Parents be warned, your kids might start asking for a blue star plushie real soon.
The real star (pun intended) of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is this neat little glowing fella who casually quips one-liners on the relief of death, the pointlessness of life, and the neverending unknown haunting us all. While Mario (Chris Pratt) and Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) venture to defeat Bowser (Jack Black), this cute star is adamant on contributing to the quest by reminding everyone how futile everything is. It’s hilarious. It’s adorable. And it’s so terrifying.
If you aren’t familiar with The Super Mario games, allow us to enlighten you on who this little blue star is. It’s Lumalee (voiced by Juliet Jelenic), a character originally from Super Mario Galaxy. Lumalee is a part of a star species, the Lumas, who are all adopted by an intergalactic princess called Rosalina. In the Super Mario Galaxy games, most Lumas are yellow and typically assist Mario by joining him as sidekicks. Lumalee, however, is a lovely shade of blue and has a unique role as a shopkeeper, typically popping up right before boss battles to sell Mario some power-ups.
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Lumalee’s actually a really sweet star, always introducing himself in the games by singing “Lumalee! Lumabop! Welcome to the Luma Shop!” which makes his take in The Super Mario Bros. Movie even more hilarious. Turning a small star that exclusively speaks in rhyme into a morbid (but cute) nihilist was a brilliant take that’ll surely make Lumalee even more of a fan favorite. While The Super Mario Bros. Movie gave a new kind of life to each of Nintendo’s staple characters (like Peach being more of a girlboss than a damsel in distress), their take on Lumalee was completely unexpected — but makes complete sense.
Of course, a little star drifting through an endless galaxy would harness wisdom on how small we all are in the grand scheme of things. Lumalee’s seen a great big outdoors none of us will ever understand, and he’s just saying his piece on the matter. I think Rosalina’s done a great job raising him, and I can’t wait to hear what else he has to say.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is out in theaters now.
