A Minecraft Movie

This weekend, A Minecraft Movie, a new adaption based on the hit video game releases in theaters. A Minecraft Movie follows four misfits pulled through a portal into a bizarre cubic world where anything is possible. For some context, Minecraft came out when I was in middle school. It was a big hit then and is still a big hit now. I was the perfect age when it came out but just never got into it and was also just bad at it. My playing experience consisted of digging a hole and hiding in it when it got dark because I couldn't figure anything else out or just dying a lot. The trailers for this movie looked terrible but I was somewhat curious how a movie about a block-building video game was going to turn out.

This movie simultaneously met and exceeded my expectations. Was it as bad and stupid as I thought it was going to be? Yes. Was it funnier than I thought it was going to be? Also yes. I thought Jack Black and Jason Mamoa were cooking in this movie. They both play extremely exaggerated versions of themselves and it is really funny. They have this vibe of two bros hanging out in Minecraft that I wouldn't expect from these two but it works within the context of the movie. I also thought the movie did a good job of showcasing the Minecraft lore. A lot of video game movies will through a video game skin on a generic plot line and turn into a dull movie. However, A Minecraft Movie fully embraces the randomness of Minecraft and goes all in on all the different aspects of the game, creating a plot that is unique to the ideas of the game. The movie also has this high energy to it that works well for a kid's movie. It was made by the director of Napoleon Dynamite and you can see the stupid kind of humor that Napoleon Dynamite had. I am not the target audience for this movie, but all of the kids in my theater seemed to have a good time with it. It seems like a movie my 5-year-old nephew would enjoy.

While I was not the target audience, there were still a lot of "Ok, this is a kid's movie, but you can still make it good" kind of moments. There were quite a few side characters that were pointless in this movie. I'm not sure why the sister and relator characters were even there. Honestly, the only characters that worked were Jason Mamoa and Jack Black. Everyone else was kind of useless. The only side character that was kind of fun was the Jennifer Coolidge character. She is pointless but really funny. It feels like Jennifer Coolidge just kind of wandered on set and they filmed it. I also found this movie to be a bit too surface-level. I get that the movie is made for children but when there are more in-depth kids movies like Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, or even IF, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable expectation here either. There isn't much of any emotional weight or sweet moments here. It just feels like let's have fun in Minecraft world. Finally, I thought that the CGI was terrible. The human characters just look so out of place in the Minecraft world. It is just not good.

Overall, while the movie is a lot funnier than I thought it would be, it still has a lot of pretty bad movies. I had a lot of fun with Jason Mamoa and Jack Black but that is about it. However, I can appreciate that the target audience, kids 5-13, will love this movie.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

Recommendation: This is a must-see if you have a kid who loves Minecraft. Anyone else can skip it.