, sci-fi, comedy, and almost anything else in film and TV. I eat more pizza than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.