Ever since the trailer for A Minecraft Movie released, it’s had a bit of a rough reputation. A lot of people have called it cringe, corny, and bad. Clips quickly turned into memes. Those memes even made their way into theaters, where groups of teenagers were loudly quoting them during the movie. It made the experience obnoxious, but this whole trend has also given the movie a lot of recognition. Some people actually love the movie and treat it like it’s phenomenal. I like Minecraft, but my hopes weren’t very high for this movie, especially when it came to the storyline. Considering that Minecraft doesn’t have a traditional backstory or plot, this movie’s story could have gone in any direction. And it did, just not the way I expected.
The movie starts with a group of people from the real world getting pulled into a mysterious portal that leads to the Minecraft world. They find themselves trapped in a strange, block-built place. There, they meet Steve, who’s been living there for a long time and has the survival skills they need. They work together to stop the piglin ruler of the Nether from taking over their part of the Minecraft world, all while trying to find a way back home.
Finding out that Jack Black was playing Steve seemed very odd. Steve, played by an old man with white, long hair and a big beard? Yet, as unfit as that seems, it worked. His personality really carried the movie, and without it, we’d be missing out on a lot. Jason Momoa played Garret Garrison, “The Garbage Man,” who’s a video game store owner and an ex-game champion. He was a good addition. The relationship between Steve and Garret had the audience laughing the most. As for the rest of the characters, they didn’t stick out much. Sebastian Eugene Hansen plays Henry, a young, genius, creative kid. Emma Myers plays Natalie, Henry’s older sister and guardian. Danielle Brooks plays Dawn, a real estate agent who runs a mobile petting zoo.
I understand that the movie is meant to be ridiculous and funny, but the acting most of the time felt very unnatural. I’m mainly talking about everyone besides Jack Black and Jason Momoa. Still, since it’s meant to be silly, the acting didn’t matter as much.
In my opinion, if a Minecraft movie were to be made, it would have made the most sense to just animate it and have the story revolve around Steve, and maybe Alex, instead of adding new characters that don’t relate to the actual game. Despite that, it definitely had its good moments, but I still don’t see the point of it being live action. For big Minecraft fans, this is probably a high rating. But for anyone less into the game, not so much. My personal rating? I’d give the Minecraft movie a three out of five stars. Wasn’t phenomenal, but I would watch this again.
