A Minecraft Movie, 2025.
Directed by Jared Hess.
Starring Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House, Matt Berry, Kate McKinnon, Jemaine Clement, Valkyrae, Jared Hess, and Jens Bergensten.
SYNOPSIS:
Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected, expert crafter.
Sometime after siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers) inadvertently discover the Overworld, where everything from buildings to environments to animals to food to other random objects are block-shaped, the former uses his child genius creativity to instantly start building elaborate constructions, as one does in the mostly plotless, sandbox video game Minecraft, but his sister struggles. She criticizes him for being a regular screwup in the real world (a heat-of-the-moment outburst she immediately regrets) while proclaiming that none of this makes any sense. Her character practically feels like a vessel for those of us coming into director Jared Hess’ A Minecraft Movie with minimal exposure.
However, despite never having played the game, I know one thing through cultural osmosis: it is intended to encourage and foster creativity in children and teenagers, which Jared Hess understands. That’s not to say the movie is any good, but “getting it” is a rarity regarding video game adaptations. It’s wonderful that this is an adaptation in conversation with not only why the games are popular, but that parents (in the case of this film, a slightly older sister looking after her younger brother while still grieving the loss of their mother) wrongfully assume that it’s a waste of time and rotting their brains, failing to realize that the game is entirely built on imagination and whatever the player wants it to be.
The punishment of removing or deleting a child’s Minecraft world is admittedly an over-the-top punishment that not only refuses to engage with the game itself but also with what they are getting from the world-building experience. It’s an instant, permanent removal of something unique, most likely impossible to duplicate. Hence, the shattering feeling of losing an entire world. Sure, it’s digital, but was lovingly put together by a human.
Jared Hess unfortunately doesn’t necessarily get to do much with this, as one imagines a gun held to he and his overcrowded screenwriting team’s (Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galletta) heads forcing them to shove Easter eggs and references down viewers’ throats in every single CGI, green-screened to hell and back image. This is mainly done through Jack Black portraying Steve, the default avatar from the game’s original launch (in games like these, players are encouraged to customize and project their personality onto the character), which obnoxiously amounts to that star playing himself, shouting out locations, objects, and enemy types with the demented energy of someone who just got done chugging five Red Bulls and is yelling all of this into your ear at 7 AM on a Monday when your alarm for work has gone off.
Perhaps that sounds like a hypercritical complaint after acknowledging an individual’s identity is meant to be grafted onto the avatar, but Jack Black is insufferable here. This is an embarrassing use of star power, serving as nothing more than a means to get a cheap pop out of the fans, which is especially fitting terminology since there is a scene that takes place in a wrestling ring. Everyone else will likely sit there dumbfounded. Surprisingly, they won’t necessarily be confused (most items, gear, and tools are self-explanatory), but speechless at the excessive depths of fan service. At the same time, a couple of interesting characters and ideas are ignored.
Other characters include Jason Momoa’s real-world faded superstar legendary arcade gamer Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, a cocky dimwit facing foreclosure on his gaming store. Through some chance interactions with Henry, he also ends up in the Overworld, hoping to find some treasures to solve his financial woes. Initially, it’s also amusing that the character is a skilled cooperative gamer who routinely messes up inside a fantasy world while failing to work together. However, like most aspects of A Minecraft Movie, this aspect is worn down and tiring.
Similarly, this is an action-packed adventure with a number of explosions on par with a Michael Bay film, except they rarely look visually exciting here since the bright nature of the world and commercial-like photography causes every image to appear fake with washed-out colors. There is strong attention to detail regarding the aesthetics and designs, but this is otherwise a hideous film; one can’t help but wonder what could have been done using more practical effects. There is no wonderment or movie magic here, with no suspension of disbelief that everyone didn’t spend several hours a day in front of a green screen. Once in a while, there is a moderately entertaining sequence, such as a chase in a minecart that runs off a special type of energy, but it’s often weightless and doesn’t pop.
Rounding out the set of main characters is Dawn, a real estate agent, settling Henry and Natalie into their new home. Struggling to pay the bills, she works numerous jobs, including one working with animals, which is handy when finding herself in the Overworld. She is also a consistently funny presence and the only one not overdoing their role into flat-out annoyance.
Together, they must search for a magical object to reopen a portal that will take them home, while aiding Steve in a war against the Nether world’s evil pig race, led by their leader, Malgosha (a voiceover performance by Rachel House). Speaking of Steve, his basic origins as a real-world person and years in the Overworld could have been an entire movie alone. Thankfully, it isn’t, because Jack Black is already irritating enough here. Still, it goes to show the lengths to which A Minecraft Movie goes in cramming in as much as possible, with zero consideration as to what it serves in the context of a narrative.
Unsurprisingly, A Minecraft Movie‘s most inspired moments involve creativity, mainly through using materials to craft wacky weapons such as a tater tot gun or bucket nunchucks. Despite Jared Hess (and maybe one of the five screenwriters) showing a fundamental understanding of the game, it’s a shame the film is predominantly concerned with fan service and abrasively loud energy from its stars that comes across as desperately begging viewers to care. It mostly chooses laziness over imagination, directly insulting everything Minecraft stands for.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
