At Least there was Laughter: A Mincecraft Movie Review
- Jordon Briggs
- Apr 7
- 7 min read
It’s always nice when you go to a theater to see a movie that you believe will be fun and then end up having a decent amount of fun. I laughed throughout the movie thanks to Jason Momoa and Jack Black's comedic acting and timing.
So while I had a fun time, Minecraft was not an entirely fun movie. Without the talents of the actors and at times the humor of the writers and some of the unique comedic directing qualities of Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) Minecraft would have been boring. Minecraft is an example of when creatives don't try hard enough and when a studio cares more about making money. Interesting though, the movie's way too obvert message is about how capitalism stamps out creativity. The larger message is that in order to let creativity create a more communal minded world, it's best to let yourself be guided by your inner voice.
Jack Black as Steve, the adult whose creativity is stamped out by working a 9-5, finds a way into a video game world where he can create anything he wants. He finds drive and identity in this world along with companionship, in a wolf named Dennis. He eventually learns he has to their defend himself from evil creatures who torment one part of the Minecraft world during the evening. They are evil we learn, because they too have been rendered soulless by living to dig for gold and by the law of a ruler, Malgosha (Rachel House) who makes creativity a crime punishable by death. Steve traps himself during an altercation with Malgosha so that an ore that controls the sun in this world( the sun's existence is what controls the ability to create) cannot be used by Malgosha. The ore is picked up by Dennis who goes back to our world, and hides it so that Malgosha wont find it and turn the rest of Minecraft world completely devoid of creativity.
Like the Super Mario Bros movie, it had a basic plot with no emotion, no expansiveness, nothing complicated in the characters, in theme, in the worlds, or even in its references to a past era (Minecraft had this whole 80’s vibe and aesthetic that wasn’t explored) and relies on visuals, special effects and jokes.
In an interview about making the movie, Hess says of the crafting of the story, "You're trying to tell a story that has interesting characters. People that you care about and are rooting for."
It's twisted or at minimal lacking of self awareness to put out an anti-capitalist message and champion creativity and replicate ways other movies and studios make film versions of a video game and to also not make something imaginative. And so in comes the parts of the movie that almost drained the fun and fascination out of the experience. It was only my bucket of popcorn and large Lemonade, comfy seat and the acting talent of Momoa, Black, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge (here and there) that kept me engaged.
Minecraft had the typical youth centered adventure plot along with the tropes. A curly headed boy, Henry (Sebastian Hansen) who is an outcast because he’s smart, somehow different than others, wimpy, who has no parents (it's barely revealed why his mother is gone, and not revealed why his father is gone) is selected by fate (but really because cinema always champions wimpy kid-- who's always white) and is given a great and heroic task to go on a quest to find a magical object and free someone trapped in a game and/or saves the world from an approaching evil. They even have Momoa make a reference to Frodo from Lord of the Rings in describing the main character, Henry’s vibe. It felt like they copied and pasted the plot from Jumanji, or Tron, more so than LOR but they even know what they're doing with Hansen's casting. It felt lazy for a movie helmed by four writers and director in Hess, known for his uniqueness.
The characterization was also done poorly. I never felt like I got know any of the characters other than Steve and Garrett (Momoa). I didn't feel like I needed to care about Henry. The writers didn't make him interesting or endearing, or funny. He all morals and responsibility. Why though? These traits don't tie in to loss or being an outcast. They are great traits to have but he has to be more if he's the character the audience is to follow. Henry seems one track minded, one note. I've also seen too many movies about the wimpy and creative white kid student we're supposed to root for because his shyness and perceived non traditional values make him humble. In reality, I've been around too many wimpy and creative white youth and adults who are selfish, racist, envious, sexist, self absorbed and self serving to just root for this archetype anymore. I don't know anything about the writers but this choice is too common in Hollywood and in indie projects. At this point I want more in this kind of character if i'm going to root for him. Why would I believe he has a heart of gold just because he's different than other people? This lack of characterization and which translates into a boring movie, is in step when you have no story, and just follow a plot.
What also made the film not fun were the reliance on visuals--boring visuals. Visuals and special effects alone don't make for a fun movie. Entertaining films come from how you organize these elements. They come from a vision of how you'll choose to edit these elements together. They come from wanting to make an impact with visuals and special effects. Not even the kids I sat around seemed to laugh or feel jubilant from seeing the video game come to life. Kids love funny punchlines and interesting visuals just like this adult.
If the visuals are not going to be interesting make the quest interesting. But it felt like there was not attempt to have a gripping mission to watch. Henry and Steve's quest to find the ore, with Garrett (Momoa) Dawn (Brooks) and Natalie (Meyers) as support felt flat. Henry opted into Steve's desire to vanquish evil too easily, and had no ambition of his own for being in the Minecraft world until he's reason to help Steve is revealed way too late. Even when he created things it was just him figuring out the world and moving along with no emotion, no joy. The quest also had an imperialist aspect in it with Steve building new things like huge buildings, restaurants, and monuments to his dog and renaming things after himself, without any opposition from the people indigenous to the world. No challenge from them because they are, “Pacifists and vegetarians” as Steve off handedly refers to them. And I wondered why, as Malgosha's minions chased after Steve and the others to get the ore, why no one in the world came to help them. I also wondered how later, in a big battle against Malgosha, how out of nowhere, Steve and Henry got help from large robots who earlier in the story, Steve ridicules for being a "softy".
You’re supposed to care that Steve wants to stay in the Minecraft world because he is free to be creative and not focus his time and energy making money for someone else, but I didn’t feel for him. He went to another dimension, a dimension belonging to other people, and focused solely on his own desires, protection, and vision for himself. He then builds businesses, and artworks unto himself and his dog-- who is his only friend, and does not befriend the locals--instead he distances himself from them. This was a turn off.
Not only was the quest something I couldn't root for, the writers focused heavily on the male character's goals while mostly leaving the women characters out of the main action. Hess claims a major theme of the movie was that, “All of our characters have to be creative to survive their adventure.” Brooks as Dawn, a real estate agent with more than several side hustles and Meyers as Natalie, a mature young woman and Henry's guardian are made to seem like they’re just there along for the ride until the three guys need them. They don’t get to experience the world, the creativity, or the freedom in using one’s imagination in the same way Henry, Steve, and Garrett do. When they do, it’s in service of Henry’s and Steve’s mission to find Dennis the dog, and defeat Malgosha, another woman. Even the punchlines felt as if reserved heavily for Momoa and Black. Brooks and Meyers had to make due with their character's barely- there personalities, and Brooks still entertained and brought emotion to the film. Even in the end, the character archs and growth belong to Steve and Garrett.
So what kept me engaged? Momoa. He kept me smiling. He was fully committed to his character, a wanna be alpha male, stuck in his glory days as a champion gamer, who's a coward and has lost his purpose. His screaming and yelping, and demure body language when knocked to the grown had me laughing in my seat. Also, Jack Black's brand of comedy works well after all of these years. His foolishness hooks you, and makes for a fun time--just not a fun or redeemable character.
I've seen enough visual stories to say that a good story will always make a movie engaging no matter if you're making a movie from Minecraft or making the Last of Us. But it seems like the studio cared more about profit while posing as this entity that cares about creativity and equity, say, like Disney. So while Hollywood can surprise you, sadly, it felt, despite Hess's words, that the creatives of A Minecraft Movie didn't even try to make a magical or memorable experience.
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