On October 6th, 2022, the first trailer for the highly anticipated “Super Mario Bros” movie dropped. The clips shown in the trailer left fans bubbling with excitement, and some confused over the choices made for the film.  

The animated film is set to be released on April 7th of 2023, produced by Illumination studios, and features everyone’s favorite plumber voiced by Chris Pratt. The trailer gave audiences a look at the quality of animation, which many have praised for the high amount of detail and movement, and the voice acting of the characters.  

Illumination Studios has been criticized in the past by fans of the animation industry for punching out dry, marketable content for kids that often fails to meet the mark for many people with the safe bubbly animation and surface level storytelling, however with the quality of animation presented in the trailer and the time and detail spent on the project, Fans are relieved and hopeful for the promising quality of the film.  

Jack Black, voicing Bowser, pleasantly surprised fans with his adaptation of the character, and various reviews share they are excited to see his role as the main antagonist of the movie, along with positive reviews for other character voices shown, with Charlie day as Luigi and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad. 

However, many fans of the Mario Bros. Saga were angry at the performance of Chris Pratt as Mario, claiming he butchers Mario’s voice, and find his adaptation of the character (a slight Brooklyn accent mixed with Chris Pratt’s signature voice) to be jolting and uncanny.  

Tara Strong, a well-versed voice actor who’s played many popular roles including Raven from “Teen Titans” and Twilight Sparkle from “My Little Pony”, commented on the issue stating her frustration with the industry for replacing hard-working voice actors with A-list celebrities for roles in major films. She says that Charles Martinet, the voice actor of Mario for the past 30 years, should have been chosen for the role. The voice-actress posted a photo on twitter of herself and Martinet with the blunt caption, “It should have been Charles.” 

Some randomly selected students were asked to comment on their opinions of the trailer. Here are their statements listed below. 

Alyssa Wend (Grade 12)- “I think the main thing for me is that the moment Mario opened his mouth, it was a moment of extreme and utter disappointment, However, I am excited to see the film because of my undying love for Toad. Chris Pratt was not a good choice though; they could have tried to get the classic Mario voice in there.” 

India Anderson (Grade 11)- “The Mario Movie trailer alone looks awesome! Lots of detail and wonderful style and effects.” 

Brendan Mrozowski (Grade 12)- “It was a very different kind of trailer, higher quality than I expected. I am most excited for Bowser and Luigi.”

Nick Garbs (Grade 12)- “Chris Pratt should not be Mario. Period.” 

Chris Haviaras (Grade 12)- “It’sa me, Chris Pratt.” 

Mr. McLeod (Staff)- “I’m excited to share something that I loved as a kid with my own kids.”