Movies
Is the video game voice of Mario in ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’?
Charles Martinet has voiced Mario for over three decades, but does he play a part in the recently released film?
While much has been made about Chris Pratt’s voice as Mario in ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, fans have been wondering about the original voice behind the title character, Charles Martinet.
Is Charles Martinet in ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’?
Martinet has voiced Mario, as well as Luigi, in the Super Mario video game series since 1991. He’s also voiced other characters like Wario, Waluigi and their baby equivalents.
While big Hollywood stars like Pratt and Charlie Day have gotten much of the attention for their lead roles in the film, Martinet does have multiple cameos.
Eurogamer notes that Martinet isn’t credited as an individual character in the film. Instead, he is grouped alongside the secondary actors in the film.
Martinet’s first appearance takes place just minutes into the film, when Mario and Luigi are hanging out in the Punch-Out Pizzeria (a reference to the 1984 Nintendo game Punch-Out).
They then watch their Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial, with Mario wondering if the two may have exaggerated their Italian accents in the ad.
“What about the accents? Is it too much?” says Mario.
That’s when a character standing next to them named Giuseppe is seen playing Jump Man (a nod to Nintendo’s Donkey Kong) on an arcade machine.
“Too much?!” Giuseppe replies. “It’s-a perfect! Wahoo!” he adds, before striking a classic Mario pose while wearing clothes that resemble the character’s classic red and blue outfit.
Martinet’s other cameo
The other character that Martinet plays is Mario and Luigi’s dad.
He appears in multiple scenes during the opening part of the film, as well as the end when Bowser’s castle comes crashing through the human world.
Martinet doesn’t use his typical Mario voice for the role, instead closely aligning himself with Pratt and Day’s slight Brooklyn Italian accent.
A poignant moment for Martinet and the character comes near the end of the movie when he refers to Mario and Luigi as “my boys”, a subtle nod to his over three decades as part of the Nintendo family.