By the start of Jack Black’s second musical number in A Minecraft Movie, I relinquished my hope that the film would delve deeper than what it presents in its first half. It’s not to say that the first half is a total dud. A handful of genuinely funny one-liners, an enthusiastic performance from its cartoonish leading star, and a surprisingly likable cast of misfits make it a breezy watch. But when so many other kids' movies manage to be a fulfilling watch for viewers of all ages, Minecraft feels like a missed opportunity to get everyone on board with the phenomenon it's based on.
Not everyone will be ready and willing to accept this film for what it is. But if you do, you’re left with a decent comedy that lives up to the name. This is certainly a Minecraft movie. While it would have been nice to see THE Minecraft Movie, considering how important a cultural touchstone the best-selling video game of all time has become since its release 16 years ago, its first film adaptation is totally serviceable for who it's trying to reach.
A Minecraft Movie is led by a charming cast of misfits.
A Minecraft Movie follows Steve (Black), an eccentric everyman who returns to his childhood obsession with exploring his local town’s mine. His excavating exploits land him in the cubic, otherworldly dimension known as the Overworld, a place where virtually everything can be molded to his vision. When he accidentally ends up in the clutches of the evil Piglin Queen known as Malgohsa (Rachel House), Steve inadvertently recruits four down-on-their-luck locals from his hometown to a quest to save the Overworld, and presumably Earth, from being overrun by the villain’s brutish forces.
Like the Sonic films before it, A Minecraft Movie is an Isekai. Rather than make sense of Minecraft’s iconography, it simply pulls in a cast of charming characters into its familiar setting. Luckily for those unfamiliar with the rules and quirks of the video game, its ensemble makes it easy to get up to speed. Sebastian Hansen and Emma Myers play the film’s orphaned siblings and are the de facto surrogates for young viewers. Myers, the older sibling, is growing accustomed to becoming her younger brother’s parental figure, while Hansen is the sheepish and crafty tween who finds purpose in this strange world. Both youngsters are decent actors and remain likable, even when their reason to be at odds halfway through the film feels forced.
Jason Momoa and Jack Black have undeniable on-sceen chemistry.
Danielle Brooks, who plays a real estate agent with dreams of running her own zoo, is given the least to do but still manages to come away with a few fun scenes. But the true star here, however, is Jason Momoa. His turn as Garret Garrison, the 1989 Gamer Of The Year who isn’t over his glory days (or the garish stylings of the 1980s), is the source of the film's most consistent gags. The “has-been meathead with a heart of gold” is a trope viewers have seen countless times before, but the level of sincerity Momoa gives it, combined with his undeniable chemistry with Jack Black, makes it one of the actor’s most charming roles yet.
A Minecraft Movie is fairly predictable. But it moves at such a breakneck pace that it's hard to get wrapped up in knowing what beat is coming next. The film is constantly presenting new rules and concepts about the Overworld, setpieces that will be familiar to fans of the game, and new landscapes to behold.
The game’s iconic blocky aesthetic is recreated faithfully in A Minecraft Movie.
Speaking of landscapes, the realization of Minecraft’s world looks decent enough. Like the games, the pixelated aesthetic makes everything as charming as it is readable. It’ll likely age more gracefully than a traditional CG-heavy film. Its creatures are a weird amalgamation of what they look like in the video game and their real-life counterparts (think those “realistic” renders of Homer Simpson, except not nearly as disturbing). And the blocky tools, weapons, and elemental blocks all feel faithful to the stuff players would make in the games.
How the film is shot leaves a lot to be desired, though. Despite its retro look, the Minecraft video game can look spectacular, presuming you have the right hardware to give it the right bells and whistles. But you rarely get that same sense of wonder in this $150 million film. Its reliance on character close-ups and greenscreen often makes its human characters feel disconnected in a way a movie of this scale shouldn’t. Considering how well films like 2014’s Lego Movie or even 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit? pulled this off, A Minecraft Movie feels cheaper than it should.
A Minecraft Movie might even age more gracefully than a traditional CG-heavy film.
But will that matter for the film’s target audience? Probably not. All of the things that will matter to those young fans, however, mostly land. A Minecraft Movie isn’t reinventing the wheel here. But it is funny more often than it isn’t. It’s faithful to the game it’s based on. And it manages to have just enough heart to avoid feeling like a cynical cash grab. For the adults who will be watching A Minecraft Movie with the children in their lives, it manages to not be annoying throughout its svelte 90-minute runtime.
A Minecraft Movie feels like a big-budget reenactment of what a group of imaginative kids would get up to in the school yard during recess. And in that way, it succeeds. This is the exact kind of magic that made the video game so enduring and popular after all these years. Underneath the whimsy is a serviceable comedy enhanced with even a cursory familiarity and nostalgia with its source material. It may leave some holding out hope for a better, more timeless adaptation down the line, but this first attempt at bringing Minecraft to the big screen is nowhere near the catastrophe that its infamous teaser trailer (and legions of outraged gamers and stuck-up cinephiles) suggested it would be.
