‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review : Pop Culture Leftovers

‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review

April 5, 2025 6:00 pm |

Minecraft to this day remains the highest selling videogame of all time, and yet it has taken this long for Hollywood to produce an adaptation of the property. Maybe the delay comes from the fact that Minecraft doesn’t have any form of story or a narrative and is instead purely about unleashing your creativity with the elements of the world. Luckily, at least for myself, Director Jared Hess decided to climb aboard the long awaited adaptation and his style known for such films as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre bleeds through wholeheartedly.

A Minecraft Movie is a bonkers experience, full of references to not only the game it’s named after, but to Hess’ other feature films. It’s a surreal movie in every vein of the imagination and it had me genuinely chuckling along with all the nonsense to nearly the final crawl. It’s in the film’s third act that you can clearly see a bit of studio meddling that makes the film conclude in a rather generic and predictable crowd pleasing fashion.

Following the villainous Malgosha (Rachel House) as she attempts to retrieve the power cube that harnesses the power to turn the world of Overworld into pure darkness and erase all creativity. It’s up to Steve (Jack Black) and his new friends to evade Malgosha before she can get her hands on the powerful “orb” cube. A Minecraft Movie delivers the traditional “save the world” plot that’s come to be expected, but it’s in the outrageous context that it succeeds.

Apart from the only known character within the game of Minecraft, we are offered a handful of new characters to relate to. Garrett (Jason Momoa) is a full of himself has-been that won Gamer of the Year in 1989 and is in serious financial ruin hoping to catch a break. Henry (Sebastian Hansen) is a teenager forced to move to an affordable new town with his older sister after their mother passes away. He is full of creativity, but cautious to explore his interests within the real world. His sister, Natalie (Emma Myers) is his newly established guardian, worries that her brother’s creativity will be his downfall. Lastly, Danielle Brooks plays a real estate agent who has a true passion for animals and is sprung into the madness of everything by being a kind-hearted individual and helping Myer’s Natalie find her brother when he goes briefly missing. Additionally Jennifer Coolidge remains in the real world the entire film, never entering the world of the Overworld as Vice Principal Marlene. Her character is incredibly minor and is an unnecessary romantic time filler with a villager forging his own path into our reality. Marlene is a fun addition due to it being Coolidge in the role, but its subplot is inconsequential to the overarching story regardless.

The aforementioned attributes are all of the real world aspects of these characters and once they are launched into the world of Minecraft AKA the Overworld, they are then able to unleash their true potential. Jason Momoa, Jack Black and Sebastian Hansen are truly the main characters, with Emma Myers and especially Danielle Brooks offered bare minimum to do during the allotted runtime. There is a fun amount of growth to be had with Black’s Steve, Momoa’s Garrett and Hansen’s Henry, but Myer’s Natalie and Brook’s Dawn are sidelined to minimal character building.

Jack Black reunites with Jared Hess for the first time since Nacho Libre back in 2006 and don’t be surprised to see a few nods to their previous collab. Jack Black brings with him the usual Jack Black-isms you’d expect from the man: he sings, he makes up words and he overemphasizes certain words for humor. If you’ve had it with Black over the past few years, A Minecraft Movie is not going to offer anything that will get you back in his camp. For myself, an avid lover of Black’s work throughout his entire career from School of Rock to The Pick of Destiny to the Jumanji sequels, his performance as Steve here may have been extreme, but it works within this realm. It’s clear that Black and his castmates are having a blast with their greenscreen counterparts, along with their unbelievable practical sets.

It’s a fantasy action comedy so the world of Overworld needs to be ready to be believed as a true place with genuine stacks. With a mixture of practical sets and CGI that surprisingly enhances the overall experience, the film has a severe uncanny valley feel to everything it showcases. This does however simulate the world of Minecraft and the beings within relatively accurate to the game itself.

Only fans of the games can really say how true this adaptation is, but as a fan of Hess’ previous bizarre work and sense of humor – A Minecraft Movie works extraordinarily well. This film is the best case scenario for an adaptation of any game like this, it’s difficult to see what other options there may have been. Without Hess’ signature style bleeding through, this film would’ve been a generic visual mess of an action film – as big of a flop as Borderlands managed to be. While it may not garner as much of a cult following as Napoleon Dynamite or Nacho Libre, A Minecraft Movie will wind up being a bonafide hit one way or another. Especially with its key demographic and young patrons by being immersed into the world of their favorite videogame. It’s a silly fun time with a good blend of adult humor and surrealism that successfully brings Minecraft to the big screen for gamers and non-gamers alike.

Published Simultaneously on Cinefied.com