A Minecraft Movie Review: Lots of Fun, Lots of Chaos

As an impatient man who had already read a few Minecraft Movie opinions, I’ll admit that I had little expectations from it. As such, when the movie began and I saw the infamous Sheep face scene, I felt a pang of regret and thought this was actually going to be bad. But after sitting through it all, I have to say, Whoa. It turned out to be so great towards the end that it filled the kid inside me with joy and a tingling feeling of nostalgia.

A Minecraft Movie might not be the exact experience of starting the game, progressing through the tasks of exploring the overworld, moving into the Nether, and finally reaching the End. Rather, it’s more of a unique story from a billion other Minecraft adventures. Thankfully, this adventure just might have been worth visiting. Because after sitting through 1 hour and 41 minutes, I found myself filled with happiness. So keep reading my full A Minecraft Movie review as I list out just what I loved about this blocky adventure, coupled with just a few things they could have done better.

Story: Had Me from the Start

The moment when Steve, played by Jack Black, mentioned, “First we ‘Mine‘, then we ‘Craft‘, let’s Minecraft“, I remembered all the happy memories I had with my friends in the Minecraft world. The movie starts with the Minecraft loading screen, showing Steve’s childhood dream of heading into the mines.

The real world seems really hard for Steve, leading him to question his purpose in life. So, unable to bear the aimless daily routine any longer, Steve rushes inside the mines only to find a mysterious Earth Cube and Crystal. Combined, the Earth Cube and Crystal lead Steve to our beloved blocky world of Minecraft.

Once he’s there, we get to see all the parts that each crafter can relate to. Whether breaking wood with his hand as soon as he spawns or building the safe house for his first night, Steve experiences all the core gameplay features of vanilla Minecraft right from the get-go.

Soon, we get to see Steve make a faithful companion, which I’m sure all of us might have done once we start the game: using a bone to tame a wild wolf. However, Steve’s happiness doesn’t last long, and he gets imprisoned by the evil Sorceress of the Nether World, Malgosha. As such, the main plot of A Minecraft Movie revolves around defeating the evil and saving the Overworld.

While I expected the movie’s story to be drab, I was pleasantly surprised. The Minecraft Movie carries its lore well, tackling themes of teamwork and difficulties with a huge frosting of deadpan humor.

As the main leads come together to fight the piglin army, overthrow Malgosha from her throne, and get back, we see everyone taking on the tasks that they’re good at. The movie ends as well as it began, wrapping up with a nice, happy ribbon.

Chaos, Chaos Everywhere

As the movie successfully captures all the essential themes of the game, Warner Bros. didn’t hold back at all in involving chaos in it. All of us Crafters have somewhere experienced this feeling when we jumped into the Minecraft world along with our friends. Whether exploring the Deep Dark biome or raiding a Woodland Mansion, we all get startled whenever mobs surround us and we have a single heart of life remaining.

A Minecraft Movie beautifully captures that chaos, and you’ll realize this whenever you see the Creeper creeping up behind Garett, Malgosha killing her own kind when they don’t follow her orders, the piglins running amok around the village, or when Steve uses the water bucket to cushion the landing near the Pandas.

Cast and Acting: Who Stands Out and Who Falls Flat

It’s no secret that A Minecraft Movie contains a star cast of A-listers. This includes Jack Black as Steve, Jason Momoa as Garett Garrison, Sebastian Eugene Hansen as Henry, Emma Myers as Natalie, and Danielle Brooks as Dawn.

At this point, you might wonder why a video game adaptation needs so many secondary characters at all. But, as I mentioned earlier, Minecraft doesn’t have to be only about Steve and his adventure. There can be a zillion adventures in the game, and you can think of all other characters as your friends who entered this game for the first time.

As the movie progresses and we are introduced to different characters, we glimpse their backstory and what drives them. So whether it’s Garrett Garrison (Jason Momoa) running his about-to-be-closed pop shop or Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn’s banter (Danielle Brooks), there’s a lot of life here.

Personally, I found the acting in A Minecraft Movie incredibly amazing. All characters played their role to perfection. While I was already not expecting a serious experience, I was amazed at how Jack and Jason carried the screenplay and themselves.

Apart from the main leads, we also get to see two of the most out-of-the-blue cameos in the whole movie. Firstly, we get to see the tribute to Technoblade, a pig with a Crown, and Steve refers to him as the Legend of the game.

However, this second one is for the crafters. Later in the movie, Jens Bergensten, the lead designer of Minecraft, gets his own cameo as serving dinner to the Principal and the Villager. Call it a small cherry on this sundae, but seeing him was nice.

Female Leads Deserved More Screen Time

While I loved the casting and the acting, there was one issue I couldn’t ignore: the female leads received comparatively shorter screen time. How do I know this?

Well, I can specifically point out the characteristics of all the male leads. Steve felt like the most experienced and balanced Minecraft player, while Henry seemed like he had a natural talent for crafting and making useful designs or gadgets. Finally, Garett seemed like the know-it-all player, but in reality, didn’t have the faintest idea of what was going on and what to do.

Unfortunately, I was unsure about the female characters because Natalie seemed to be there just to take care of Henry. Moreover, Dawn just felt like a random character in the movie. I believe that both these characters could have been given a bit more personality of their own. While I understand the focus was on Steve, it doesn’t hurt to carry everyone along occasionally.

A Minecraft Movie VFX Brings the Blocky Game to Life

It won’t be a video game adaptation review if we don’t talk about its most important element: VFX. Thankfully, I was super impressed by the animations and effects. A Minecraft Movie’s VFX seemed to totally blend with the real-world characters. Apart from a few close-up scenes where the Overworld in the background seemed slightly blurred out, the movie had fabulous animations.

The trailers for the movie gave us the first look at all the Minecraft Mobs that were set to appear in it. At the time, it felt rather dreadful. However, ignoring that and giving it a shot, I felt the VFX did the movie justice and then some.

The blocks felt real when Steve or the other leads placed them on the ground, or when the world gets destroyed due to the piglin rampage. The Portals look magical, and the whole background where the scenes were shot also felt so realistic. At no point did I feel pulled out and back into the real world. As a gamer who’s lost in imaginary worlds half the time, having that feeling in a movie was absolute bliss.

A Few Broken Blocks Here and There

Besides all the good points, I believe a few areas could have been better. To state the obvious, I do believe A Minecraft Movie will solely entertain those who have played the game and know its lore.

Next is the short screen time for female leads, as discussed earlier. The Vindicator’s face felt a bit horrifying. Unfortunately, the Enderman could have had a bigger lore, further leading to the End Dimension, which was not mentioned at all.

Furthermore, the Nether dimension could have been explored a bit more since it was mentioned, and I guess Warner Bros. missed the opportunity to create better lore around the Nether and the End Dimension. However, I must say that these elements aren’t bad enough to dampen my entire experience. As such, I decided to go a bit lighter on the movie and my criticism.

Stays True to the Original

With so many notable locations, mobs, and encounters, I feel A Minecraft Movie stayed completely true to the original game. This began with the scene where I saw the Overworld with snow-capped mountains, rivers, and valleys. Furthermore, whether it was the Creeper exploding at the face of Garett, the piglins ravaging the Overworld, or when Steve and his friends get blasted out of the mines on a minecart, I found myself saying ‘Aha!’ at almost every scene.

Everything seemed so real, and I could relate so well to the chaotic madness of Minecraft throughout the whole movie. A Minecraft Movie is filmed in New Zealand, and you can experience some of the popular places shown in the film through the Bedrock location DLC Aotearoa.

As you can guess, since I have played the game, I could relate a lot to what’s happening and get Goosebumps whenever iconic things happen in the movie, including a random villager getting lost.

Verdict: A Minecraft Movie Is a Block You Need to Break

Apart from a few reservations about the movie, I found it thoroughly entertaining. The movie’s progression was on point and kept me on my toes at all times. And while the trailers did make me skeptical, I ended up being so wrong about that. The kid inside me felt happy since the movie was beyond my expectations.

As the movie ended, each character was shown to have achieved what they really wanted in life. Finally, the post-credits scene loads up, and we get a slight hint that A Minecraft Movie might have a second part. But you’ll have to see for yourself. So if I were to sum it all up, A Minecraft Movie is definitely worth watching.

That ends my A Minecraft Movie review. I have enjoyed it to the fullest, and I feel this is a must-watch for all Minecraft players. Furthermore, I hope that Warner Bros. makes a sequel exploring the End and Nether to the fullest.

Have you watched A Minecraft Movie yet? Let us know in the comments below!