2 weeks Ago
A Minecraft Movie Review : Somehow, Jack Black was the best thing about the Jumanji reboot movies. Somehow, Jack Black was fun voicing Bowser in The Super Mario Bros Movie while giving us the entertaining "Peaches" song. Well, the law of averages has finally caught up with how much my patience can tolerate Jack Black being Jack Black, and A Minecraft Movie has become a victim of that.
Or is it the other way around, and A Minecraft Movie has made a victim of me? Minecraft History and Evolution: When Was Minecraft Made? Who Invented It? Explore the Origins of Mojang Studios’ Video Game . Okay, disclaimers first – I have never played Minecraft in my life. I have played Minesweeper, the free game that came with Windows, but that doesn't count, I guess.
So, I am pretty sure some of the inside jokes the movie was throwing at me - ones that made certain sections of the audience in my theatre let out a recognisable "ooh" - went completely over my head. But if you argue that, to appreciate a film like A Minecraft Movie , I need to play Minecraft first, then that's as stupid an argument as this movie is. I mean, I haven't played Dungeons & Dragons , but I loved the movie and was heartbroken when it failed at the box office.
It should be the other way around – make the movie so awesome that you want to try the game. But A Minecraft Movie is so numbingly bad that I don’t want to go anywhere near the game. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review - The Plot The film begins with what I am not sure is a genius introduction to the Minecraft world or just a very rushed one.
It starts with a regular guy named Steve (Jack Black), who has been obsessed with mines since childhood for some reason. As an adult, he goes into one, finds a 'cube-shaped orb' - which felt like someone squished the Tesseract - that transports him into the Overworld, a cubic wonderland where you can imagine anything into existence. Though, for some reason, Steve keeps it very PG.
There is also a Netherworld, where malevolent pig-like forces, led by Malgosha (Rachel House), want to conquer the Overworld for reasons diabolical enough to not really matter. She wants that orb. Steve sends the orb to be hidden back in the real world through his cubic pet wolf, Dennis.
Years later, this orb comes into the possession of a few humans who are brought into the Overworld for plot ‘reasons’. One of them is Garrett (Jason Momoa), who calls himself The Garbage Man - a man-child on the brink of penury who still lives on the pride of being the Gamer of 1989. Then, there are two orphaned siblings: the supposedly marketing-savvy Natalie (Emma Myers) and her creatively genius younger brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen), who are new residents of the town because of the randomest reason - their parents died.
Henry also strikes some sort of friendship with Garrett, which should sound problematic to any third party. Also dragged along in this misadventure is Dawn (Danielle Brooks), their house broker, who only seems to be in the movie because the makers thought the cast was too white. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review - No Developed Characters But it’s not just Dawn that feels superficial to the plot.
Even Natalie does, as there is no character development for her apart from having an emotional connection to Henry. The movie tries to make Henry spend more time with Garrett, then have Garrett spend more time with Steve, so nothing feels worked out in terms of actual bonding. When Henry calls Garrett the most selfish man he has ever met, I was like, bro, you didn’t even know of his existence 24 hours ago.
I know that in these types of supposed video-game adaptations, I shouldn’t be sniffing around for something as profound as character or relationship development. It’s just that Jack Black’s presence reminds me that the Jumanji movies exist, and they did a far better job at it - while also making him less grating. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review - Decent World With Uninteresting Characters Okay, let’s talk about the supposedly appealing aesthetics of the movie.
I guess the VFX team has done a pretty decent job recreating this cube world and its varied residents, who get two introduction sequences - the initial rush job by Steve in the opening act and then Steve acting as a guide to the other protagonists, covering aspects that weren’t mentioned earlier. I don’t know how the dynamics of this world work - Steve wills something into existence, but that power isn’t always invoked when needed. At night, skeletons and zombies attack the heroes, which I assume is some sort of reference to the Minecraft games.
But despite having little to no knowledge of this world, I was made completely uninterested in it because the filmmakers assumed people would watch it only if they had played the games - a huge mistake. The jokes and gags are occasionally amusing, like the final interaction between Steve and Malgosha, which kind of pushed me into smiling weakly despite myself. Otherwise, they are just bland.
Unless you enjoy revisiting bits from old joke books like "Are you finished?" "No, I think he’s Swedish." Or unless you find Jason Momoa being slammed all over the place funny every single time of the umpteenth attempts. The screenplay has no novelty, no verve, and no time to flesh itself out into a movie rather than an amusement ride with stars.
To keep the narrative moving, the film throws in a ‘betrayal’ that barely feels like one, followed by a ‘death’ that the characters are meant to grieve - but don’t really, because even they seem to know the deceased will return at just the right convenient moment to save the day. The film is so unapologetically lazy that its climactic battle even features the obligatory coloured beam in the sky. The cast does whatever it can with the material, including a game Jason Momoa attired in the most frivolous wardrobe and trying to poke fun at his real-life alpha image.
I felt bad for his efforts, but there is little I can do when the film doesn’t feel bad for those efforts. Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Movie Review: Jason Momoa and Amber Heard's Superhero Flick Has Become DC's 'Quantumania' . Oh, and yes, there is a separate subplot happening in the real world between Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge being Jennifer Coolidge) and a resident of the Overworld who strays into the real world.
It was supposed to be funny, but it was hard not to find it...
ah...
icky. Save for Matt Berry, who makes a voice cameo in the end. Great Scott, Laszlo! He’s always a win for me - even in a movie like this.
PS : I just checked the Wiki page of the movie to find that five writers were involved in the film. I wish I could say this was an April Fool's prank. Alas! ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review - Final Thoughts A Minecraft Movie is a lie in its titling itself – it is more of a flashy amusement ride with a couple of recognisable stars than an actual movie.
It is neither particularly funny nor visually exciting, unless you are deeply invested in Minecraft games. This is what happens when a film leans too heavily on brand recognition without anything substantial to back it up, leaving Jack Black to go all-out bonkers with whatever first comes to his mind. No 'Peaches, Peaches, Peaches' this time! (The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.
) (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2025 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com ).
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