For many people, it seems hard to describe the feelings associated with the recent cast announcement for the upcoming untitled Super Mario Movie. When Shigeru Miyamoto appeared during yesterday's Nintendo Direct to reveal the cast list, fans waited on bated breath to see who would be voicing gaming's most famous plumber. When the film was revealed to be starring Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, and a handful of other film stars, many fans were taken aback. While they'll likely do a serviceable job at the very least to give voices to the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom, the film feels a little bit miscast.
This seems to be the result of the fact that, although he isn't the most talkative character, Mario already has a voice actor who's been playing him since the 1990s. Charles Martinet has been the voice of Mario for as long as the character has had one, so it's going to feel weird having someone other than Martinet portray him for a feature-length film. The cast of the Mario movie seems to speak to an issue that's been popping up more and more as new video game films get announced. Hollywood seems to be more interested in working with its current batch of stars than allowing video game voice actors to step up and give iconic performances in major motion pictures.
Honoring Video Game Talent
Time and time again, it seems like voice actors have been given the short end of the stick when it comes to film portrayals of their iconic characters. Recently, longtime Sonic the Hedgehog voice actor Roger Craig Smith was replaced by Ben Schwartz in Sonic's film debut and Borderlands voice actor Jim Foronda wasn't asked to reprise his role as Claptrap in the film adaptation, which instead cast Jack Black as the loudmouthed robot.
Hollywood is casting very talented people to voice these characters, that much is clear, but it seems a little odd that the original actors who helped boost characters to their icon statuses aren't being given the proper recognition. In some cases like with Jim Foronda, voice actor aren't being contacted at all to help with the movie. It's a good thing that Charles Martinet is still involved with the Mario movie in one way or another, but so far it's just been reported that he'll be doing some voice cameos and won't get the screen time that he deserves.
While the films are casting talented actors, they're oftentimes doing a genuine disservice to the work that video game voice actors have been putting in for years before the characters wer hot enough to warrant a big-budget film. Someone like Martinet seems like the perfect fit to voice Mario in a film, as he's been doing it so well for so long. Not having one of the most iconic voices in gaming voice one of its most iconic characters doesn't paint a bright picture for the future of other gaming voice actors whose franchises might also be getting film adaptations.
The Tricky Line That Hollywood Walks
The general consensus for the Mario film cast seems to be that it's miscast and doesn't pay tribute to the actors that have been behind the characters for decades. This reaction, however, isn't always the one that film adaptations of video games receive when their cast lists are announced. Although some fans might have wanted Roger Craig Smith to voice Sonic in his film, fans seemed to welcome Ben Schwartz and his portrayal of Sonic with relatively open arms. The same goes for the announcement that Idris Elba would be playing Knuckles in the second Sonic film.
There seems to be a fine line when casting a video game movie in regards to who should play iconic characters. Fans seem to be much more open to Hollywood celebrities playing a character when the voice actor hasn't been the only portrayal of a character, like with the case of Sonic the Hedgehog. What's more, animated characters tend to get more pushback on their film casting than games that are going for more realistic art styles. The announcement that Tom Holland would be playing Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted movie seemed to go over well with fans as well as the announcements regarding the cast for the upcoming The Last of Us series on HBO.
That's not to say that Nolan North's portrayal as Nathan Drake or Ashley Johnson's Ellie aren't as iconic or as important as Martinet's Mario, but that fans seem to react differently when characters with realistic art styles are recast as opposed to animated ones. That said, the reaction to Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik for the Sonic movie was also relatively well-received, but that might have more to do with Carrey's well-known eccentricity and the rest of the controversy surrounding the Sonic film in the first place.
Fortunately, The Mario Movie Won't Be Changing Much
At the end of the day, film adaptations of games won't change anything about the games themselves. Charles Martinet will still likely be voicing Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi for years to come, and the film doesn't seem like it's going to have any sort of canonical attachment to the Super Mario series. However, the Mario film does unfortunately represent a larger issue when it comes to the lack of recognition that video game voice actors get when their franchises become adapted into other media. It still seems like fans are going to be interested in seeing the Mario film for one reason or another, whether that's out of love for the franchise, or just to see what sort of accent Chris Pratt decides to use in his portrayal.
The Super Mario Bros. film is set to release on December 21, 2022.