Super Mario Bros. Star Responds to Animated Movie Cast

By Rollin Bishop

In case you somehow missed it, Nintendo and Illumination recently revealed a number of voice actors playing iconic roles in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated movie. Notably, that included Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario and Charlie Day as the voice of Luigi. And now, one of the stars of the live-action 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, John Leguizamo, has responded to the announcement with both criticism and praise.

Leguizamo specifically played Luigi in the 1993 movie while Bob Hoskins portrayed Mario. While the movie has long been considered a critical and commercial failure, there are plenty of fans out there that consider it a cult classic. Speaking to the announcement of the cast for the new animated film, Leguizamo seemed thrilled that the franchise would get another chance on the big screen, but less thrilled about the cast.

"So glad [Super Mario Bros.] is getting a reboot! Obviously it's iconic enuff," Leguizamo shared over on Twitter. "But too bad they went all white! No Latinx in the leads! Groundbreaking color-blind casting in original! Plus I'm the only one who knows how to make this movie work script wise!"

You can check out Leguizamo's tweet for yourself below:

The full revealed voice cast for the upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. film includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, and Charles Martinet -- the best-known voice of Mario -- will be providing various cameos.

The upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. film from Illumination and Nintendo is scheduled to release on December 21, 2022 in North America. The movie is produced by Chris Meledandri and Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, and is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who are known for Teen Titans Go! and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. The screenplay will be written by Matthew Fogel, who is known for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and the upcoming Minions: The Rise of Gru. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie right here.

What do you think about Leguizamo's response to the casting choices? Are you looking forward to checking out the movie for yourself when it releases near the end of next year? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming and animation!

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