Charles Martinet’s Super Mario Bros. Movie role is a perfect touch
Nintendo and Illuminations The Super Mario Bros. movie features a new actor in the role of Mario: Guardians of the Universe series star Chris Pratt. He replaces the man who has voiced Mario for three decades: Charles Martinet, famous for his upbeat “Wahoo!”, “Let’s a-go!”, and “It’s-a me, Mario!” delivery. But Martinet – who is also the video game voice of Luigi, Wario and Waluigi – does appear in The Super Mario Bros. movie in a very important role.
Martinet’s involvement in the The Super Mario Bros. movie was revealed in 2021 by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto Nintendo Direct presentation announcing the film’s voice cast, Miyamoto said that Martinet was “also involved and will appear in surprise cameos in the film.”
If you want to know who Martinet plays in The Super Mario Bros. movieand you don’t feel like sticking around for the credits (even though you really should), here’s the answer.
[Ed. note: The following contains light spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.]
Martinet really plays two important roles in the movie. The first is a character named Giuseppe, an original creation who appears early in the movie who looks a bit like Mario from an alternate reality. After Mario and Luigi released their Super Mario Bros. having seen Plumbing commercial on TV in the Punch-Out!! Pizzeria, Mario wonders if he and Luigi might have blown it a little too much with the ad’s exaggerated Italian accents.
“What about the accents? Is it too much?” says Mario.
A character playing next to them Jump dude on an arcade machine (a smart stand-in for Nintendo’s Donkey Kong), comes in to say their accents are “perfect!” and an enthusiastic Mario jumps and shouts “Wahoo!” in support. That’s Giuseppe, voiced by Charles Martinet. The moment serves as a clear blessing for the transition between voice acting, delivered by the Mario voice that Nintendo fans have become accustomed to over the past 25 years. It is intended as a handover – perhaps even a tacit endorsement – from Martinet to Pratt.
Soon after, we meet the other character Martinet agrees The Super Mario Bros. movie: Mario and Luigi’s father. In a scene with Mario and Luigi’s extended family of aunts, uncles, nieces and grandfather, we get to hear Martinet again.
Martinet does not rely on his typical Mario voice as a father figure. Instead, he closely resembles Pratt’s Mario and Charlie Day’s Luigi, with a slight Brooklyn Italian accent. What really seals the deal for Mario and Luigi’s dad is a line Martinet utters near the end of the film when he excitedly refers to the duo as “my boys.” It’s a piece of dialogue that lands, especially when you know Martinet is behind it as the voice that brought Mario and Luigi to life.
The Super Mario Bros. movie premieres in theaters on April 5.