"They should have kept him voiceless": The Super Mario Bros. Movie fans not impressed with Seth Rogen's voice

Ahead of its April 2023 premiere, The Super Mario Bros. Movie got yet another teaser trailer. Unveiled at the NFC Championship on Sunday, January 29, 2023, the 30-second-long clip shows an epic clash between Mario and Donkey Kong in an arena.

Glimpses of this particular fight were seen in the film’s trailer released last November, and a fresh clip elaborated on that.

It also debuted Seth Rogen’s voice as Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it seems not all were happy with his rendition. They took to Twitter to pour out their disappointment.

Notably, this is the third promotional material for The Super Mario Bros. Movie after a teaser trailer that was dropped last October and the trailer, which is mentioned above.

While the October teaser trailer mostly focused on the might of King Koopa, aka Bowser, Mario’s arch-nemesis, the November trailer gave a bit more about the film’s plot. It also showed characters like Princess Peach, Luigi, and (the very adorable) Toad, among others.

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Seth Rogen's voice performance in the new The Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser divides fans

The new clip expands on the arena clash between Mario and Donkey Kong. It shows Mario getting punched brutally by the Seth Rogen-voiced character, after which the protagonist hits the question mark to get a catsuit power-up.

Though Cat Mario tries to look fearsome, he fails, and this sends Donkey Kong into a fit of laughter, and we get a taste of Rogen’s signature grin. The ape sarcastically says:

“You got the cat box! I’m sorry… Now you die.”

Admittedly, Rogen aces the split-second transformation from comedy to seriousness, but not all were appreciative of the output. Netizens flooded Twitter, expressing their displeasure at his casting.

However, it’s not all anti-Rogen at play. Some have said that they look forward to hearing him as Donkey Kong, who is considered one of the most iconic video game characters.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a star-studded cast

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been taken from Nintendo’s extremely popular Mario video game franchise.

The multinational Japanese video game company is also producing the upcoming computer-animated flick along with Illumination and Universal Pictures.

Apart from Rogen and Chris Pratt, the cast of the upcoming fantasy adventure comedy includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike, Charles Martinet, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Khary Payton voices the Penguin King, and Jessica DiCicco voices a yellow Toad.

In an exclusive interview with Variety last June, Pratt shared that his Mario voice act will be “unlike anything you’ve heard.” He said:

“I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear. It’s an animated voiceover narrative. I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”

The movie is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The synopsis of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as per IMDb, reads:

"A Brooklyn plumber named Mario travels through the Mushroom Kingdom with a Princess named Peach and an Anthropomorphic Mushroom named Toad to find Mario's Brother, Luigi, and to save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa named Bowser."

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the third project of the franchise after the Japanese anime film Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! (1986) and the live-action movie Super Mario Bros. (1993).

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is slated to premiere on April 7, 2023.