Minecraft Movie, A (United States, 2025)

Going into A Minecraft Movie, I was hoping for something that might emulate the cheeky fun of The LEGO Movie or the re-imagined Jumanji. Those at least seemed to be reasonable comps. Alas, Jared Hess’ translation of the popular computer game proves to be little more than a less-inspired The Super Mario Brothers Movie. Like Jumanji (or Tron, for that matter), the story focuses on bringing people from the “real world” into the Minecraft game world but, once it gets them there, it doesn’t quite know what to do with them. The screenplay, credited to a half-dozen writers, fails to wring much humor from the obligatory fish-out-of-water scenarios, and the action/adventure stuff is mostly d.o.a. In short, A Minecraft Movie never finds its groove, constantly veering from one set-piece to another with a scattershot storyline and whiplash-inducing tone inconsistencies.

I would question the filmmakers’ choices when it comes to selecting a target audience. The movie appears to be pitched firmly at kids, especially those in the 4-10 year-old range. I guess they’re going for the Disney crowd. But the overall Minecraft group (which is over 200 million strong) is aging and many of the most devoted players are now in their teens and twenties and there doesn’t appear to be much here for them outside of the excitement of seeing their favorite game on the big screen. My 14-year-old son, who has been playing for a decade, was upbeat about the possibilities. His post-screening verdict: “cringey.” That’s not a word Warner Brothers wants to hear bandied about. And, to be fair, my other kid, who is five, loved it. For her, the colorful palette, loud noises, physical humor, and various low-violence battles were sufficient to engage her for 90 minutes.

The movie tries to include “meta” and self-referential humor but most of it either feels forced or simply isn’t funny. A lot of what’s wrong with A Minecraft Movie falls into that category – as if it’s trying too hard to be The LEGO Movie rather than using a similar approach to become its own thing. The film’s two biggest names at least bring their A-game, with Jason Momoa willingly lampooning his own image (much the way Dwayne Johnson did in Jumanji) and Jack Black being…well…Jack Black. Black has by now embedded himself so deeply into the game-inspired movie genre (with previous appearances in Borderlands, The Super Mario Brothers Movie, and the Jumanji sequels) that he understands exactly how to play Steve.

Speaking of which, the movie starts out by providing Steve’s backstory, showing how he achieves his childhood dream of “mining.” While chipping away at rocks, he discovers two cool “things” (actually the Orb of Dominance and the Earth Crystal) that, when combined, open a portal to the Overworld. He enters and immediately learns how to use blocks to build houses. But, after spending decades crafting a massive city, Steve discovers a portal to another realm: the dark, soulless world of Nether, ruled over by Malgosha (Rachel House), who looks like she got lost on the way to a Dark Crystal sequel. Before being captured, Steve gives his dog Dennis the Orb of Dominance and Earth Crystal to hide in the real world.

That’s where Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa) enters the story. With his video game store on the edge of bankruptcy, Garrett will go to any lengths to save it. One of his schemes nets him a bunch of junk, but inside an old box are the Orb of Dominance and Earth Crystal. A visitor to his store, Henry (Sebastian Hansen), accidentally activates the portal, allowing him, his older sister Natalie (Emma Myers), realtor Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and Garrett to enter the Overworld. They soon become embroiled in trying to stop the nefarious schemes of Malgosha while helping Steve reunite with Dennis.

If all of that sounds like pretty standard animated kids’ stuff, that’s because it is (despite the inclusion of live actors, there’s a lot of CGI/animation involved). Although there are times when Jared Hess (the Napoleon Dynamite director) shows his fondness for whimsey, the necessities of working with a Major Brand constrain him. His penchant for the bizarre is evident in one aspect of the movie: the inclusion of Jennifer Coolidge. Playing Vice Principal Marlene, she is at best tangential to the story but Hess and his screenwriters nevertheless elect to give her an oversized role even though her scenes are completely severed from the main proceedings. Coolidge is, of course, doing what she does best, playing a breezy, ditsy character who is divorced from reality. Kids probably won’t know what to make of Marlene but she feels like an Easter Egg for adults.

For a movie based on a game that’s all about world-building, the crowning irony is that there’s almost none of that here. The Overworld is bright and colorful and replicates the look and feel of the game but we are given scant opportunity to explore it. Although a more epic approach to the material (like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) probably wouldn’t have worked with A Minecraft Movie, I wish the filmmakers had done something to make the action scenes more than obligatory interludes.

It took Warner Brothers and Mojang Studios something like eleven years to get A Minecraft Movie to screens and the large number of writers whose names were approved by the WGA (with at least 21 other contributors not receiving credit) hints at many contradictory ideas and dead-end approaches. The final product reflects this: A Minecraft Movie is a chaotic mess. Some players will enjoy the flashes of familiarity but others will find the production to be lacking. “Cringey” might be too harsh but this is unlikely to become the next video game-to-movie classic.

Minecraft Movie, A (United States, 2025)