The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a classic, and one of its best running gags is a reference to an obscure game. The Luma, a star-shaped creature from the Nintendo Wii game Super Mario Galaxy, is voiced by Juliet Jelenic, the daughter of one of the movie’s co-directors. This little critter, who cheerfully yearns for death, nothingness, and the void, is a perfect example of the range of jokes you can experience in a Mario story. Despite the movie’s effort to be accessible to Mario first-timers, the Luma gag shows that writers can get plenty weird with their jokes, and they’ll still land just fine. The Luma’s references to “the sweet relief” of death are more than just comic relief, they’re accurate to the Luma species, and serve to highlight the potential range of a Mario story.
