The suspiciously flat butt of Chris Pratt’s Mario finds support from an unlikely ally

Mario is getting a nod from an unlikely source in terms of the design of his rear-end receiving some criticism in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

In case you’re not caught up on the so-called controversy, fans were taken aback by Mario’s butt resembling that of Hank Hill. It’s not quite the body type you might expect from an overweight plumber with a penchant for his superhuman jumping after the film’s first poster was unveiled earlier this week.

Not only did this apparently inspire the creation of a Twitter account dedicated solely to glamour shots of Mario’s dummy thicc cake from various media other than the movie, but even fellow videogame mascot Sonic the Hedgehog has remarked on the situation via his official Twitter account:

“Controversial lower body design? Can’t relate.”

The account for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie and its sequel was making a self-aware nod to the fact that the Blue Blur’s original design in the film was notoriously unattractive to many when the first trailer dropped back in 2019. The backlash was so bad that fan petitioning eventually led to director Jeff Fowler redesigning the character for the entire movie, though our grandkids probably won’t believe us when we tell them. This caused the film to be pushed back to a 2020 release date into theaters, a couple of months before the COVID-19 pandemic left its mark on the world.

Luckily, it all worked out in the end for Sonic as the first film became one of the last theatrical box office hits that captured the world’s attention prior to pandemic-inspired lockdowns putting a pause on the movie industry entirely for more than a year. The film and it’s sequel, this year’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, are now considered to be two of the finest videogame adaptations ever made.

The consensus so far is that Mario’s design—other than his rear-end—is nowhere near as cringe-inducing as Ugly Sonic, the moniker for the abandoned design of Sonic that was parodied in the Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers movie earlier this year.

No, what fans are truly taking issue with is Mario’s voice, as portrayed by Chris Pratt in the movie. Though an over-the-top and stereotypical Italian accent may not have worked well for a full-length movie, Pratt has chosen to go way too far on the opposite end of the spectrum by simply sounding like himself in the movie’s initial teaser, which has infuriated many fans.