I’m waiting for there to be a Spider-Verse twist where hardly any of the marketing was about casting A-list cast. Probably Nic Cage was the biggest get in Into, and Oscar Isaac for Across, but the rest of the cast was sold on the characters, not the actors.

Not saying big named actors can't ever VA (I absolutely love Sing and Sing 2 despite you dragging it for the A list casting which.... you right you right) But found talent is sometimes more powerful! It's hard to watch iconic voices do something different. Like what would have happened if they had casted someone like... Zendaya as Moana? She was an established talent and a Disney child star long before Moana We would have never had Auli'i Moana would have likely faded into obscurity like so many other movies. GIMME MORE FRESH TALENT

My wife and I really loved the first 1/2 to 2/3rds of the film. That first half is pure fan-service, and as Nintendo Kids we really liked all the visual elements, the Brooklyn beginning, and all the Easter Eggs. The Mario Rap for the commercial brought me back to being 5 and rushing home to watch the VHS recording of the Mario Show, and if it was the lucky day there was the Legend of Zelda segment instead. After the Kong Valley segment/fight, it fell off hard, and the problems of the film came more apparent. The reliance on the 80's pop culture music felt forced. Rainbow Road was a big buildup that led to "the all is lost moment" so the heroes could rally. Seth was doing his best Sethiness, and while i don't mind him since i grew up on his movies, he well overstayed his welcome by the time they were on the Road. And the utter "closeting" of Luigi was a shame, as he could have started rebellion/resistance/jail-break from within Bowser's Keep and met Mario on even terms at the end of the film instead of being the Princess-replacement. A lot of stuff i like in the film. Jack Black was great, as was Charlie Day. Princess Peach was a nice highlight as they made her character the "not damsel" and instead quite capable. A lot of the other voices in the film were good and served their purpose. Visually the film was magnificent, plus the canonizing of the plumbers being from Brooklyn.But It wasn't a perfect film. It wasn't close by a long shot. The writing fell off in the last half, there was a big sky beam, and convenience to wrap a whole myriad of plot points and character arcs in the last 20 minutes. Plus how does Luigi know how to use powerups aka the Power Star (and not be immediately freaked out by what's happening to him) in the last 10 minutes when not exposed to them at all during the film? Urrrggg, this point was such a miss. I'll watch it again, but not for a while. Maybe when my son is more interested in a few years.

This channel is the best. We wish them well.

The pop music annoyed me more than the casting tbh. They had music MADE for those specific scenes and they go out of their way not to use it. "Drivin' me bananas" was meant to play when they drive around the kong kingdom. Anyways, great video man 👍

imo i barely recognized chris pratt when mario talked. he really did a great job at it but then it begs the question- what if it's someone else more suited to it fit the character, it might not have been just good to add, donkey kong was just.. oh boy (4:12)

I honestly thought that while yeah the writing was strong especially for how quickly they paced it, it was a HUGE let down as far as potential, big reveals, and exploration!! Like yeah there were a ton of references and cameos but that’s all they were!!! I was looking forward to exploring that world they built and priced together and seeing how it functioned in a complete and solid movie and didn’t get that!!! They missed out on so many opportunities and fun moments because they wanted one quick movie instead of what could have easily been a good few that worked well together and played around with everything more!!

Seriously, the “peaches” song was the only truly agonizing part of that movie. It made me cringe so bad, I wished I could have been able to fast-forward over it.

personally, i think that the movie was alright. i didnt think it was anything special, i didn't hate it. it was a solid "yeah i'd watch it again if it was on" movie. a 6/10. which by illumination standards was a god send. they haven't done anything i enjoyed watching in years, this put a smile on my face occasionally, i loved that it stayed true to mario. it was light hearted. it was perfectly okay by me and thats all i think it was trying to be. i also got severe whiplash every single time a random song was played, like thunderstruck, like it just did not fit, and i was so confused by every soundtrack decision made when it came to the songs that weren't written just for this movie.

Good to see a new video walrus! I honestly didn't mind Chris Pratt or Charlie day, but crankey Kong, peach, and DEFINITELY Seth flicking rogan, killed the vibes when I watched this one. I was super impressed with Jack blacks bowser, it was awesome. I agree, while I had a good time, the movie fell just short of being a truly great love letter. But you also have to ask, if anyone would have gone to see this film if there wasn't a Chris Pratt Mario. I know , for me I love Charlie day ,Chris Pratt and Jack black, so I wanted to at least see the movie.

I agree, I thought the casting was out of place, but I still think the good outweighed the bad, believe me, the movie could have been so much worse, but it was actually good, and that was good enough for me

Honestly, while I enjoyed Pratt's performance as Mario, I'd lie if I said that having Martinet voice him wouldn't have been a dream come true. With that said though, I also think that if Charles DID voice Mario he would have to voice Luigi too. Because, for as jarring as hearing Chris Pratt's voice coming out of Mario's mouth sounds, I think it would be even more jarring if Martinet voiced Mario but not Luigi, who, let me remind you all, is also voiced by Martinet in the games. If it works for the games, what's different here?

I actually thought Pratt turned in a credible performance. I do think going for the Brooklyn accent rather than the traditional Mario voice was a smart move, and he was serviceable in that role. If I didn’t see any of the credits, I never would have guessed it was him, and he was able to bring a charming likability to the character. Sure, there might be people out there who could have done even better, and I agree with your point on how cashing in on big names is damaging the film industry, but I didn’t have any issues with his performance. Seth Rogen, however, wasn’t insufferable, but definitely not what I thought DK should have sounded like. Don’t know who I would have picked, but not him. Probably someone with at least a slightly deeper voice

Thankfully, what a character looks like is a huge part of the experience for me. I greatly disliked that it was Chris, but once the movie got going, I found I could kind of forget it was him. This was partly because I'm used to him using his lower register, so the slightly higher pitch he used for Mario created just enough disconnect. It's kind of the same with Seth. I was thrown when I first heard him speak, but again because I didn't have his face, there was just enough disconnect for me to almost forget. It's almost like I have mild phonagnosia when it comes to animated shows. The actor's voice just becomes the character's voice easily for me. I totally agree with what you said about Charlie. He was the perfect cast for Luigi, to the point where I desperately wanted more of him. He didn't have nearly enough screen time, especially considering Mario's whole motivation revolves around him. I really hope we get a Luigi's Mansion spinoff. I saw someone else mention how some A list casting can work; like Nic Cage as Spider-Noir, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, and Oscar Isaac as Miguel. The first two just fit well for the characters, and Oscar has the acting skills to be a good voice actor (as well as having the range to fit the character). But even with those three, the rest of the talent was cast for exactly that: talent. It works as long as you think of the actor because they fit the role, but just because of who they are.

Meanwhile i'm here watching the Brazilian portuguese dub and my only disappointment was Toad not being snarky enough, so many people were hoping for it because of how his voice actor portrayed him in the classic show, fitting jokes seamlessly and insulting King Koopa to his face. it's a shame there wasn't room for that type of artistic freedom in the movie.

I'll admit, I'm an easily entertained person, especially if it's a property I already have so much love and nostalgia for. I'll even go so far as to say that though I hated the idea of Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario, during my viewing, I was mostly able to tune it out or not be bothered by it. However, I could tell that Nintendo/Illumination took the feedback from the initial trailer that showcased his voice and changed it, as that cringey line didn't appear in the film, so I guess it could've been worse? I can't say the same as Seth Rogen's characterization, though. Never once was I sold on his DK performance. And knowing his thoughts on being asked to voice him, it really disappoints me that they went ahead with him anyway (assuming he's being honest), as it really paints Nintendo/Illumination in a cynical light where they're banking on name recognition to sell their movie as opposed to a quality product that was thoughtfully made. It's a good film overall and I would see it again in a heartbeat, but these nitpicks keep it from turning it from merely a good film, to a great or even classic film. But despite my qualms, I will definitely be on board with any sequels that come out, as I'm hopeful Ninllumination will course correct based on fan feedback. However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried on what to expect from their treatment of the Legend of Zelda, if those films ever actually do get made.

Peach seemed more like daisy / fav scene blue shell / keeping luigi away from mario not sure i liked the decision / i liked it

Surprised this doesnt have more views! Great video my guy.

LOVE your videos though; you always make your content so enjoyable.

I think the best example of a traditional actor becoming a great voice actor is Mark Hamil. In my opinion, his vocal talents are one of the things that make his joker one of the best, and it was good for his career too, because he was able to show that he could do more than Luke Skywalker. Not a good analysis on my part, but I just love mark hamils joker

As much as I enjoy Pratt as an actor, Walrus makes a great point (as usual)! Honestly in trailers you should be showing the highlights of your film itself. This should include the best performances done by your actors versus just their names. There are super fans of actors, but Hollywood is creating that draw that big actor names are the selling point. There could be an interesting research project there about how Hollywood has ebbed and flowed on promoting name actors and then getting actors stuck in "type cast" situations or even stuck being known for only one role period. But back to trailers, you get a few short minutes or seconds to sell me on your film. Using actor names i'm familiar with has become a cheap trick and clearly doesn't denote if the film is actually worth seeing. VA's are not live action performers. They can be, but they're different mediums. They require different skills. Voice acting, theatre acting, commercial acting, sitcom acting, drama acting- there's so many different rules and styles because they're all telling stories in different ways! Just because you have an amazing VA doesn't mean they'll be great on the stage. Very different skillsets! They might be amazing, but they'd be using different skills. So it's wasting very limited time in a trailer to try and use names to convince me to buy a ticket.

6:12 Oh no, he sounds perfectly fine!

Is it weird I was okay with Seth as donkey Kong . It was oddly funny 🤣 Second guessing that maybe it's because I was already a fan. ☕🧐

I agree with a lot of this - but let's be real here, Wes Anderson just always drags in his celebrity friends into EVERY movie he makes, whether it's animated or not. They're pretty much his theater troop at this point.

I know this is late and off topic but it looks like it was supposedly the directors of the movie that cast Chris Pratt to voice Mario, not because of his voice acting skills, but because "He’s really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart."

I loved this movie so much... But, I didn't watch it in english, I watched it in portuguese BR since is my native language and for animation I really favor dubs over the original voices. And in this case, more than ever, I'm glad I did. Sure, over here we got some serious case of celebrity dubing in films and games that completely ruins them (I cannot watch tangled in PT-BR or play Mortal Kombat 10 localized for the atroucious celebrity dub they got). But in the end, the suits know that people that doesn't know or care about the Ip will fill most of sits of the theater (or buy the game) if their favorite movie star, tv show host, singer or even youtuber is involved, so we just have to endure this bullshit forever.

We’re all entitled to our opinions; however, the casting really surprised me. I think everyone did a good job, even Chris Pratt. Though, as you said, Jack Black was the highlight.

Here's my stance on Seth Rogan DK I simultaneously regard it as one of the best decisions and one of the worst. I personally loved his DK but I 100% get why other people hate it. He's overused in animated movies for sure, but out of all of the random characters he's played as, his voice fits DK the best. Better than BOB from Monsters vs aliens, better than master Mantis from Kung Fu Panda, all of it. Because he's playing a big stubborn brute/Jock character who's immature, and I think his voice reflects that perfectly. Again, I understand the hate, but I would not pick anyone else for DK, and I think the directors were onto something. I personally think if nobody had an inkling of a clue who Seth Rogan was, people would've loved him as DK a lot more.

(5:22) Now, reading this, and looking back, someone please tell me how hypocritical this sounds? Seth Rogen is voicing Bebop in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and he is doing a voice. Not his voice. A voice.

My personal opinion on this topic, the executives wanted a movie that would placate to the mass markets, be it older than 13 or younger than 13. Add into that, adults who have young’ns that want to see this movie are gonna be relieved to find a 90 minute runtime. Further on to that, a cast who have been a “safe” bet for previous movies. All that adds up to motivating parents to see this flick, and this doesn’t take into account how well the story is, which will word of mouth go from parent to parent. We the fans of the IP are an after thought.

I watched the movie both in my native language (brazilian portuguese) and english. And to me the english version didn't RUIN the movie but i certainly understand why it could be a let down for some. I still think the good outstand the bad by miles. I can see everyone referencing this movie when talking about videogame adaptations for the next decade

I was expecting the Pratt / Rogen input to be disappointing, and lack of Martinet infuriating. MOST of the movie is gorgeous and fun and funny. I honestly get madder every time I think about the lost potential of Rainbow Road, though. Making the whole thing an extended Fury Road joke wasted it. They could have really amped up the visuals to 3DS RR levels and man, it would have been stellar.

It was fine It wasn't bad but I've kind of forgotten half of it and its only been a few months

As a person who played mario games on the DS... I got bored. A lot.

Well i didn’t watched the English version, my biggest fault i had with this movie is that it was way to short and you couldn’t really enjoy the relationship between the characters

I really dont get the issue, I thought the acting in Mario was great. Not fantastic but still great. Though celeb voice acting can get annoying at times when done badly

You drive a hard statement in this video and I get it I really do, I'm not saying that Chris Pratt was a perfect voice for Mario because that would be lying but honestly I don't want to hear Charles voice for 90 minutes on the big screen it would get annoying real fast. I do agree that celebrities are being used as a crutch for movie ticket sales but some og actors aren't really met to be on the big screen

I like the p5 music in the back 😉 6:15

I'm not gonna lie though... Charlie was pretty awesome and the movie wasn't bad and most importantly not just a long ad for a bunch of hours... I agree with you as well Chris was an odd choice but I'd rather Chris over Seth... BUT I mean they did it for Sonic and hired the VA for Tales and it worked!!

I never recognice the voice of x famous actor, like never. But to be fair my english is not that good :P Good video ❤

It tasted perfect expect for spilling pickle juice over everything. But if you ignore the pickle juice over everything, then it tasted good.

It’s one of my personal favorite movies ever. I actually went to the theatre twice, it was this good. It was entertaining, visually appealing and memorable. I think Chris Pratt and Seth Rogen did a alright job and their voices have by no means changed much for me.

Oh god i hate seth rogen. He doesn't deserves to voice DK. at least we got the DK rap. But now we're stuck with his voice for other movies in this universe.

I Thought Chris Pratt fit

I watched it in German and thought it was nice. Tho the Peaches song really didn't work for me and felt sooo forced.

I just liked Mario's voice...I think he did great.

This time when i'm happy to be french 😂

I really don't get why Pratt's voice as Mario bothered you so much. It did not bother me at all. The Donkey Kog voice now - it did distract me often as it was clearly not Kong but Rogan. But I do agree that the 80's music was a bit off putting and of course Luige and Bowser were perfect. Toad was fun too. But Pratt did not ruin the film for me; not one bit.

I loved this movie enough to saw it a second time a few days ago. I love the casting especially the actor who play Mario. I think we are very lucky because for once there was no celebrities in our dubbing (yes I’m from France). The funny thing about our dubbing is also the fact we have in the cast Legendary actors but for minor role like one of the toad shop owner who is voice by the same actor who played Homer Simpson or Danny DeVito in most of his roles.

I love it either way

I liked it. Well, most of it. It was a great movie. I do agree Seth Rogan just gave 0 cares about his performance, but I actually feel like Chris tried a little. It could have been better but I will accept the massive win that it was and not the minor loss that Seth made it.

I loved it but I watched it in French... since I'm French it helped a lot haha !

Seth Rogan doesn't do voices....? Invincible...?

I don't like Chris Pratt as the voice either, it sounds like a tall man's voice while Mario is short

disagreed tbh

6:19 I'm sensing a blind "I hate Chris Pratt, just because" bias vibes from you here. 🙄😒😑 [Hypocritical, much?] Especially when you excused Charlie Day's Luigi voice where it's just Charlie Day doing his regular voice with a hint of a Brooklyn accent added in and he sounds nothing like all the previous Luigi's from the past. Like in the 80's to early 90's Mario cartoon shows where Luigi had a deep, gruff, Brooklyn New York Accent type of voice, John Leguizamo's Spanish American, Brooklyn New York voice for Luigi in the 1993 live action Mario Movie and of course Charles Martinet's famous Luigi voice from the video game in the mid 90's and onwards. And Mario also had different types of voices long before Charles Martinet's stereotypical Italian Accent Mario voice got soaked into all of our brains like a sponge. To the point where we're not open minded to new interpretations of a beloved character. For example, Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey played an entirely different version of Joel & Ellie in the live action The Last of Us HBO Series than Troy Baker's take & Ashley Johnson's take, in their looks, voices, tone, performances and demeanors. Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey and Edris Elba plays an entirely new and different versions of Sonic, Dr. Eggman & Knuckles None of which sounded like previous voice actors of the Characters from the Sonic The Hedgehog video games and were just doing their normal voices and personality quirks. Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu in The live action Detective Pikachu movie used his regular normal speaking voice for Pikachu and it works. Tom Holland & Mark Wahlberg also played drastically different younger versions of Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan from the live action Uncharted movie. Mario's voice in this movie is like a more of a perked up, slightly higher pitch version Chris Pratt's normal voice but with a slight Brooklyn New York Accent, while still incorporating some elements of Charles Martinet's quirks subtly. Bottomline, I still think this whole situation is just a HUGE overreaction from the fandom that can't handle change.

I haven't watched it yet (I'm waiting for the cheap theater) but I didn't know about Seth Rogan, and that makes it WORSE! I HATE HIS LAUGH SOOO MUUUUCH

Please pardon me I may have disagreement with Seth Rogan's political views however 🤔 from what I saw I do not have a problem with him or Christ Pratt being Mario

🦾💪🍿

Again, I liked this movie A LOT and I felt Chris did a great job being the leading man while doing THE CORE Mario lines to PERFECTION. I will say that Seth Rogen needs a humility pill to put more nuance in his voice but I felt everyone else did a great job. I think you're being VERY nitpicky here because almost EVERYONE in this movie put some effort into their role, except for Seth. Also, this was a video game movie, a genre of film that needed massive appeal to get a franchise going. This is the Iron Man of the NCU, you CANNOT avoid that.

I was really bored of the movie. No one had any real character growth aside from Luigi who Finally quit being a wuss at the end and saved his brother. Aside from that, it was really just a classic “Hero’s journey” style of story and didn’t subvert any tropes. Also I love your channel and I hope to see more of it sometime :)

I feel you don't have the right to insult recent Disney animated movies if you think the Mario movie was "well-written."

Tbf on the person who casted Chris, if they also hired jack black they made up for it 🤷

While I 100% agree the Seth Rogan sucked in this movie, I thought Chris was ok, I know that they could have used the original voice actor and they should have gotten someone else to do it, but we didn't. This is what we got and all things considered, I enjoyed myself even as a gamer and writer. If you spend your time wishing you got this and that and the other thing, you'll miss whats in front of you. A pretty faithful movie that changed things up a little bit and made sacrifices to make it through production. I loved the movie and I will probably enjoy a sequel.

Honestly, who in the world even knows about someone who sees a movie soley because it has some celebrities?

It was a really pretty movie and it had some cool and some funny moments but I felt like the characters and the story were pretty rushed. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. There were also some pretty cringy one-liners and I just could not stand donkey Kong and the donkey king’s voice actors.

Chris Pratt wasn't bad

I'm happy to be French

I don't think anyone was cast well for the movie... Jack Black probably came closest, but then he'd slip into Jack Black instead of Bowser, and it all just fell apart.

dramatic as hell

Calling the Mario movie well written is definitely a laugh.

this was the letterboxd review i wrote for it: jack black is an amazing actor and singer but his screen time is to little to carry this. this movie is chock full of references and the original songs/mashups of classic mario themes and newer mario themes are great if not amazing yet the plot is so mediocre i had to keep my eyes open during the middle. the dialogue is boring, plot isn't interesting, the recent girlboss narrative is pushed with peach so luigi gets no screen time or development despite having the more interesting setup. i laughed towards the end simply at the absurdity. if they wanted to slam references they shouldve had all the fights contain moves from smash, if mario f-air'd to end the movie that wouldve been funny as hell. this was a movie! (but not a good one.)

I watched this in Spanish which is my native language, and yeah this movie's good. I'm so sorry the English dub is so bad