Mario Some Interesting Competition

Super-siblings Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) fist bump in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. (Photo: Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection)

What's a little rivalry between brothers? In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Chris Pratt and Charlie Day — who voice world-renowned video game siblings Mario and Luigi, respectively, in The Super Mario Bros. Movie — reveal that their kids are actually bigger fans of the other guy's Nintendo character.

The inter-familial betrayal starts with Pratt's 10-year-old son, Jack, who makes his Mario brother preference known via his track record in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. "When he plays Smash, he's always Luigi," Pratt confesses while seated next to his onscreen sibling... and off-screen rival for his son's endorsement. And that news is music to Day's ears. "I'm highly flattered," the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star crows. "Good choice, Jack!"


In fact, Mario isn't even Jack's second favorite Nintendo character. Pratt says that honor goes to Toad, the Goomba-stomping plumber's Mushroom Kingdom pal, voiced in the film by Keegan-Michael Key. "He loves Toad: He's got a Toad hat and two different Toad stuffies. He likes to point out that Toad has teeth in the movie. He always says, 'Dad, Toad didn't have teeth before — that's the first time Toad has ever had teeth.'"

It's worth noting that Jack — who Pratt shares with ex-wife, Anna Faris — has a well-documented history of rooting for the heroes his dad doesn't play. In the past, Pratt has said that his son prefers Spider-Man to his own Marvel Cinematic Universe character, Star-Lord, and Jack has also shown his affection for Captain America as well. "He likes to rib his old man," the actor admits. "He's like, 'Sorry dad!'"

Pratt and his son Jack, who likes Luigi and Toad more than Mario. (Photo: Getty Images/Everett Collection)

But Day shouldn't be too quick to declare victory over his co-star. When asked which Mario brother his 11-year-old son, Russell, prefers, Day says his offspring his "agnostic" when it comes to picking favorites. "He likes both Mario and Luigi. He seems to like all video games, but especially Nintendo video games, so he's pretty jazzed up for this film."

In the interest of fair play, though, Day is willing to cede "son's favorite character" status to Pratt. "Let's say it's Mario," he agrees about what Russell's final choice would be. "Oh, that's nice," Pratt replies. "At least one of our sons likes me!" Hey, it could have been worse — both kids might have turned out to be Bowser fans.

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