Minecraft Movie Review

The massive sandbox game “Minecraft” has captured a wide fan base.
From children, teenagers, to adults.
Today, the franchise belongs to Microsoft and the game has sold over 300 million copies, the most ever.

Over the years, the franchise appeared as an Easter Egg in Borderlands and Steve, the flagship character, starred in Super Smash Bros.
Ultimate. In an era when video game adaptations rarely succeed on the big screen, among them “Borderlands” where Jack Black recently voiced and perhaps the only current exception being the “Sonic” franchise, I can’t recall a new video game adaptation that successfully transitioned to the big screen.

This time, especially since the story revolves around the game and is mostly influenced by world building, the big question is whether “Minecraft: The Movie” can break the cursed trend.
For those unfamiliar, here’s a brief explanation of “Minecraft” the concept is simple.

You are dropped into a random world in a game mode called “Survival” and your goal is to rebuild it.
Starting with collecting essential resources like wood, stone and clay to build literally anything you want this is the beauty of the game that has worked for many years.
Well the story exists in the game but not in a standard way.

The idea behind “Minecraft” is that players create the story.
Apart from animals, there are many secrets hidden within the creation, which is what the movie seemingly wants to explore: what it’s like to be a regular player in a rich, magical world.
I personally played the original version from its free era to today and in the story games.

Now, they can check off another bucket list item: a cinematic adaptation is part of the franchise’s history.
But just like the Mario Brothers, the game lacks narrative compared to The Last of Us or Fallout.
“Minecraft: The Movie” tries to adopt the idea from Sonic films.
Live actors with CGI characters the main difference is that the Sonic team interacts with the real world, whereas here the actors fall into the game world in a very cliché way.

The spectacular visuals are actually the world created by Mojang.
I arrived at the movie with zero expectations.
After the disappointment of “Borderlands” and the massive success of “Sonic 3,” I did not know what to expect, since the game lacks a storyline and the filmmakers had to pull an idea out of a hat.

To my surprise, at the beginning, they succeeded.
The movie is told like a “Jumanji” for young audiences.
Thanks to Jack Black voicing Steve, the first character created for the game. In the game, this character isn’t really important, since you are Steve.
In this case, Black steps into this creative persona, essentially the first person to enter the Overworld.

In a quick montage, we see how beautiful and cruel the Minecraft world is. By day, you’re treasure hunters, by night, fighting for survival.
In this aspect, they fully recreate the charm of the game.
But to give a proper story, they had to go beyond imagination, bring the real world into the mix and here it starts to falter in many ways.
A Slice of Minecraft’s Stunning World In the real world, the story follows two siblings, animal caretakers and a former retro champion nicknamed “The Trash Man,” played by Jason Momoa.

When everyone has personal problems, they suddenly encounter a mysterious portal that throws them into Steve’s world the Overworld.
A significant part of the story is exploring the world, nothing beyond that.
It is not characterized by deep storytelling because there isn’t any and it isn’t necessary there is another problem entirely.

Before the film started, I feared one thing: it would be just references. Unfortunately, that partially happened.
I divide the audience into two types.
The first: average viewers who don’t know Minecraft.
The second: those who grew up with Minecraft or play it daily.
Why is this a problem? The film doesn’t justify references (skills and slang words) and therefore they are meant only for game fans.

Not that this is bad, but it alienates many other viewers.
Consequently, much of the humor and writing style is geared toward fans and children.
There is a very thin explanation of abilities, not at the aggressive level seen in the “Mario Brothers” 2023, yet it still loses the audience easily. Fortunately, as someone who played a lot, the references were not unfamiliar to me, but in some ways it started to annoy me.

For example, Jack Black, as much as I appreciate him as an actor and voice actor, mostly improvises lines like throwing out words: “Here’s Ender Pearl, a chicken!” with maximum enthusiasm, as if it were the best thing he had ever seen.
Something strange happened.
Despite the chemistry between Black and Momoa and the high level of cringe in the script written by five people the final result was not very good. The movie is 100 minutes including credits (with post credits scenes).

Why five people to write a “kids” movie? Puzzling.
A “Jumanji” for Young Audiences Beyond the cringe script and simple plot, one dominant element that works is world presentation.
Director Jared Hess understood the essence of the game: creativity and teamwork.
To make it feel like the group enters the game world which for them is an external world everything tangible like trees, swords and crafting tables is real.

The director invested extra effort for an authentic experience close to the game vision.
For unclear reasons, visual effects don’t always look polished, but creature models from zombies, creepers and small building details are stunning in their blocky design, like the game.
Animators did a great job capturing the game’s atmosphere, from Nether portals to weapons, unique animal traits and references fans may recognize.

Only Momoa and Black felt effective.
They have excellent chemistry and charisma, but every line is cringe. Momoas character is generic, inflated, almost spineless.
Black is Steve a character that has lived in this world for years, so everything outside is new to him.
Other cast members are meant to be the adventure’s key, but they end up as boring, amateur characters.

The antagonist voice and minor roles barely register.
The Minecraft music is iconic compositions are incorporated by Mark Mothersbaugh, creating an iconic soundtrack now part of cinematic history. Jack Black also has an open performance, including four songs, some duets with Momoa, adding to the fun.
Verdict In summary, in the world of video game adaptations, “Minecraft: The Movie” does not break the cursed trend.

For fans of the game, it is a perfect experience, no debate.
But as a experience for all audiences It fails.
Minimal plot, mediocre acting except for Black and Momoa, a cringe script, and scattered references.
It does succeed in bringing the game’s magical world to life authentically, from dangerous enemies to tiny animals.
It was not made for everyone, just for players and kids and that’s a shame because it could have been much more impressive.