Why Chris Pratt’s performance in the Mario movie trailer is so distracting
The world's introduction to Chris Pratt's Mario.
When my 8-year-old daughter got home from school on Thursday, I was excited to show her the first trailer for the upcoming animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie. And while she would later express excitement at the sight of Bowser battling an army of penguins or Mario being confused about a field of giant mushrooms, her immediate reaction after watching the trailer was more negative:
"Mario's voice sounds weird."
This is not an uncommon reaction to the first public line-reading for the Chris Pratt-voiced Mario, judging by the overall tone of social media in the last 24 hours. It's a reaction that seems to extend past the Internet snark zone, too; at least two parents I know in real life have told me that their kids expressed similar confusion about Mario's movie voice.