What does it take to prove that someone has screwed up royally? Does the entire internet, including social media, need to rally against them? Do pundits and critics need to speak louder than ever to state that what happened was not ok? Or do you need to have a beloved comedy series speak up for you and call out that what happened was crap? We have good news for you if you think the last one is the appropriate measure! Because on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, the skit-based show aimed its comedy at many topics, including the Super Mario Bros Movie. Gee, what could they have made fun of with that topic?
The answer, of course, was Chris Pratt’s voice as he tried to portray Mario. The keyword here is “tried to portray.” In a kit called “So, You Think You Won’t Snap?” a game show host brought on four people to show them topics from the news they claim they won’t snap at like the rest of the world. One female contestant was brought on and shown the ending of the Super Mario Bros Movie, where we heard a bit of Chris Pratt’s Mario voice, and the woman soared into a rage.
She called out how Mario is supposed to be Italian, and the voice wasn’t even close to that, and to vent, she punched out a flight attendant. To which the host said, “It was inevitable.”
While it’s true that Saturday Night Live is comedic, it pulls from real-life issues and controversies to make fun of them. It did that multiple times in the skit we just talked about, including ending the show with talk about Kanye West. Don’t worry; we won’t go into that part. So for them to call out the “new voice of Mario” is very much on brand for them.
Many on the internet watched the trailer for the movie and came out feeling the same way as that contestant. Some are willing to give Pratt a chance, as we only heard him say 2-3 lines in the trailer, but that was enough for some to straight-up bash him, including Saturday Night Live.
To be clear, the complaints about the accent aren’t the only ones about the voice. For months, Chris Pratt and the team behind the movie have stated various things about how the voice of Mario would be. First, Pratt himself said that it was an “updated” voice, and some fans even dug up a former article that said it was “unlike anything heard” in the world of Mario before. Then, in the trailer, it was Pratt doing his regular voice and trying to do a kind of accent. Some even reiterated their desire to see the OG voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, get the role again.
It’s a complicated issue.
Source: YouTube