Chris Pratt has made a fan out of at least one of his kids. The Super Mario Bros. Movie star, 43, recently told PEOPLE at Saturday’s premiere of the video game movie adaptation that his and Anna Faris’ 10½-year-old Jack Daniel “really freaked out” when he saw his dad bring the eponymous character to the big screen.
“He saw it already and he’s thrilled. He loves it,” said Pratt. “He took all his friends and he really freaked out. My daughter’s a little too young to see it, but when they do see it, hopefully, they’ll think their dad is cool.”
Pratt said at the time that he and Jack “watch movies all the time,” adding, “That’s our thing that we do.”
Pratt and Faris, 46, were married from 2009 to 2018, and they welcomed Jack, who was nine weeks premature, in 2012. Pratt also shares daughters Lyla Maria, 2, and 9-month-old Eloise Christina with wife Katherine Schwarzenegger. Faris previously spoke to PEOPLE about co-parenting with Pratt and his “awesome” wife Schwarzenegger, 33, adding: “She’s just on top of it. I love how she is with Jack.”
Pratt voices the heroic plumber in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which also features the voices of Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and more.
However, not all are fans of Pratt’s new movie, with complaints from some viewers — as well as actor John Leguizamo, who played Luigi in the 1993 theatrical iteration of the gaming franchise — about the actor’s casting in the upcoming film from Illumination. As Pratt now explains, he knows the Super Mario/Nintendo universe has a “passionate fanbase.”
“I understand, I’m part of it,” he told Extra. “This is the soundtrack to your youth. You don’t want someone to come along and cynically kind of destroy it as a cash-grab with the movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen. There were so many hearts and souls in mind dedicated to making sure that didn’t happen.”
Pratt continued, adding that the film — based on the franchise that launched with the 1983 arcade classic Mario Bros. and later the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System game Super Mario Bros. — “honors the world of Mario.”
“It’s very promising as to what we can expect over the next 10 years — an entire universe of these types of movies. They’re super nostalgic, they’re really fun,” Pratt shared. “It’s Illumination, so they know what they’re doing. And it’s great because, especially for me now that I have kids, I have to see every animated movie whether it’s good or not, so I’m really grateful when a great animated movie comes out. And that’s what this is, thankfully. And hopefully, there’ll be more.”
Chris Pratt has a message for those upset about his lack of an Italian accent in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie. In a recent interview with Extra, the man behind the movie’s titular role encouraged fans of the franchise to “go watch the movie, and then we can talk.”
“I really think that once you see the movie…,” Pratt said before changing his thought. “And you know what, in all honestly, I think you probably need to watch it twice.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie features the voices of Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and more. Pratt noted that the film honors the world of Mario and is a great animated movie.
