The Super Mario Bros. Movie struck videogame adaptation gold last summer, bombarding multiplexes with vivid pop silliness (and global brand recognition) that audiences found irresistible. Now, Mojang Studios and Warner Bros. are getting in on the action with A Minecraft Movie, an equally colorful and boisterous diversion designed to tap that rich vein of gamer passion and disposable income. It’s smart business; Minecraft remains a cultural juggernaut in its own right, and theaters will surely be filled with sword-wielding enthusiasts this weekend. However, adapting a game without at least the flimsy backdrop of the Mushroom Kingdom to give it shape—and one that primarily relies on unique user experience, to boot—is the challenge facing director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), who aims to transform a sandbox build-em-up into something that holds together as a movie. I don’t think he mined enough ingots.
After all, Minecraft means having the freedom to explore and build in a fantasy world without someone else’s narrative guiding your hand. Plus, grasping the nuances of this cubed universe—such as the fact that nighttime brings out square zombies and combining hot lava with a block-chicken results in a snack—can be overwhelming for newbies. Fortunately for Hess, at least in one respect, he’s reteamed with Nacho Libre star Jack Black. As the expert crafter Steve, Black is precisely the kind of excitable man-child you want guiding a largely guileless cast through such commotion. After discovering the key to a wondrous playland, Steve commits his life to mining (and crafting) in its central hub, known as “the Overworld,” mastering its core experiential loop without any tedious adult concerns dulling his artistic edge. He sings power ballads (four in total, for those wondering—or worrying) and delivers heaps of exposition with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a child describing their first roller coaster ride. In a movie fueled by chaotic-good energy, Black is undoubtedly its engine.
A Minecraft Movie begrudges us a largely superfluous ensemble cast. They eventually join Steve in the cruddy digital phoniness of the Overworld, embarking on a quest involving a cosmic cube that creates portals to Earth (one of the better jokes is that everyone calls it a sphere), which triggers the ire of a creatively hostile witch pig named Malgosha (Rachel House). Each character possesses precisely one defining trait and serves the same story purpose: to obtain the cube and perhaps *wink* learn a little something about themselves along the way.
There’s Dawn (Danielle Brooks), a realtor with a side hustle as a moving zoo operator (shockingly, her circus car full of animals never factors into the plot); Natalie (Emma Meyers), who relocates with her brother to a potato factory town because, as she states immediately, it was their mother’s dying wish; and Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie’s little brother, thematically the most consequential character due to his desire to create despite being razzed for it by every human NPC around.
The getting-to-know-you first act, shot as if cinematographer Enrique Chediak was spun out on energy drinks, briefly elevates Jason Momoa’s Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, a faded video game champ that’s Part Macho Man Randy Savage, part King of Kong‘s Billy Mitchell. Momoa injects a bit of weariness into his character’s bravado, possibly because much of his later screentime is consumed by attempts (and failures) to match Black’s energy. Still, you don’t need to squint to see Hess’s vision for the character: a washed-up arcade junkie thrust into a new gamified world where he is unable to compete yet will give his all, even inadvertently becoming a hero (in the vein of Duncan Idaho!) in the process. It’s too bad Hess’s armada of screenwriters—Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galletta—buried him under so many exploding ferns and Eighties cosplay, because Momoa showed up to play in a more richly-told movie.
Hess manages to insert a few rude comic moments to counterbalance all the vacant reaction shots from the animated creatures of the Overworld and Malgosha’s sinister domain (a cubist Mordor populated by pigs), raunchy jokes aimed at raising parents’ eyebrows, provided they’re still lucid enough to catch them: One involves the scent of Steve’s nether regions (described as “gorgonzola”), while another has Garrett and Steve impressed by each other’s forearm strength. I liked how the random violence of Minecraft translated to film: Stab a mammal, and they fall to the floor in a meat heap. I wish there had been more instances that subverted the film’s otherwise anodyne approach, particularly when it came to creation as a subversive act—”Imagination is Awesome!” is the gist of it, but it doesn’t take much to envision a take of A Minecraft Movie that adds a punkier addendum: “And Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.”
Embracing the game’s chaotic playstyle would have been a great way to adapt Minecraft for the screen, which makes me wonder why Hess opted instead to hit the hollow beats of every quest movie ever made. Tinkering with the game’s countless configurations, building surprising things born of complex emotions and daydreams while keeping savvy gamers on their toes (and, yes, driving home its themes of creativity) would freshen up the increasingly stale videogame genre but good. Predictably, this iteration of Minecraft instead plays it safe, constructing plot conveniences instead of digging for inspiration, reaching for half-assed emotional sentiment that drains the film of any anarchic fun. Still, A Minecraft Movie‘s fan-pleasing salvation is knowing when to Do The Thing; it understands why its audience pulled themselves away from their consoles and PCs to spend an afternoon in the theater and delivers it to them with diamond-pickaxe precision.
Director: Jared Hess Writers: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galletta Stars: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, and Sebastian Hansen Release date: April 4, 2025
Jarrod Jones is a freelance critic based in Chicago, with bylines at The A.V. Club, IGN, and any place that will take him, really. For more of his mindless thoughts on genre trash, cartoons, and comics, follow him on Twitter (@jarrodjones_) or check out his blog, DoomRocket.
