The Super Mario Bros. Movie Trailer: Behold Chris Pratt's Mario In Nintendo's New Animated Film

During today's Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment released the newest trailer "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," based on the world of the Mario video game franchise. We haven't seen a Mario Bros. movie since the monstrosity (I say that with love) that was the 1993 live-action "Super Mario Bros.", and before that, the Japanese anime film "Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!" from 1986. 

This time around, we have Chris Pratt voicing the diminutive Italian plumber instead of voice actor Charles Martinet, who has voiced Mario, his brother Luigi, and so many other characters since 1992. (Martinet will reportedly lend his voice in a cameo role in this movie.) As for the plot, we know the kingdom of Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and many others (including the penguins we saw in the teaser trailer) are in trouble. Bowser (Jack Black) is trying to take over all the galaxies, and he'll stop at nothing to do so. Everyone is counting on a little plumber and his brother, Luigi (Charlie Day), who aren't exactly the most likely heroes one would expect.

In the previous trailer, Mario appeared in an arena to fight Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) and wasn't doing a great job of it. The poor guy got squashed by the ape in front of Peach! How embarrassing.

We're going to see some Mario Kart-style racing in the film (and a whole lot of vehicles), with at least part of it happening across the Rainbow Road. It looks like this movie is full of everything players have been enjoying for years like Bob-ombs, Goombas, Dry Bones, Cheep Cheeps, and Yoshis. Mario doesn't seem to be very good at the skills we players have been perfecting for decades, but hey, these are just the trailers. 

The film is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (collaborators on "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies"). It was written by Matthew Fogel ("The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part," "Minions: The Rise of Gru"). It's produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and is co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo. 

The cast of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" also includes Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Khary Payton as the Penguin King, and Eric Bauza in an as-yet-undisclosed role. 

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" will hit theaters on April 5, 2023. Let's-a go!