Mamma Mia!

August 21, 2023 9:58 AM

It’s-a-no-longer me: Charles Martinet steps down as Mario’s voice
posted by May Kasahara (15 comments total)

Martinet has been doing the role for three decades now (as well as all sorts of VA work), so it's not surprising that he's looking to step back (and that he's still going to be part of the Mario world, as it's clear he's loved being the voice of the world's most famous Italian-American plumber.)

Thank you for all the "Here we go!"s, Charles.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:33 AM on August 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

Using Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario in the movie was a terrible decision.
posted by interogative mood at 10:53 AM on August 21, 2023 [18 favorites]

That'll do, Jumpman. That'll do.
posted by credulous at 11:04 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thither we go!
posted by cortex at 11:31 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

And as anyone who has watched recent Simpsons episodes can attest, the timbre of an actor's vocal performances can change dramatically as they get older.

I didn't realize that Marge had worked her way up over the last thirty years to a two-pack a day habit. She's been hanging around her sisters too much between takes, I imagine.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:51 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

It's moments like these that the loss of Gilbert Gottfried is most acutely felt.

I am willing to suspend my distaste for AI emulation of actors if it can give me this one thing. This is my price.
posted by phooky at 1:22 PM on August 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm old enough to associate Mario with a gravely, sometimes gruff voice because of Lou Albano and Bob Hoskins and whoever that other guy was who did the voice in the non-Super Show DiC cartoons. Charles Martinet always sounded weird and out of place until they cast Chris Pratt. Now I'm sad to see him go because Chris Pratt.

I hope Nintendo quickly puts out a press release to say someone other than Chris Pratt is taking over.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:57 PM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

When asked who was taking over, Nintendo said to look in the credits of the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Seriously. That’s the response.
posted by Servo5678 at 2:19 PM on August 21, 2023

Guys, there is absolutely no way Chris Pratt is going to start voicing jumps in Mario games. Relax. He wouldn't do it and Nintendo wouldn't pay him his going rate to do it.
posted by East14thTaco at 2:45 PM on August 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

Wait, so the position is open?

*raises hand*
Oo!
Oo!
It's-a me!
posted by rlk at 3:45 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

So much-a da noise signifying da nothing!
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 7:47 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm sure he can find other work. "It's a-me, the Gran Turismo!"
posted by credulous at 9:22 PM on August 21, 2023

Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion but I thought Pratt was fine in the Mario movie; he is good at doing an Everyman thing, where he basically stays out of the way of the material and acts as the writers’ voice. He did the same thing to great effect in The Lego Movie.

Definitely somewhere on the spectrum of “off-puttingly weird” to “horrible” as a person, but I think people underrate him as a performer because of his poor personal reputation. The Super Mario movie ain’t Shakespeare and he was a decent choice.
posted by mellow seas at 1:15 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

So much-a da noise signifying da nothing!

What's fun about this is if you read it in Paarthunax's voice it works even better.
posted by East14thTaco at 3:08 PM on August 22, 2023

Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion but I thought Pratt was fine in the Mario movie; he is good at doing an Everyman thing, where he basically stays out of the way of the material and acts as the writers’ voice. He did the same thing to great effect in The Lego Movie.

He did a perfectly acceptable job in the role. This is some weird Internet meme/bandwagon to hate on Pratt for reasons other than his performance.

A movie length feature with Martinet doing the caricature voice would have been weird and tiresome.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:47 AM on August 23, 2023