‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review: This Would Have Been My Favorite Movie if I Were 7... But I’m 26 and Tired

Minecraftbecame a really big deal when I was in seventh grade, so obviously, I have quite a bit of experience with the game. I’d be mowing down zombies with my diamond sword while dodging Creepers, all while I hadNapoleon Dynamiteon in the background. Little did I know that the man who directed my favorite comedy at the time,Jared Hess, would go on to direct a big-screen adaptation ofMinecraft, nearly a decade and a half later.

The Swedish video game, which launched in 2011, has become the best-selling video game of all time. A movie adaptation was inevitable, and after spending the last 10 years languishing in development hell, with directors ranging fromRob McElhenneyandShawn Levybeing attached at certain points, it’s finally here. The thing is,Minecraftdoesn’t have a plot; it’s an open-world game where “the possibilities are endless,” whichJack Black’s Steve notes in the film. With a blocky design, the game has players building, mining, crafting, and fighting mobs such as zombies, Creepers, skeletons, spiders, and Endermen.

Jack Black as Steve standing in front of a fire in A Minecraft Movie.

When the first teaser trailer dropped forA Minecraft Movieback in September, it was met with a lot of scrutiny online. The movie’s visual effects leaned into uncanny valley territory, and the bizarre inclusion of a classicBeatlessong made it feel even more like a fever dream. There have been hundreds ofMinecraftanimations posted on YouTube over the years, so why not just make the movie animated?Regardless, the movie is finally here, and it’s surprisingly tolerable.

What Is ‘A Minecraft Movie’ About?

Unlike the video game,A Minecraft Moviedoes actually have a story, so it’s already straying away from the source material. At least a little bit, as the plot is about as generic as they come. We open with narration from Steve (Black), who has yearned to explore the mines of his hometown in Idaho since he was a young boy. After becoming an adult, Steve became fed up and bored by his job as a doorknob salesman. Feeling inspired, Steve travels back to the mines of his youth and to the Overworld, a colorful cube-filled world filled with adventure. Steve has made himself quite comfortable in the Overworld. He even has a pet wolf, named Dennis, but his wondrous new life is threatened when he and his beloved pooch are kidnapped by the evil Piglin sorceress Malgosha (Rachel House) and sent to a dungeon in the Nether, a Hell-like underworld.

Sometime later, young Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and his sister Natalie (Emma Myers) have moved into Steve’s old hometown after their mother’s passing. While creatively gifted, Henry fails to make any new friends outside the well-past-his-prime Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), a former pro gamer who is struggling with financial woes, including being on the verge of his shop being shut down and being ripped off at a storage locker auction. After Garrett acquires a mysterious glowing cube, he, Henry, Natalie, and the animal-loving real-estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) are transported into the Overworld, where they finally meet Steve. Together, this band of misfits may just have what it takes to take down Malgosha once and for all.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge), the vice-principal at Henry’s high school, falls in love with a Villager, who has escaped from the Overworld, in an out-of-place and bizarre sub-plot that proves to be somewhat amusing.

‘A Minecraft Movie’ Works Best at Its Weirdest

Whether or not you likeA Minecraft Moviesolely depends on two things: your age and your experience with the video game. If you’ve been left puzzled by the trailers and have very little familiarity with the game, I’ll save you the time: don’t see this flick. While the film has its fair share of laughs, particularly in the first act, which plays out like a typical Jared Hess-directed comedy, the movie becomes a less successful version ofJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, once it enters the Overworld. The visuals aren’t as visually repugnant as you might expect, while none of the movie looks remotely real, and feels stuck in the realm of the uncanny valley, it fits the vibe. This isn’t likeAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where the movie expects its audience to have their minds blown, but instead looks like it’s fromSpy Kids 3-D.

A Minecraft Movieis well aware of its weirdness, andthe film works best when it fully embraces its oddities. There is rarely a moment where Hess and his team take the story seriously whatsoever. Even at the climactic battle in the third act, the movie tells its story with a wink and a nod. Unfortunately, the movie does try to have moments of emotion, and none of it works. The movie briefly addresses the fact that Henry and Natalie have been struggling since their mom’s death, but it’s brushed aside quickly. There was no need to bring it up, but it does make you wonder why it’s there in the first place.

Still, some moments do produce laughs; Coolidge plays into her typical schtick, and most of her scenes, as well as the rest of the supporting cast in the real world, are quite funny, even if most of their jokes will fly over the heads of most of the young audience members. Yet, every single scene they’re in feels completely out of place and has almost no correlation to the main plot. Its main purpose is seemingly just to make the parents in the audience laugh. Despite the hideous wardrobe, Momoa is a major highlight as The Garbage Man, perfectly dialing up the man-child persona and having great comedic chemistry with Black.

Jack Black Goes Full Jack Black… For Better and for Worse

From the moment he dramatically uttered the words “I am Steve” in the first trailer, you probably knew exactly what kind of performance Black was going to give inA Minecraft Movie. Despite the movie’s similarities to hisJumanjifilms,Black isn’t playing a character, he’s just playing himself. He’s always been a reliable comedic actor. Just look atSchool of RockandNacho Libreor his voice work inKung Fu Panda, but his role in this film becomes grating after a while, to the point that most parents will find themselves checking their watches. It’s not that Black is bad in the movie, he fully leans into the movie’s absurd nature, but there are only so many TikTok references and musical numbers one can take before wanting the credits to roll. Outside of Black, Momoa, and Coolidge, nobody else gets much to do. Brooks and Myers' characters get their #GirlBoss moments, but we know so little about their characters outside a few details, that it never feels earned. Hansen, who feels like they were supposed to be the true lead of the movie at some point, doesn’t get much to do other than the fact that his character is good at building things.

Once you get pastA Minecraft Movie’s unique aesthetic, you’re left with nothing more thana clone of other “trapped inside a video game” movies. For the devoted fans in the audience, Hess does throw in several references to the games, but there are also some glaring omissions, such as the Ender Dragon. Outside of Steve, Creepers may be the most recognizable characters from Minecraft, yet they only get one or two scenes. Instead, we’re left with a newly created villain in Malgosha, who does have some laughs, but not much else.

I do believe that there was a scenario whereA Minecraft Moviecould have been the nextLego Movie. That’s clearly what Warner Bros. likely wanted out of this, but instead, we’re left with a mostly disposable live-action family movie that will certainly please the young ones in the audience and will be tolerated by the parents.This could have been far worse, but that doesn’t make it very good either.If this came out when I first got intoMinecraft, I would likely have connected with it much more, but as an adult, I recognize this one wasn’t for me and that’s perfectly OK.

A Minecraft Movieis now playing in theaters.