After being stuck in production limbo for over a decade, a movie based on the best-selling game of all time, “Minecraft,” was finally released April 4 with a mixture of quality.
The movie follows a group: Garrett (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), and Dawn (Danielle Brooks), who travel to the Overworld of “Minecraft” from the real world and get stuck there. Very quickly, they meet Steve (Jack Black), who needs help to defeat the evil Piglin Queen Malgosha (Rachel House) to save the Overworld.
Despite the massive budget compared to all of director Jared Hess’ previous projects (that include the likes of “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Nacho Libre,” and “Gentlemen Broncos”), his style of comedy still comes through really well. There are quite a few moments where “A Minecraft Movie” comes close to the feeling that “Napoleon Dynamite” had, albeit a lot more artificial because of the heavy CGI and the fact that it’s a studio movie. Hess allowed his creativity to flow through this movie and he created a film that maintains the core spirit of “Minecraft” while still holding true to his relatively unique style of comedy.
The cast is a lot better than I thought it was going to be, particularly Jack Black. I had my expectations low for him in this movie and he encapsulated the player character of “Minecraft” pretty well and was very funny. He and Jason Momoa had incredible chemistry and were by far the biggest piece that held the movie together. Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, and Danielle Brooks were all good in their roles, but were the weakest part of the movie because of how they were written.
The characters are definitely not written in equal measure which was a major problem with the movie. Steve and Garrett are both written really well for the type of film this is and that shows through their interactions and physical performances. Henry and Natalie suffer from a lot of underdevelopment. There is a small, almost microscopic, side plot about their family drama that is such a minor part of the movie it might as well have been omitted.
Finally, Dawn is relatively useless throughout “A Minecraft Movie” and is used mostly as a catalyst for specific events to happen or she is entirely removed from portions of the movie to do other things offscreen.
There is also a side plot with Jennifer Coolidge’s character falling in love with a Villager named Nitwit who gets stuck in the real world, and it is one of the more solid and consistently funny parts of the movie. Strangely enough, it feels like the side plot that had the most satisfying conclusion even though it is only maybe five minutes of the movie in total.
The CGI is incredibly consistent and feels strangely grounded for being an adaptation of a video game entirely made of cubes. The mobs are particularly well done because they mixed natural materials like wool and skin with the unnatural shapes of the characters really well. The mobs, obviously, look kind of weird simply because of their shape, but they all still feel grounded and look good. It was fun to see how the more fantasy-looking mobs like Piglins, Villagers, Ghasts, and Iron Golems were adapted into a live action format.
The story also takes a major hit because of the type of movie this is. There is a plot, but it is very bare bones and mainly takes a backseat to references to the game and jokes. There are probably two to three jokes per minute in this movie and most aren’t that great. Jack Black is pretty consistently funny, and his knack for occasionally breaking into song was pretty good every time. This somewhat plotless nature makes the movie very fun to watch, but it’s also entirely mindless and takes no brain power to understand. You could honestly zone out at any point and not miss anything important.
Fair warning: the theater experience is very bad because of younger people, mainly highschoolers and middle schoolers, who cheer for everything, yell lines out during the movie, and occasionally throw popcorn in the air, so it might be better to go to an early matinee showing on the weekend or a weekday showing when fewer people are watching.
Overall “A Minecraft Movie” is a ton of dumb fun, but that’s almost entirely at the cost of telling a good story. I can’t recommend this movie if you aren’t already a fan of “Minecraft” because it just won’t have anything to give you, but if you like Jack Black, you will probably find some parts funny and enjoyable.
This article originally appeared in the April 2025 edition of The Commuter.
Directed by Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House, Jemaine Clement, Jared Hess, Matt Berry
Rated PG
Runtime: 101 minutes
My Rating: ★★½
