A Minecraft Movie Movie Review    

In all honesty, I cannot say my expectations for The Minecraft Movie were subverted. It is incredible how nearly every viewer of this film knew exactly what they were getting into.

Since the release of the first trailer in October, the overall expectations have largely been that the film would be overstimulating. Those expectations were proven correct upon release.

The movie is so unsurprising, in fact, that my friend and I were able to predict several plot points weeks before we saw it in theaters.

As you likely know, the film centers on four loosely connected individuals who accidentally travel to the world of Minecraft, where they meet Jack Black’s character, Steve. However, Black largely just plays himself rather than portraying Steve, the game’s default player model.

This crew faces conflict against an evil force of pigmen from the hellish dimension, the Nether, and must navigate quirky Minecraft hijinks to stop them from taking over the game’s central dimension, the Overworld.

To be honest, that is about as deep as the film gets. Sure, the opening establishes some backstory for the characters in the real world, such as Jason Momoa’s character, Garret. He is a former professional gamer who lives in an 80s nostalgia trope.

Then there’s Henry, a highly intuitive yet socially isolated kid who finds little creative fulfillment in his factory-town life.

Aside from these characters, however, few of these attributes matter once the cast enters Minecraft. The backstories do get a few callbacks, but they are minimal in the face of Steve doing something wacky 90% of the time. Half the cast does not even meet each other until they enter Minecraft, underscoring that the characters are secondary to the video game elements.

There’s an interesting dichotomy in the film, as it includes references that Minecraft players will cherish (e.g., the tribute to deceased YouTuber Technoblade), while also featuring moments where Jack Black yells the names of random items he uses and explains how they work, so every viewer can understand what’s happening. I’ve heard people joke that this film is akin to 100 minutes of jingling keys—sheer silliness that stimulates your neurons—and I cannot say they are wrong.

If anything, the movie seems like years of cheesy kids' content and internet trends synthesized into something for everyone and no one, simultaneously.

Basically, if lowbrow humor is not your thing, I would not recommend wasting your time. However, if, like me, you enjoy making fun of these types of films, it can be entertaining to watch.

A trailer for the movie emphasizes that you can “turn off your brain” while watching, and that is honestly the best way to approach it. It is one of those films where you are just waiting for the scenes from the trailer to appear, still laughing at them even if they are not that funny.

Witnessing a theater crowd erupt when Jack Black says something comedic like “chicken jockey” truly made the experience worthwhile.

In short, The Minecraft Movie succeeds in being simultaneously outdated, uninspired, and predictable while still managing to capture my attention until the very end.