The voice of the lasagna-loving cat Garfield has gone through various voice actor changes, from Lorenzo Music, the most well-known voice of Garfield, to Frank Weller, the most recent voice of Garfield. Now, a new face has taken over the role: Chris Pratt. 

It was announced on November 1, 2021, that Pratt would be playing the sarcastic comic cat in an animated Garfield movie currently in development. This will be Pratt’s second massive voice acting role in the span of one month. Pratt was cast as Mario in an upcoming Mario film releasing in December of 2022.  

Emmaus students and faculty were asked whether or not Pratt is fit for the roles of these beloved characters. 

Senior Payton McGlory believes Pratt does not have what it takes to pull off these roles. 

“Based on what I’ve seen, he’s a limited range actor. His voice does not fit the Mario picture,” McGlory said. “When I think of cartoon characters and voice actors, Chris Pratt doesn’t come to mind.”

She also points out that Pratt tends to play similar characters throughout his career, making it harder for him to connect to a role outside of his typical acting scene. 

Avid film-lover and Deputy Culture Editor Sadie Dallas agrees with McGlory, saying that Pratt does not have “very good range.”

“Pratt has had a few good roles that he’s played, but now it’s like he’s playing the same role in every movie that he’s in,” Dallas said. 

Junior Aaron Billowitch says Pratt has the capability to play Garfield and thinks he’ll represent Garfield just as well as any other voice actor before him. 

“I think that he’ll portray Garfield… probably like how he is seen in most of the old shows or comics or however he was originally portrayed as,” Billowitch said. “I think that he’ll get that role down perfectly.”

Senior Sadie Kennedy finds Pratt’s role fitting in a sense due to Pratt not being a high-status actor. 

“I know that [Mario and Garfield] are not very complex characters, so I think that he will be able to play them well,” Kennedy said. “They don’t require prestige.”

Sophomore Lyah Lockward points out Pratt’s popularity as an actor when chosen to play the voice of Mario and Garfield.

“I don’t think he’ll do much of a good job,” Lockward said. “It’ll probably still get hyped because it’s Chris Pratt.”

Julia Wallace, a music teacher at Emmaus, sees Pratt’s new roles as a money grab for Hollywood and explains that occurrences like this are common in other forms of cinema such as movie musicals. 

“They cast people like Hugh Jackman or Russel Crowe… They’re not really singers and there are so many awesome Broadway singers that could be in these movies, but they want to make money,” Wallace said. 

She continues to emphasize the potential profit of casting an actor like Pratt as the lead in blockbuster movies. 

“They have to weigh: are they going to make more money if they keep him on, or are they gonna make more money if they kick him off,” Wallace said. “In the end, they are just going to keep them on just for the money, literally nothing else.”