Minecraft is considered a brilliantly designed, accessible, witty, thoughtful video game that parents and teachers utilize to make learning fun. It’s smart fun.
A Minecraft Movie is not smart. But it is fun. Dumb fun.
There will be no Oscar consideration or National Film Registry preservation for this branded content creation. But you may chuckle depending on how many drinks you’ve had. Your kids, on the other, will laugh out loud. Our theater even had a handful of cheers.
Kids love Minecraft — even the ones who haven’t set foot in the pixelated cube world. My five-year-old never played the game, but she recognizes the sandbox in which the film takes place. It’s that mega-brand movie style with big spirit, a group of somewhat likable archetypal characters, and a varying scale of cleverness that places A Minecraft Movie closer to The Super Mario Bros. Movie (meh) than The Lego Movie (Hell yea!).
The story rockets us through the lore in the opening scene. Jack Black gives us a grand tour. Then we settle in on the kind of oddball small-town character piece we’ve come to know from director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite). The casting works. At first, Jason Momoa feels like he’s trying too hard, but his portrait of a washed-up video game champion comes to form.
The script won’t wow you. Everyone says what you’d expect — most of the time. There are little moments that feel outside the box, and those are where the movie becomes fun. Hess allows the well-established members of his cast to add their personal flair to the dialogue. It sort of works.
Stylistically, the film looks like most comedy TV shows on air and streaming today. I’m talking over-saturated warm tones, flat lighting, and over-polished post-production. I get it, the style is cheap and easy to work with. But it’s a little bland, especially on the big screen — especially given Hess’s Napoleon Dynamite color palette. You know the one.
It’s not surprising that A Minecraft Movie is kicking butt in theaters. It’s just good enough to warrant a theater visit. And your kids will likely get the inside jokes that make fun of game lore. There are also a few storytelling choices that could surprise you.
That said, if you’re headed to the theater, bring a flask of your favorite booze. I don’t think A Minecraft Movie is quite on the level of Ass: The Movie from Idiocracy, as film critic Walter Chaw says — but dumbing yourself down with a little hooch does help wash down most of the obvious humor.
🎬🎬🎬
Where to watch
Rating: (PG) (Me: 6+)
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers
Run time: 1hr 41m
Post-credits scenes: A mid-credits bit that plays off a secondary story line and a post-credits scene that could set up a sequel.
Bathroom breaks: According to RunPee, the best times are:
- 21:20 after Henry calls Garrett to pick him up — just before the action starts.
- 48:35 after the bad pig says “I’m really sorry, I just have to unalive you and stuff” — you’ll miss a few jokes but nothing critical.
Sequel? Why not? It’s making a ton of money.
If you liked A Minecraft Movie, check out these films:
- The Lego Movie (2014) (5+)
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) (5+)
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) (7+)
- Pixels (2015) (10+)
- Minecraft: Story Mode (Netflix interactive show)
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