Chris Pratt makes a persuasive hero when we can see how hard he is trying to look like one. James Gunn uses that effort well; the Mario films give his amiability too little to do.
Fi1m perspective
Peter Quill works at being charming in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and Chris Pratt lets the effort show. He plays the confidence as something Quill has to keep up, so we need not find every remark irresistible. That makes him a good leader for James Gunn's squabbling ensemble, with Zoe Saldaña's Gamora providing some firmness when the chatter gets too busy. The film is worth seeing despite its clutter and thin villains.
The comedy was there before the action roles. As Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), Pratt established the amiable foolishness that would suit his move into action. His supporting work in Moneyball (2011) also showed he could play more quietly, before Guardians of the Galaxy and his voice work as Emmet in the Lego film (2014) made 2014 the turning point. Then Jurassic World (2015) put him at the centre of another franchise.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) tests how much of Quill remains when the jokes come less easily. Pratt plays him drunk and sad, facing a Gamora who owes him none of the affection he expects. We were moved by his scenes with Saldaña because Pratt makes Quill's wish to recover that closeness look painfully unreasonable. Gunn gives him room to be difficult without asking us to stop caring, though the film around him is overlong and its middle sags.
In the first Mario film (2023), he voices Mario as an ordinary, mildly nervous man, and is agreeable enough. Matthew Fogel's screenplay gives him little character, leaving Jack Black's anxious, lovesick Bowser to provide the laughs. The sequel (2026) gives Pratt and Charlie Day's Luigi a quarrel about who looks after whom, then drops it for another planet. All that rushing about leaves him even less to play than before.
He needs parts that allow him to look foolish, needy or wrong. When a script treats his likeability as sufficient character, there is not much he can do to rescue it. Start with the first Guardians of the Galaxy, where being the leading man still means having to contend with everyone else.
Biography
Chris Pratt is an American actor. Born on 21 June 1979 in Virginia, Minnesota, he was raised in Washington state. He began his career with television roles, including Bright Abbott in the drama series Everwood (2002–2006) and Andy Dwyer in the sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015).
Pratt achieved leading roles in film from 2014, starring as Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and voicing Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie (2014). He later appeared in Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). He voiced Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and reprised the role in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026). He also starred in Passengers (2016) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
