From Chess in 6th Century CE, to the Lumiere Brothers’ first pay-to-watch moving picture theater in 1895, to Atari inc. ‘s Pong in 1972. These forms of entertainment have kept people entertained for ages, but what happens when one goes to the other?

On October 7, 2022 the popular Video game company Nintendo released a trailer for their new 3D animated Super Mario Bros. Movie, and released the final product later on April 5, 2023.

This sparked mixed feelings within the community from excitement about the release of a movie about their favorite video game, to confusion and discontent about the casting choice of Chris Pratt as the Protagonist Mario. Fans expressed their opinions of his portrayal of the character’s voice throughout the internet.

Senior Kody Wood said, “His voice is too recognizable” in reference to Chris Pratt.  “Mario already has a voice.”

Although Junior Aadan Jackson expressed ecstatic feelings about casting Jack Black to voice the infamous antagonist Bowser. He went on to say “It’s *- wonderful”. 

Though to some members of the Nintendo community, Chris Pratt isn’t the best choice for the character’s voice because of controversy.

People are choosing to not watch the movie due to Chris Pratt’s affiliation with a controversial Hillsong church. The church in question has made homophobic remarks that were anti LGBTQ+. It was those statements that lit the spark that started the controversy and unrest amongst fans.

Senior Kody Wood said “People won’t pay to see it because of firm beliefs and thoughts about his moral character”. Despite criticisms, the movie has made $377 million within the first week globally.

Now on April 5, 2023 Nintendo released the movie to theaters. As of April 14, 2023 the movie has grossed over $437,946,600 world wide, and is still earning money as more and more people have said that the movie was shockingly great despite their earlier pre-viewing criticisms. 

Senior Kody Wood said “The movie far exceeded my expectations”. 

Though some of their previous criticisms remained the same before and after the movie. 

Kody said “I thought I would get used to Mario’s voice, but I couldn’t…… it was fairly distressing”.