Following in the footsteps of Sonic and Mario, Minecraft has now taken its seat amongst the growing list of video game movie adaptations. After 11 years of development since the movie’s announcement in 2014, “A Minecraft Movie” was released in theatres on April 4. The anticipation of this movie has been filled with apprehension and controversy. From its constant production delays and mishaps to the negative reception of the 2024 teaser trailer, many Minecraft fans and film publications had its doubts about the movie.
It has now only been about a week since its release, and the movie has already surpassed expectations at the box office, earning $163 million and $150.7 million domestically on opening week. The movie topped the record for highest-grossing opening weekend for a video game adaptation, which was formerly held by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
However, for all its success, does the block video game film deserve to be the blockbuster that it currently is?
SYNOPSIS
“A Minecraft Movie” is a movie based on the best-selling sandbox video game Minecraft. It follows the adventures of Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks) as they accidentally stumble through a strange portal. They find themselves stuck in the “Overworld,” a strange world made up of cubes. The group, led by a man named Steve (Jack Black), traverse this world as they explore its unique features and survive its deadly monsters.
THE POWER OF CREATIVITY…IS LACKING
I exited the theatre asking myself: “What did I just watch?”
The movie was bizarre, yet I found myself unable to remember half of what had happened. It’s like that strange feeling of having a fever dream: you’ll remember that you had it, but you won’t be able to meaningfully remember what you dreamt.
For a movie about a game all about creativity, “A Minecraft Movie” is quite uncreative. Crafted with generic action scenes, cheesy dialogue and a half-baked plot, the movie fails to do what it tries to tell its audience to do: Don’t be afraid of being creative!
Ultimately, the movie is carried by its absurdist humor and the wild antics of Steve and Garrett.
The movie’s attempts to draw on irony and meta humor led to any meaningful plot point being drowned out by the dozens of ironic scenes. There were a few times where I thought that the movie would touch on something serious or sentimental. But then I would be slapped by another joke, leaving me chuckling but wondering why the movie even bothered to get me to feel anything for the characters.
Steve and Garret, played by Jack Black and Jason Momoa respectively, overshadow the other characters, making most of the movie’s humor and progression dependent on them. The cast of characters, though not subpar by any means, were quite forgettable. Other than Steve and Garrett, I struggled to remember the names of the other three main characters. I didn’t dislike the three characters, but I don’t think I would have noticed if they were gone.
Despite all these criticisms, I must confess: I genuinely had fun watching this movie. It was enjoyable to make fun of the movie with my friends and the audience. In the end, the movie never took itself seriously, allowing the audience to not take it seriously. The movie accomplished what most people expected it to be: a bad, yet funny action film meant to produce a few laughs, and a whole lot of memes.
MISSED POTENTIAL
But, it’s a shame that our expectations of mediocrity (in terms of plot) were met.
Many people might shrug it off and say something like: “It’s just a kids’ movie and a cash grab. Of course it’ll be subpar.”
I have two thoughts on that. First, I believe that kids do deserve good movies. And they can have good movies, such as “The Lego Movie” or “Up.”
Second, I actually think that, despite what many people think, this movie was more than just a cash grab. There was genuine passion and love put into this movie.
As I watched the teasers and the behind-the-scenes, I was genuinely impressed with all the effort that went into this movie. This wasn’t just a project that had a bunch of CGI thrown at it. There was a lot of care put into making real-life, accurate props of Minecraft items, blocks and creatures. A large portion of the sets were actually made in real life, not just thrown onto a green screen. But even the CGI, for all of its controversy, wasn’t as jarring as I expected it to be. There were some uncanny creatures, but overall, the live actors and the animated aspects of the film went together fine. The artistic vision was something exceptional, and I think there’s very few movies that compare in terms of the effort put into the design of this movie.
It also seems that the creators of this movie seemed to have the Minecraft community in mind. From the best attempts to reference Minecraft game mechanics to nods towards some major figures in the Minecraft Youtube space, it felt like there was a real attempt to be faithful to the community of the top best-selling game in all of history.
Despite being accurate to the game, it’s unfortunate that they didn’t seem to put much of that love into crafting a unique story with characters that really express their creativity, instead of just being there to be jostled around for some slapstick humor in a formulaic plot.
A SEQUEL?
People are suspecting a sequel, both due to the success of the movie as well as the infinite possibilities when it comes to a sandbox game like Minecraft.
“I mean, look, […] the world’s infinite, so many amazing mods and characters and biomes we haven’t explored yet, so it’d be amazing,” said Jared Hess, the director of the movie in an interview.
Hess is correct. There is so much to work with. However, there is still a lot to work on. Here’s to hoping that if a sequel does come, Hess may see the value in investing more energy into being creative in terms of the story.
