“A Minecraft Movie,” released on April 7, and instantly left a mark on modern pop culture. Despite its large fanbase, commercial success and record breaking status, its quality has come into question.
The film opens by introducing an everyday man named Steve (Jack Black), who finds a mysterious cubical “orb” and discovers the Overworld, a dimension analogous to our own but cubical. He later reaches the Nether, Minecraft’s take on the Underworld.. In the Nether, evil piglins, anthropomorphic pigs, capture Steve. Before they lock him up, he sends the orb – the only key between the Overworld and the real world – away with his dog, Dennis.
Dennis takes the orb back to Steve’s old house where it ends up at an estate auction. Garret “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa) wins the auction and finds himself, Orphans Natalie (Emma Myers) and Henry (Sebastian Hanson), Dawn (Danielle Brooks) the real estate agent and mobile zoo owner in the Overworld. There the motley crew allies with Steve on a mission to defeat the forces of the Nether and return home.
“A Minecraft Movie” is no cinematic wonder, but it’s not bad. The character arcs are shallow and the plot isn’t anything special, It’s a simple storyline that has the protagonists fetch an item and then fight off an invasion. However this doesn’t take much away from the film because it doesn’t aspire to be a movie of literary or cinematographic acclaim; it simply aims to entertain.
The movie is good at what it does. It has engaging action scenes with a sense of magnificence, grandeur and humor that all audiences can appreciate. The wild, outlandish style only made the movie more interesting. The humor landed and was never awkward. There were multiple times throughout the movie that we legitimately laughed out loud.
It succeeds in evoking the nostalgia of early Minecraft. Despite the film’s lack of total accuracy to the Mojang Studios video game, it still constructed a resemblance to both modern and early Minecraft livestreams that a variety of audiences can enjoy. For instance, the film’s decision to include the original Minecraft music may resonate with fans of the game.
The media culture surrounding the movie also facilitated interaction between audience members. It certainly wasn’t as if people were having conversations throughout the movie, but people threw popcorn, dressed up as characters and screamed popular lines. While some may see this as a negative because it disrupts the film, we believe it made for a unique viewing experience and it only enriched our time in the theater.
Most people are not going to “A Minecraft Movie” looking for a masterpiece. They are going because it’s something they saw on the internet, and they are likely looking for the same surface-level entertainment you would expect online. Watching “A Minecraft Movie” was a thrilling experience that many, especially those that feel nostalgia for mining and crafting, will enjoy.
