During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct event, the company announced the release date and voice cast of their new Super Mario Bros. animated film starring Chris Pratt as one of the most famous and recognizable video game characters of all time — Mario Mario. However, many fans were quick to respond with negative sentiment, and some even going as far as to call out Nintendo for anti-Italian discrimination.
The criticisms of Nintendo’s decision to cast Chris Pratt as the company’s de facto mascot in the upcoming animated film ranged from complaints that Charles Martinet, the actor who has voiced the character in video games for decades, wasn’t cast in the role to others who took issue with the fact that Pratt is not Italian himself, though it’s not clear whether some of these critiques are meant to be in jest.
Others still have drawn attention to Pratt’s attendance of Zoe Church, which has been accused of being Anti-LGBT, though Pratt has personally denied that saying it “couldn’t be further from the truth. A sampling of some tweets can be viewed below to give a sense of some of the online reactions to Nintendo’s announcement yesterday.
For Pratt’s part, the actor said being cast in the role is a “dream come true” in a post on Instagram following the announcement.
Also starring in the film will be Charlie Day as Luigi Mario, Anya Taylor Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Jack Black as Bowser. Nintendo also announced the film will release in 2022 with a December 21 opening in North America.