In the realm of video games, I’ve always been more drawn to titles with a compelling story – or at least a primary objective. As such, I never got lost in the world of Minecraft, which is more about experimentation than reaching a set goal. I did play every episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, however. I can certainly see the appeal of the limitless possibilities behind Minecraft’s basic aesthetic. In this sense, Jared Hess isn’t a bad choice to helm A Minecraft Movie. After all, Hess rose to fame directing Napoleon Dynamite. Like Minecraft, that film didn’t exactly have a plot, but it was hypnotically humorous and simplistically inventive.
The best part of A Minecraft Movie is the first act, which ironically doesn’t spend much time in the Minecraftuniverse. We open in a quirky small town where brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and sister Natalie (Emma Myers) seek a fresh start. This is very much a Jared Hess small town, which traverses mundane and surreal. A key example is when a couple of bullies sabotage Henry’s makeshift jet pack. It gets off the ground, but the jet pack collides with a giant potato chip statue. There are other fun side characters like Jemaine Clement as a storage unit manager, Danielle Brooks as a real estate agent who drives around with a llama in her backseat, and Jennifer Coolidge as an educator who’s too open with her love life. Coolidge naturally steals every scene she’s in, although she sadly only has a handful.
Henry finds a mentor in Jason Momoa’s Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, a retro gamer who peaked in 1989. Discovering a mysterious blue cube that’s definitely not the Tesseract, Henry and Garrett open a portal to the Minecraft world. Natalie and Brooks’ Dawn also get roped into this universe where they meet Steve, played by Jack Black – who’s apparently contractually obligated to star in every video game adaptation now. Oddly enough, A Minecraft Movie loses some of its charm once the characters leave the real world. This is where it starts to feel less like a Jared Hess film and more like something that was made by committee.
The Minecraft world is visually interesting. Despite all of the CGI, the filmmakers built many of the sets and props from the ground up. Where the original game had virtually no story, though, A Minecraft Movie has a lot going on. It sets up a touching brother/sister story with Henry and Natalie, who recently lost their mother. This is quickly forgotten about, however. Natalie and Dawn get sidelined while Steve and Garrett fight over who the comedic relief is. Both have their moments, but the jokes are hit-and-miss. There’s also an end-of-the-world plot involving an army of piglins, a MacGuffin that needs to be acquired, and an onslaught of references that longtime players may appreciate, but don’t do much to progress the plot.
A Minecraft Movie has five credited writers, which might explain why it can be overstuffed and unfocused. The cast elevates the material, but the film has more characters than it knows what to do with. The film is at its best when Jared Hess gets to do what he does best, embracing the random and offbeat. When it tries to be the next Lego Movie or Super Mario Bros. Movie, you can sense the studio notes at work. If you’re a kid, the film may be a harmless waste of time. For a film that promotes playing outside of the box, though, A Minecraft Movie is a bit too safe and straightforward – especially considering this is from the studio that took a risk with Barbie.
While I can’t quite recommend A Minecraft Movie for those outside of its fanbase, longtime players will likely enjoy the film for what it is. Maybe the inevitable sequel will win me over eventually. I wasn’t that ecstatic about the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie either, but that series improved with each installment. A Minecraft Movie has the right blocks. It just needs to build something more creative.