ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — “A MINECRAFT MOVIE” (2025, 101 min., directed by Jared Hess)
“Minecraft” may be the most popular video game on the planet. The sandbox survival game has been around for almost 15 years, its empire encompassing spin-off games, toys, books, clothes and as many permutations of merchandise as block-shaped items in the game. For those unfamiliar with “Minecraft,” that’s code for “a lot.”
Despite its longevity and multimedia excess, up until now, “Minecraft” has never been on the silver screen.
“A Minecraft Movie” is directed by Jared Hess, most famous for off-beat 2000s comedies “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre.” Hess’s new film is a reunion with former collaborator Jack Black, who stars as Steve, the blue-shirted player avatar in the video game. Black is joined by an ensemble cast including Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge, Jemaine Clement, Emma Myers and Sebastian Hansen.
Black brought the most bombastic parts of his persona to “A Minecraft Movie.” In Black’s hands, Steve is a hyperactive, over-enunciating force of nature. His performance might be rote for fans of the actor, but Black’s maniacal energy keeps the pace of “A Minecraft Movie” hurtling forward, even when his costars can’t keep up; that is, with the exception of Momoa, who plays a pink-leather-jacketed man-child with haughty aplomb.
For Myers, 23, and Hansen, around a decade younger, it was always going to be a tall order to play foil to two of the biggest movie stars in entertainment, and unfortunately, their talents fall short. The only presence Myers brings to the screen is shrill befuddlement, while Hansen’s confident and creative character on the page is limp and lame on the screen.
The script wasn’t doing Myers and Hansen any favors. The film sets up their brother-sister duo, Momoa and Brooks’ veterinary enthusiast as equal players at the beginning of their adventure. However, though Hess strains to make Myers a badass halfway through the film and give Brooks anything – anything at all – to do, almost all of the central action and plot propulsion is given to Black and Momoa. Hansen is permitted to tag along as sidekick.
“A Minecraft Movie” is the Black and Momoa show. The chemistry between the two is unmatched, both men bringing the zany from different zones: Momoa subverts his “Aquaman” macho cool with whiny incompetence, while Black continues to deliver on the over-the-top antics that made him a star.
Though not every character felt sketched out, the animated “Minecraft” landscape looks fantastic. The film takes the rudimentary design of the game’s simple pixels and renders them cinematic. The designs are the same, but with a clean CGI polish, it’s like experiencing “Minecraft” in a whole new way. Especially after the painfully bad Red Hulk in February’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” it’s refreshing to see SFX look as good as they do in “A Minecraft Movie.”
Read our review of “Captain America: Brave New World” here.
Speaking of landscapes, a big part of the “Minecraft” appeal is the boundless possibility allowed by its open gameplay. There is no definitive plot when the player, as Steve, wakes up amid an endless wilderness of trees, mountains, beaches and seas. The game is whatever the player wants it to be: everything is available to break down and pick up and everything can be reconstructed in new arrangements or elemental combinations: The “mining” and the “craft.”
However, without a plot to model their movie after, Hess and his army of screenwriters were left to craft their own narrative, mining the game’s visual language and mechanics for ideas. The end result is a solidly crafted adventure story inside of a panoply of “Minecraft” references. There is nothing wholly original or surprising in “A Minecraft Movie,” but it’s serviceable, standard family fare with a couple of funny gags and two solid performances.
At least, that’s my opinion as a critic. But I’m not the target audience.
“Minecraft” is beloved by legions of fans worldwide, but its predominant appeal rests in the voracious enthusiasm of elementary to middle school-aged kids. “A Minecraft Movie” knows its demographic. There have been reports around the country of kids reciting lines from the heavily-memed trailers and hooting and hollering for “Minecraft” iconography and easter eggs.
For younger kids, “A Minecraft Movie” might even be the first time they have seen a movie that feels specifically tailored for them, rather than superhero adventures featuring heroes from 75 years ago or reheated IP from Gen X childhoods. Instead, “A Minecraft Movie” is drawn from the cultural consciousness of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. The game came out in 2011. Today’s kids grew up inside this world in a way many adults did not.
For adults, “A Minecraft Movie” is much more likely to feel derivative:
You’ve seen the Hero’s Journey narrative.
You’ve seen this Jack Black performance in fifteen other movies.
You’ve even previously experienced the morsels of personality that Hess managed to get into such an IP-heavy film. The film begins in Idaho and prominently features tater tots, self-defense classes and tag-team wrestling, vital elements of “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre,” albeit given a “Minecraft” makeover: Napoleon’s tot-pocket becomes a tater tot launcher, Rex Kwon-do moves are used to beat up cube-shaped zombies and Nacho Libre’s wrestling battle cries are replaced by cheers of “Chicken Jockey!”
In its own way, that’s okay.
While Hess suffers the risk of repeating himself creatively, most kids will have no idea. They might even be experiencing those Hess gags, this type of epic adventure and Jack Black himself for the very first time.
I took my nine-year-old little brother to see “A Minecraft Movie” on the film’s opening night. He’s a “Minecraft” enthusiast himself, proudly spouting guidebook facts and showing me his latest “Minecraft” dirt houses during our visits. I was nervous about whether or not such a devoted fan would like it.
I was right to be unsure: he didn’t just like it. He loved it.
I think most kids will.
Rating: 2.5/5
Little Brother’s Rating: 5/5
Looking for another family movie to see in theaters? Read our review of “Snow White” here.
I conducted an exit interview with my brother after the movie. Our conversation, complete with his review, can be found below. My questions are in bold.
Okay. Official review, let’s hear it. What did you like?
I really like how… This is not actually “Minecraft,” but I like the tater tots. The tater tot shooter.
Yeah, the tater tot shooter is pretty cool.
Did you know he added an eraser to it?
I did see that, yeah. What do you think about the plot? Like, the story of the movie?
I think it was good! Like, “Minecraft Dungeons” and “Minecraft” mixed together. It was good.
Do you feel like you got all the things from “Minecraft” in this movie that you wanted to see?
Actually, it is from normal “Minecraft.” Yeah. So.
Did you see all the “Minecraft” stuff that you wanted to? Or do you wish that there was some other stuff in it too?
I wish that villagers could actually talk in “Minecraft.”
I know, yeah, that would be pretty cool. What did you think about Steve?
I mean, Jack Black is very, like, awesome.
I agree. I thought Jack Black was really funny. Did you like him in this?
The Enderman was kind of making illusions a lot.
He was coming up with some tricks. Did you like Jason Momoa, who played Garrett?
Yeah. He was funny. I thought, for a second I thought he was… Oh! I know. Alex.
Alex? Is that a character in “Minecraft”?
Yeah, you know Alex.
Is that the ginger one?
Yeah.
Oh, okay. Maybe we’ll see Alex in the sequel. Did you think the villains were cool in this?
Yes. Remember when she was like, “c’mere, c’mere, I wanna show you something” with her knives?
With her knives?
Yeah. “Sneak attack!” She was so weak that she couldn’t do it. You know the little hogs? They didn’t get like that.
I know, they didn’t turn zombie. I was wondering why that was. What was your favorite scene, do you think?
When they were fighting the ghasts. Like, when they were fighting. You know when they had those wings? That was my favorite scene. And the war.
Yeah, yeah, the war at the end. Cool. Is there anything that you didn’t like?
You know when the little pig drawed the house? She killed the pig!
I know, that was really sad. If you had to rate it out of five stars, how many stars would you give it?
Five.