Bowser Is the Clear Favorite as Twitter Reacts to ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Trailer
Thank god for Jack Black.
At 1:05 PM PT on Thursday, October 7—or an absolutely ungodly 5:05 AM if you’re in Japan—Nintendo aired a special Nintendo Direct presentation dedicated entirely to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Direct culminated in the first trailer for the film, which, to state the obvious, is a gigantic deal. After all, it’s the first time Mario has been converted to TV or film since the incredible and disastrous live-action Super Mario Bros. from 1993. As can be expected of a globally beloved IP, fans flocked to Twitter with their thoughts—pretty unanimous thoughts, actually.
The biggest headline in this big trailer was the debut of Chris Pratt’s Mario impression. When Pratt was first announced as the voice of the beloved plumber, nearly all of American pop culture reacted with a universal groan. It was, perhaps, one of the most unifying moments the USA has had in the past decade. While there are a few who liked Pratt’s Mario (bless ’em), most of the internet felt our universal groan was fully justified. Pratt’s just using his regular-ass voice. Except it’s trapped inside one of most recognizable characters on planet Earth.
Once again, some famous white guy is getting paid superbly to put in zero effort, I guess. It’s not like everyone excepted an entire film of “let’s a-go!” (though I would not be against it), but we did hope for something. Anything.
Fortunately, light soon emerged for those of us who were frustrated with Pratt’s non-performance. Because then the French version of the trailer appeared. And their Mario actually tried to sound like Charles Martinet, the original and beloved Mario voice we all know from the games. And so we all decided that we will adopt the French Mario. (Anime sub diehard that I am, I’ve been waiting for a Japanese version to appear on the internet, but it seems that there … uh … isn’t one?! The Japanese Direct is a dub of the English trailer!)
There is, however, one major reason I might grimace my way through all of Chris Pratt’s lines and stick with the English language version. And that reason is Jack Black’s Bowser. Keegan Michael-Key’s Toad sounded good, too, but Jack Black’s Bowser … goddamn. He’s going to be the “Star” (heh heh) of the film. And apparently he’s going to sing?! Incredible. If everyone’s chagrined at Chris Pratt, everyone’s freaking the hell out over this Jack Black Bowser. If Pratt put in no effort, Black put in all the effort. Jack Black and Bowser have become one. The Jack Black Bowser is all.
Hell, there is even a corner of Twitter opining that this Bowser is hot. And … like … I can’t freaking believe it, but I totally agree. This commanding, slick Bowser is sexy. Some of us are learning we have new kinks today, I guess.
The animation looks great. Jack Black and Keegan-Michael Key sound great. Just … don’t mess this up too much for us, Chris.
(featured image: Nintendo)
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