Internet has a laugh as the cast of the new Super Mario Bros movie is announced

DURING yesterday’s Nintendo Direct event, the Japanese video game company’s online presentation on updates to its stable of iconic titles – they unveiled the A-list voiceover cast for the first Mario Bros film since the cult classic/disaster Super Mario Bros in 1993.

First announced in 2018, Nintendo is collaborating on the animated movie with Illumination Studios, the company behind the incredibly successful ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Minions’ series of movies. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is onboard as a producer, probably there to give the Nintendo stamp of approval.

All that is well and good, but when someone thinks of the iconic phrase ‘It’s a-me, Mario’, they think of a cartoony Italian plumber, not the leader of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Yes, Chris Pratt has voiced the protagonist in ‘The Lego Movie’ and comes from a comedy background, but it’s kind of a stretch. He’s not really known as having a malleable voice. 

Charlie Day will voice his brother, Luigi Mario (yes, their family name is Mario), Anya Taylor-Joy will play Princess Peach, while Bowser will be voiced by Jack Black. Seth Rogan guttural laugh will ring out as Donkey Kong, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, and Fred Armisen is Cranky Kong.

The lack of Italians in the cast has opened up the movie to a torrent of memes that plumb the depths of the lack of representation. When will Hollywood wake up and let Italians be Italians?

The movie is scheduled to hit theaters on December 21, 2022. No word on the whereabouts of Wario and Waluigi. Is it too late to cast De Niro and Pacino? – The Vibes, September 24, 2021