Video game adaptations are on the rise and strangely, so is their quality. This is the small window of time where studios are all looking for their next big franchise to take over for failing cape flicks and the focus seems to be on video games. With Minecraft being the highest selling game of all time (300 million copies), it seems like a sure thing financially to release it now.
A Minecraft Movie starts with the expository story of Steve (Jack Black). We see him from a simple child who’s always wanted to work in the mines, to an apathetic adult that realizes that he finally can. Immediately he finds an artifact and stumbles into the fun, but often dangerous cubic world of Minecraft. Meanwhile, we meet four other characters who are all brought together to the portal and through hijinks all end up stuck in the animated world full of pixel blocks, sheep, strange natives,… and creepers.
In a random choice, Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, Gentlemen Broncos) directs. He’s also joined by eight writers (always a bad sign). Hess’s brand of comedy hasn’t quite been able to resonate with a new generation, so his inclusion here is quite the gamble.
My reaction while watching Minecraft
From the trailers, this project already felt like a monumental disaster. Yet, we live in the age of Snow White and countless other box office bombs, so there are few surprises anymore. With all that, I was quite surprised that most of the first act was far better than I expected. Jason Momoa’s character is a former world video game champion, having mastered an arcade game in the late 80s. Now, he runs a hole in the wall classic video game store that is failing. We’re also introduced to a brother and sister who move to the town of Chuglass, Idaho to get a new start after their mom passes away. (The brother is essentially the main character of the movie). Also, there’s a helpful realtor/mobile zoo owner that gets involved in the mix, just because.
Maybe I’m misleading you because none of the aformentioned characters are the good part. In fact, they’re all pretty miserable to watch. The real star of A Minecraft Movie is Idaho. I haven’t cared much for Jared Hess’s latest ventures into incredibly ridiculous comedy. However, there’s just something about some of his characters that echo the small town experience reminiscent of Christopher Guest mockumentaries. I’m not one for easter eggs, but you can tell Hess is trying to show some love to Napoleon Dynamite devotees.
Once the characters actually get to Minecraft world, the movie falls apart. Don’t get me wrong, the animation is bright, unique, and crisp. Yet, when you throw in real people on top of that, it all just comes off looking like a over-budget Super Bowl ad. Perhaps my escapist brain is broken, but in every scene where the characters are running for their lives or even just standing, I just imagined them standing in a hollow sound stage with a giant green screen behind them. Also, none of the characters ever truly seem like they’re in the same room as they barely register each other.
It’s time to talk about Steve. Your appreciation of Jack Black depends on how tired you are of him just not trying to do anything different in the past decade (or three). In what seems to be reliable casting for these types of movies (i.e. Jumanji) is now Minecraft’s cross to bear. Steve is by no means a sacred character. In fact, he’s purposely a blank slate. But Jack Black is just playing himself, even to the point where he decides to sing four original songs during the runtime of the movie.
There’s a good movie to be found with the elements of Minecraft. Had the filmmakers focused on perhaps making the humans animated once they crossed the portal, or just made this the story of a young Steve discovering this beautiful but pixelated world. They could have had something that fans all love about the simplicity of the game. That’s not to say this won’t be a big success, because it definitely will. The children yearn for the mines, after all.
A Minecraft Movie is truthfully not made for me. It was full of references dedicated to memes and streamer references that I didn’t get, but kids in the audience cheered for. It will hopefully please the very young fanbase. Though, as a movie for the masses, it’s grating, lifeless, and worst of all, forgettable. The more time that passes, the less I remember about this movie, though now I yearn for Napoleon Dynamite 2. D+
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