The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered in 2023 and became an instant hit. It’s fun, funny, action-packed, and heartfelt. It also offers tons of references to the video game source material. That being said, one of the topics fans have discussed a lot leading up to the film’s release and since is the voice acting. Many moviegoers were concerned about how Chris Pratt’s performance as the titular Italian plumber would be while others were praising the casting choice of Jack Black as Bowser.

Since the movie’s release, it’s been Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong performance that many people have been expressing dislike for. Folks have been claiming that Seth Rogen isn’t actually voice acting. He’s just playing himself. He’s not changing his voice at all and that Donkey Kong is out of character as a result. What those people don’t seem to consider, though, is that Rogen is actually the ideal choice for DK as far as celebrity actors go.

Donkey Kong has typically just made gorilla noises in most of his appearances. However, he’s had some speaking roles here and there. In Donkey Kong 64, he said things like “yeah” and “Okay!”. For this voice, DK spoke in a deep, raspy voice. If Nintendo and Illumination wanted to find someone famous to match that deep, raspy voice, they certainly called the right person with Seth Rogen. Even in the Donkey Kong Country animated series that ran in the late 90s, DK spoke with a raspy voice. He just used different tones. His singing voice for that series, which is shockingly great, is the only voice that doesn’t fit this pattern.

Seth Rogen may not be changing his voice by any means, but he is a good fit based on previous iterations of the character. On top of that, he’s still acting with his voice even though he isn’t changing it. He still puts emotion into the performance using just his voice, which helps to bring the character to life. If you’re someone who isn’t a fan of his voice, his signature laugh, or him at all, that’s a valid opinion and is allowed, but it’s still acting.

It seems safe to assume that there will be more animated movies based on Nintendo properties thanks to the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This will likely include sequels and maybe even a Donkey Kong spin-off film. If this is the case, then we’ll be hearing a lot more of Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong. Maybe he’ll grow on folks who aren’t fans, or maybe he’ll do more with his approach to the role. Either way, Seth Rogen’s voice is pretty on-brand for the banana-loving video game icon given how previous iterations were handled.

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