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KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,772
Im ready for the nintendo cinematic universe.

Phase 1:
Super Mario Bros
Luigi's Mansion
Zelda
Donkey Kong
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Smash Bros

Phase 2:
Kirby
Zelda 2
Metroid
Donkey Kong 2
Super Mario Bros 3

Etcetera...

hire me. Ill be the kevin feige of this universe.

Where are all the Fire Emblem projects?
 

Dekuman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,032
I'm still going to wait for the movie to confirm but i tend to agree the movie voice is fine.

Very interesting though to see the online discorse go from rejection of Pratt to the 'but of course he could do it' position. Next one may be 'oh he's great actually'./
 

Lord Vatek

Avenger
Jan 18, 2018
21,597
Wait, I haven't heard about him being homophobic
He's an avid defender of a church that supports conversion therapy and check out just a few of his Twitter follows.

Ek0jBTGUUAEoGtJ.jpg


Dude's trash.
 
Oct 27, 2017
21,608
Im ready for the nintendo cinematic universe.

Phase 1:
Super Mario Bros
Luigi's Mansion
Zelda
Donkey Kong
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Smash Bros

Phase 2:
Kirby
Zelda 2
Metroid
Donkey Kong 2
Super Mario Bros 3

Etcetera...

hire me. Ill be the kevin feige of this universe.
All leading up to the epic finale - Advance Wars: Orange Star V. Blue Moon
 

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,188
It's pretty obvious he could do it.

It's not a hard accent lol.

It's a directorial choice. I still can't believe don't get it. People want nuance with Mario64 level voicework?

Mario will probably have the most lines in this movie and you want that grating accent for every line? NO.
Totally agree. I bet he tried a few voices and the director was like "this one". 100%. Also, as the lead, imo, he has to have a normal sounding voice. It's going to be awful to listen to something ridiculous for 2 hours. It'll feel cheap.
 

Pascal

▲ Legend ▲
The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
10,278
Parts Unknown
Shitting on Charles Martinet to defend Chris Pratt of all fucking people seems pretty gross to me. VAs get enough shit as it is and your rich, homophobic white man doesn't need a defense force.
 

RagnarokX

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,834
There is multiple videos of Mario's VA doing long bits of dialogue and even reading a whole book as Mario. It sounds terrible. Mario's voice is for short bits and couple words at most, not really something you want to listen to for hours
Martinet's long-form Mario voice sounds fine. All those videos are him ad-libbing. Give him a script and a voice director and he'd be gold.
 
Oct 27, 2017
5,880
I don't need him to sound just like the game voice for Mario, I just want him to sound like he's not board as heck while doing his lines. Hopefully that's just the trailers picking out bad lines, but so far it sounds like he's putting in so much less effort than the other VAs. Like Jack Black doesn't sound like the Bowser we're used to, but it sounds like he's putting in the effort to be his own Bowser.
 

LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,330
Wow, dude, really? Honestly, the vitriol is really unnecessary, and mirrors the childish behavior of people ragging on the movie before they heard Pratt's performance.

it needs to be restated that Charles doesn't just do Mario. He's an extremely accomplished voice actor with a tremendous range. with even adequate voice direction (certainly what Pratt has gotten here), he could do an excellent job with expanding and interpreting the character. Up until now he hasn't really had that opportunity with the kinds of media Mario has been in.

Edit: this has been posted several times before as one example, and he's got an extensive resume including movies and TV. In short, to say he'd be incapable of a good performance based on the few games you've played is really short sighted.

View: https://youtu.be/XpgLDjLwego

There's definitely some processing there, be it pitch shift or other plugins.
 

m0dus

Truant Pixel
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,034
There's definitely some processing there, be it pitch shift or other plugins.

That's not really the point - and it has no bearing on the quality of the performance itself. The point being that he has the range and the delivery - and any assumption that this man's entire scope is limited to a couple of childish 'woo-hoos' is ridiculous.

Really, he's been acting for longer than most folks here realize, and if Pratt can achieve a passable Mario with the input of a competent and experienced voice director, there's zero reason to assume Martinet couldn't excel in the role.

My point being: People don't need to tear down one actor to build up the other. Unfortunately, in the rush to defend Nintendo's decision, too many people are taking that position.
 
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LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,330
That's not really the point - and it has no bearing on the quality of the performance itself. The point being that he has the range and the delivery - and any assumption that this man's entire scope is limited to a couple of childish 'woo-hoos' is ridiculous.

Really, he's been acting for longer than most folks here realize, and if Pratt can achieve a passable Mario with the input of a competent and experienced voice director, there's zero reason to assume Martinet couldn't excel in the role.

My point being: People don't need to tear down one actor to build up the other. Unfortunately, in the rush to defend Nintendo's decision, too many people are taking that position.
But the delivery is altered very much by the dialogue designer who had processing input. That voice as is wasn't captured in booth.
 

m0dus

Truant Pixel
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,034
But the delivery is altered very much by the dialogue designer who had processing input. That voice as is wasn't captured in booth.

Remember that 'processing' is no substitute for poor voice work. It has to be based on a foundation of a strong natural performance, full stop. Attempting to manipulate a performance in post to 'hide' a bad take is fraught with issues, and given the volume of work these games demand it is more efficient and cheaper to simply choose an actor who can do the job . And this is far from the only example of Martinet's work.

(Trust me. Having helmed several games including 2 professionally-voiced visual novels, I know what I'm talking about :) )
 

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,871
Personally I'm still of the theory that Nintendo never wanted Martinet to do Mario for the movies because Mario's game voice is basically a recyclable brand unto itself that they want to preserve, and they probably aren't looking to cross the streams too overtly on what happens in the games and what happens in the movie. His iconicity in the role isn't lost on people, so doing a different take on what he's known for would ellicit a "why" for several reasons. Nintendo on the whole totally strikes me as the type of company that probably wants the continued veneer of not opening up the pandora's box on how Martinet should "change the Mario voice" in the games to reflect on what he'd provide in a movie tailored performance. Their solution to still honor his legacy; cast him in non-specific roles that don't pertain to this version of Mario.
 

Shadow

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,165
I really only know Chris Pratt from GotG (I don't watch many movies) and didn't mind him on there at all. And I don't mind him here either. Sounds fine to me.

I never really follow social media for movies/shows, so I'm not even sure why he's hated at this point other than people hate his voice for some reason.
 

Poimandres

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,918
Mario's voice in the games has always sounded bad to me, but what we've heard of Pratt doesn't inspire much confidence regardless.
 

Biske

Member
Nov 11, 2017
8,290
I do appreciate the fact that people assume actors, who spend their lives imitating others as their job, can't do voices if they wanted to. It's like when people assume any given musician is incapable of playing other types or forms of music.
 

LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,330
Remember that 'processing' is no substitute for poor voice work. It has to be based on a foundation of a strong natural performance, full stop. Attempting to manipulate a performance in post to 'hide' a bad take is fraught with issues, and given the volume of work these games demand it is more efficient and cheaper to simply choose an actor who can do the job . And this is far from the only example of Martinet's work.

(Trust me. Having helmed several games including 2 professionally-voiced visual novels, I know what I'm talking about :) )
And as someone who processed AI and Alien voices at 343i I know what I'm talking about. He's talented, I'm not lying about that, but to offer a heavily modified sample as an example is disingenuous.

There's a particular character who sounds completely different post processing that I worked on, I have immense respect for the actor, but I was there for the recording and people wouldn't believe it's the same voice in the Season 3 cinematics after what was done.
 

Akira86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,611
it don't matta... none o dis mattas.

but yes clearly they got pratt only, ONLY for the movie start name recognition because you know, hollywood + localization, etc.

they could have easily let the mario guy do the mario voice for real on the movies this time, but eh, they don't care.
 

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever™
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,570
It's pretty obvious he could do it.

It's not a hard accent lol.

It's a directorial choice. I still can't believe don't get it. People want nuance with Mario64 level voicework?

Mario will probably have the most lines in this movie and you want that grating accent for every line? NO.
Video game adaptations must be 1:1 carbon copy remakes that shoot down the idea of creative control at all times. 😤
 

nekkid

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,823
I do, but it's more like "Oh wow, it's Chris Pratt." and not "Oh Wow! It's Chris Pratt!"

Not a fan of stunt casting. Sometimes it works, but most of the time hearing a big name actor's voice ruins it a bit for me.
It's about perceived quality. If you see known actors you know the studio invested serious cash into the movie.
 

Pluto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,508
They should have found a middle ground. Sure, his dumb one liners can't hold a whole movie, but Mario sounding just like an average American is weird as hell.
He's a plumber from Brooklyn, he shouldn't sound like italian Mickey Mouse.

It's like people forget that Martinet wasn't the original voice and that before him Mario sounded deep and raspy, his voice is not the be all and end all of Mario voices.
 

m0dus

Truant Pixel
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,034
And as someone who processed AI and Alien voices at 343i I know what I'm talking about. He's talented, I'm not lying about that, but to offer a heavily modified sample as an example is disingenuous.

There's a particular character who sounds completely different post processing that I worked on, I have immense respect for the actor, but I was there for the recording and people wouldn't believe it's the same voice in the Season 3 cinematics after what was done.

First of all, very cool with regards to your previous work 🙂

Secondly - It's not really being disingenuous (this is the clip that has been making the rounds so to speak), with some digging here's him doing the same voice at a noisy con, admittedly embellishing for a fan:
View: https://youtu.be/jUIK7jl3Hpo

I even stumbled on a clip of some of his smaller live action roles (CME, presenter, etc). I assume it's for his CV.


View: https://youtu.be/P6xCzmFwVCo

And we agree: the truth is he's likely more than capable of a more subtle, or if necessary understated performance with some good direction. My point being (again) there's no need to assume he couldn't do the job given a good director; Pratt has the same benefit here. There's simply no need for folks to assume he'd be 'terrible' because they're only familiar with his over-the top aspects of his Mario. There's no need for folks to hate on him, as some have resorted to.

And this isn't me railing against Pratt either - Nintendo had obvious reasons for going the direction they did, and I can see it from their perspective.
 
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LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,330
First of all, very cool with regards to your previous work 🙂

Secondly - It's not really being disingenuous (this is the clip that has been making the rounds), with some digging here's him doing the same voice at a noisy con, admittedly embellishing for a fan:
View: https://youtu.be/jUIK7jl3Hpo and some of his smaller live action roles (CME, presenter, etc)
View: https://youtu.be/P6xCzmFwVCo

And we agree: the truth is he's likely more than capable of a subtle, understated performance. My point being (again) there's no need to assume he couldn't do the job given a good director; Pratt has the same benefit here. There's simply no need for folks to assume he'd be 'terrible' because they're only familiar with his over-the top aspects of his Mario.

And this isn't me failing against Pratt either - Nintendo had obvious reasons for going the direction they did, and I can see it from their perspective.

I mean yeah, I've met him at a few E3's seems genuinely talented and a genuinely nice guy.

My whole point was that's definitely his cadence and breath control, but the depth and voice texture is absolutely supported via processing, as is routine for most VO talent these days.

Only person I have ever worked with who can do a completely unaltered or digitally supported voice with no augmentation was Lorne Lanning. His Abe, Munch, and Slig were all from the voice alone.
 

m0dus

Truant Pixel
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
1,034
I mean yeah, I've met him at a few E3's seems genuinely talented and a genuinely nice guy.

My whole point was that's definitely his cadence and breath control, but the depth and voice texture is absolutely supported via processing, as is routine for most VO talent these days.

Only person I have ever worked with who can do a completely unaltered or digitally supported voice with no augmentation was Lorne Lanning. His Abe, Munch, and Slig were all from the voice alone.

Agreed - I'm not saying that Martinet is rattling the booth naturally with his bass, heh. But the skill is absolutely there.

Yeah, Lorne takes you by surprise when he does the voices, because his natural voice is nowhere near any of his characters. I'd add Darin DePaul to that list. He has some incredible range (he flipped from doing a sniveling gangster to doing a deep German baritone in the same performance and sounded completely different, and little to nothing like his actual speaking voice).
 

Galkinator

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,007
He's a plumber from Brooklyn, he shouldn't sound like italian Mickey Mouse.

It's like people forget that Martinet wasn't the original voice and that before him Mario sounded deep and raspy, his voice is not the be all and end all of Mario voices.
He's the voice of Mario since '91.
In public opinion he's -the- voice of Mario, what was before him isn't that relevant anymore
 

CountCorvinus

Member
Mar 10, 2023
1,740
It's about perceived quality. If you see known actors you know the studio invested serious cash into the movie.

It has the opposite effect. When I see animated movies with an ensemble cast of big name actors I think the studio only cares about selling tickets on name recognition, which is often the case. Look at crap like the Emoji movie.
 

LastNac

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,330
Agreed - I'm not saying that Martinet is rattling the booth naturally with his bass, heh. But the skill is absolutely there.

Yeah, Lorne takes you by surprise when he does the voices, because his natural voice is nowhere near any of his characters. I'd add Darin DePaul to that list. He has some incredible range (he flipped from doing a sniveling gangster to doing a deep German baritone in the same performance and sounded completely different, and little to nothing like his actual speaking voice).
I remember recording temp Dialogue and there were only 3 of us in the studio and he'd be yelling in character in regards to notes. I don't know how that doesn't hurt the throat tbh.