“Minecraft” isn’t like most video games of the modern era.
The pace is leisurely and the graphics are purposefully crude. Picture a series of blocks meant to portray sheep, pigs and our plucky avatar, Steve. Those old enough to remember the Atari 2600 gaming system may feel a pang of nostalgia with every round.
That retro charm is everywhere in “A Minecraft Movie,” a gaudy attempt to translate the blockbuster game to the big screen.
What’s simple and streamlined at home is complicated to the Nth degree on screen. Stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa guide newbies and rabid fans alike through the digital haze. Their distinct personas make the goofier bits go down easily.
They have their hands full on that front. “A Minecraft Movie” is silly on steroids, a key reason it’s hard to get mad at its fractured storytelling.
The world building required for this “Movie” is sizable. Younger viewers may be confused, but so will their parents. Our hero Steve (Black) rushes through the hurried exposition, eager to get to the scenery chewing ASAP.
Turns out poor Steve couldn’t fully tap his imagination as a younger man, leaving him on the outside looking in. One day, he enters a mine shaft that has fascinated him for years.
He discovers a portal to an alternate universe called the Overworld where he can create to his heart’s content, brick after brick. Naturally, he doesn’t want to leave.
His tranquility is tested when he accidentally enters a second realm known as The Nether. Creepy, pig-like beasts roam this bleak landscape, led by the villainous Malgosha (Rachel House).
She vows to conquer Overworld in a generically evil fashion.
Meanwhile, four Earth-bound strangers end up in Overworld, including the cartoonish Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (A pink-clad Momoa, having a blast). He’s joined by shy Henry (Sebastian Hansen), his big sister Natalie (Emma Myers) and real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks).
Poor Brooks is given little to do save provide reaction shots and Mary Sue-like heroism. Myers is ignored for long stretches at a time.
The quartet joins forces with Steve to save Overworld and themselves.
The story echoes the chaos found in too many kiddie movies today, the opposite of what made the “Minecraft” game matter. It’s still harmless, all of it, and that’s to director Jared Hess’ credit.
The “Napoleon Dynamite” helmer refuses to take anything seriously.
Phew.
Some comic bits score and Black’s enthusiasm is beyond infectious. He goes to 11 in every scene. Maybe even 12. He even breaks out his Tenacious D pipes a time or three.
Momoa, playing against his hunky appearance, is similarly sweet as a delusional video game champion who peaked in the ’80s.
One of the film’s charming elements? The time period is hard to suss out. That anachronistic sense is oddly appealing in our digital age.
The visuals are delightfully droll. Is this a CGI wonderland, or are some of the Minecraft creatures people in dopey costumes? Either way, it works.
And then there’s Jennifer Coolidge as a lonely teacher flirting with an Overworld refugee who escaped his realm. The “White Lotus” alum can conjure smiles from thin air, which is exactly what happens here.
“A Minecraft Movie” duplicates some of the source material’s core functions, from those blocky swords to creating structures out of thin air. Newbies may be confused, but it’s incorporated reasonably well into the story.
That’s assuming you can follow what’s happening from beat to beat. Just try keeping focus on the mission in play.
“Minecraft” remains a deeply inventive game that lets players explore their budding imaginations at their own pace. The story gives lip service to that reality, but it’s far more interested in “Napoleon”-style shtick.
Gosh!
HiT or Miss: Children will get the most pleasure out of “A Minecraft Movie,” a collision course of blocky odes to the enduring video game smash.
I am not a Minecraft player, but my 11 year old is obsessed with it. His favorite game, which I like because of the creativity involved. I’ll admit, I sat in the theater wishing I had not given up whiskey for Lent; however, you know who loved the movie? My son and my wife (Who enjoys playing with him). They went back and saw it again, “I am proud to say I did not,” and he saw it yet again with his grandmother. The point? Critics gave it bad reviews, but my son and the high school kids of all grades I worked with absolutely LOVED IT! CHICKEN JOCKEYYYYY!!!!! Having a reference to that humors my classes. The movie is a success, plan on another coming as well. It was not my cup of tea, but if you make my son this happy without trying to brainwash him to your political ideologies and perversions, “Hey, I am a great fan!”
I knew nothing about Minecraft other than hearing it’s a game. The trailers made my head explode in agony. it looked like it would make the Emoji Movie look like an Oscar classic. I thought i would never go to it, even as part of a ‘free” ticket under my Regal Unlimited membership.
But then when i heard it was expected to be a massive phenomenon, i thought “Hey i love Jack Black” and checked it out at 1 pm Saturday on a RPX screen. I got one of the last 3 seats in the theater, thankfully another empty wasn’t right next to me so i wouldnt look like a perv as a single guy in his 50s sitting next to children lol.
Yes, the movie was dumb, but it was a LOT of FUN. Jack Black explained the world well in first 10 minutes, Momoa (whom ive never really seen before as i didn’t attend Aquaman movies) was hysterically funny, the stunts were fun, and there were funny throwaway lines throughout aimed at adults.
So, that’s my experience. Now i’ll finally see Super Mario Brothers and the Sonic movies, which i also avoided due to not having played the games.