How Chris Pratt Should Really Look As Mario According To Fans
Famed game director Shigeru Miyamoto announced during the September 23 Nintendo Direct livestream that everyone's favorite Italian plumber is set to be voiced by none other than Chris Pratt in the upcoming animated "Super Mario Bros." movie. This comes at a time when video game movies have done fairly well at the box office and big stars are eager to attach their names to these beloved characters. "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Detective Pikachu" became the two highest-grossing video game movies of all time, with each getting the greenlight for a sequel.
The choice to cast Pratt in the role of Mario has divided fans, however. Many aren't having any easy time seeing the muscular action star known for his performances in franchises like "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Jurassic World” as a good fit for taking on Nintendo's goofy, overall-wearing poster boy. So, where do gamers turn when they're struggling to picture an actor as an iconic character? Fan art!
Seemingly mismatched casting can be a playground for fan artists to share their unique and humorous visions of how the performer might embody their new persona. Here are a few artists who've already done their part to illustrate how Chris Pratt should really look as Mario.
Chris Pratt in Yoshi's Jurassic World
Ever wonder what Mario and Yoshi would look like as part of a serious sci-fi action flick? One fan answered that question once and for all.
Artist BossLogic has several large followings, including a popular Foundation account and an Instagram page with over 2 million followers. He occasionally photoshops fake movie posters, like one for "The New Avengers" featuring Simu Liu, lead actor from "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." He created the poster using an edited photo of a board meeting from back when Liu used to model for stock images. So, it's hardly a surprise that BossLogic jumped at the opportunity when Twitter user @hdabdhmd sent him an image of Pratt and a velociraptor from "Jurassic World" with the caption, "dude here's your chance for the Mario and Yoshi poster."
The photoshopped image BossLogic made in response features Pratt with his arms crossed, dressed in Mario's iconic hat, gloves, red shirt and blue overalls. The artist also seems to have plumped up his nose a bit and enhanced Pratt's moustache to something more akin to our favorite Goomba smasher's lip foliage. He even recolored the velociraptor in Yoshi's vibrant shades of green and white, adding cartoonish red spikes along it's back. The effect is simultaneously hilarious, and somehow much more frightening.
Chris Pratt, Yoshi trainer
Keeping the "Jurassic World" theme going, game designer and founder of Relevo Video Games, Jon Cortázar, shared his own Mario-dinosaur theme park cross over image on Twitter. The tweet said, "Super Mario Bros The Movie (2022, Illumination)" and features the famous scene from the first "Jurassic World" movie, where Pratt is slowly backing away with his arms out in warning as three of his supposedly trained velociraptors advance predatorily upon him. Only Cortázar's image doesn't have three terrifying velociraptors, but rather a green, fuchsia, and blue Yoshi, each bounding merrily toward him.
Cortázar's image takes an incredibly playful approach, juxtaposing the life-or-death stakes of the "Jurassic World" franchise against the playful cartoonishness of the "Super Mario" brand. People in the comments seemed to love Cortázar's take. Twitter user @HeavyAluminum commented, "Don't know if I want to share this genius with the world or keep it to myself lol AMAZING!" while @RymeMakesMusic wrote, "Oh my God, thank you for this" with a crying laughing emoji. Overall, the image is an excellent take on what we might expect to see in Chris Pratt's Mario.
You might know Pratt by his other name ...
Photoshopped images are cool and all, but YouTuber Petwing Penguin decided to take it to the next level. This particular YouTube channel specializes in making sub-thirty second videos with a format similar to a meme. They basically take scenes from films and other popular videos and then edit them into joke clips, like one they did from the TV show "Loki" where the god of mischief gets hit in the face, only for the clip to freeze frame as a record scratch sound transitions into the opening chords of "Teenage Wasteland" and a narrator is dubbed in saying, "yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation."
The channel made a video about Pratt's new appointment as well. It features a famous scene from the first "Guardians for the Galaxy” film where the character Peter Quill introduces himself as Star Lord, only things go a little differently in Petwing Penguin's version. Pratt calls out, "you might know me by my other name," before being dubbed over by video game voice actor Charles Martinet's voice saying "Mario." Korath the Purser asks "who?" to which Pratt is dubbed saying "it's-a-me, Mario", before he transitions to a photoshopped image of a smiling Chris Pratt with Mario's hat, nose, and moustache.
No matter how you feel about Pratt playing Mario, you have to love that ingenuity.
Mario Trainer, Mario Lord, and Lego Mario
Many artists seem preoccupied with bringing the "Mario" world to Pratt's movies, but what if an artist brought Pratt's movies into the "Mario" world? That's just what Deviant Artist Nicostud916 decided to do. This piece of fan art illustrates Mario in three of Pratt's most iconic roles. To the left is "Jurassic World" Mario wearing Owen Grady's tactical vest while riding a grey Yoshi with a jagged blue stripe and pointed teeth similar to his iconic trained velociraptor. In the center is "Guardians of the Galaxy" Mario, dressed as Star Lord, complete with a space mask, red leather jacket, and dual-blasters. The third image to the right is from Pratt's other animated feature. It shows "Lego Movie" Mario wearing lead character Emmet Brickowski's bright orange construction outfit.
This one seems less sarcastic than the others. In fact, Nicostud916 wrote in the description that, "we truly live in the best timeline, a timeline in which Chris Pratt of all people was given the chance to provide the voice for one of, if not the most iconic video game character of all time, the one and only Mario." It's good that some people are finding some humor in the casting choice, even if it isn't the one they would have made, but it's also nice to know that there are those who are genuinely pleased Pratt is taking up the role.