I somewhat understand the decision to cast Chris Pratt instead of Charles Martinet. As much as Mario’s voice is cheerful and iconic, it starts to sound too annoying and unnatural when listened for a longer time; this video where Mario introduces the 3DS is a great example. Imagine then listening to the same voice for an hour and a half.

The casting choice can also be critisized for the obsession of Hollywood productions to cast big-name celebrities as voice actors - especially when there are already established voice actors for certain characters. Nooo, Roger Craig Smith can’t voice Sonic in a movie, the role must be given to a bigger actor! The silver lining was of course that Ben Schwartz is also a voice actor and his performance in the Sonic movie was great.

But who knows? I remember way back when there was a lot of fuss around Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker for The Dark Knight. The role turned out to be really great! Perhaps Chris Pratt will make an interesting interpretation of Mario that has never been thought of before.