A Minecraft Movie: One of the Strangest Video Game Adaptations Out There

A live action adaptation of Minecraft would not have been my first choice for a video game adaptation. Yet here we are, over fifteen years after the original game was released, with a very strange movie on our hands. I was relatively pessimistic about it, since Minecraft is a game that means a lot to me. I’ve played countless hours making fun builds on creative mode, or mining, exploring the vast world, and fighting monsters on survival/hardcore mode. I was worried that this movie was going to be another soulless cash grab, completely opposing the creativity and exploration that the game encourages. However, as soon as I realized the movie wasn’t taking itself too seriously, especially with the marketing team leaning into the memes, I was able to have fun with it. 

Spoilers for A Minecraft Movie below. 

A Minecraft Movie is a video game adaptation that follows four human characters who accidentally venture into the Minecraft overworld. The movie follows a creative kid named Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), his sister Natalie (Emma Myers), their real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and a washed up retro gamer named Garrett (Jason Mamoa). They have to face off against the evil piglins from the Nether dimension while also trying to find their way home. Along the way they are helped by a resident Minecraft expert, Steve (Jack Black), and have to save the overworld from being taken over by the piglins. 

Right off the bat, the visuals of this movie are very strange. While the CGI of the film looks very detailed and the backgrounds were very pretty, it’s almost always distracting and never immersive. I never got the feeling that the human characters were actually in the Minecraft overworld. I would’ve loved a fully animated film instead of this live action hybrid that looks choppy. That way, the animators could go all out on the immersiveness and comedy instead of being constrained to grossly realistic graphics. As for the sound design, I liked that they used some of the music and sound effects from the games. Even though it was only in some scenes, I still appreciated it. 

The story and characters of the movie are paper thin and don’t capture the essence of the game at all. It tried to tackle struggles for each character and have them express themselves in the Minecraft world through creativity. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t spend enough time developing any of them, so with the few emotional scenes it tries to do, they never landed for me. There was also way too much action, so much that the movie had no time to breathe. The characters start at the village, they get separated, they head for the mines, they get to the Woodland Mansion, and they fight the main piglin leader, Malgosha (Rachel House). Speaking of Malgosha, her story is absolutely hilarious. She’s salty because she got laughed at for dancing at a competition, so she vowed to destroy all creativity. At the end, she gets defeated by all five human characters (plus Steve’s dog, Dennis), and all the humans decide to return to Earth and pursue their dreams. There’s also a very disconnected but hilarious subplot featuring a school vice principal, Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge) having a romantic outing with a villager from the overworld. It didn’t need to be in the movie but it’s so absurd that it’s funny. 

So much is crammed in that there’s no room to breathe, let alone focus on any specific mechanics of Minecraft. That was another problem all on its own–they throw in certain elements of the games like various recognizable structures, mobs, and the Nether, but they never really focus on any of them. There’s some themes that stick with the game, like creativity and building, but it’s not expanded upon in any meaningful way. It doesn’t capture the essence of the game, and it’s not trying to. The movie makes it clear from the start that it’s dumb fun. Like, one of the piglin’s names is “General Chungus” (Jared Hess). If that’s not an indication of the movie’s intentions, I don’t know what is. 

Overall, this was a very fun theater experience. There were some good references, a very nice tribute to the deceased Youtuber Technoblade, and some absurdly fun humor. What’s upsetting is that a lot of theaters are dealing with rowdy people screaming and throwing popcorn and being overall disruptive. Fortunately, my theater was much quieter, since I went to an earlier showing at 2 PM on a weekday. Personally, I’m glad, as a rowdy theater would’ve ruined my experience completely. 

This movie is not a good representation of Minecraft as a game, which I was a little disappointed about. I recommend going to see this movie with a group of friends or family, you’ll at least have a good laugh. Since this movie is called “A” Minecraft Movie and not “the” Minecraft Movie, I have a feeling we might see more Minecraft adaptations in the future. Hopefully, they will be more faithful adaptations of the game. I’d love to see a great story taking place in one of my favorite video games of all time.