It’s not hyperbole to say we’re in the midst of a golden age of video game adaptations.
Indeed, the attention to detail is tremendous.
Unfortunately, that’s whereA Minecraft Movie’s positives largely begin and end.
Four human outcasts accidentally travel to the Overworld, aka Minecraft’s block-based universe
That’s being polite about its visuals, too.
When its first trailer dropped last September, I couldn’t decide ifA Minecraft Movielooked beautiful or horrifying.
Player selection issues
There’s little to shout about on the human cast front, too.
Many Minecraft fans have taken exception to its movie adaptation’s art style
For one,A Minecraft Moviedoesn’t know who it wants its protagonist to be.
One quick pivot later, though, and Garrett is set up as the movie’s primary hero.
No sooner has Momoa’s character been established as the protagonist than Henry is installed as its champion-in-chief.
A Minecraft Movie doesn’t know who it wants its protagonist to be
It doesn’t help that it somewhat relegates its female characters to the sidelines.
Their burgeoning friendship is only fleetingly explored when the boys are off having much more thrilling adventures, too.
The exception to that rule is the slightly gratifying expansion of Steve and Garrett’s relationship.
The subplot involving Jennifer Coolidge’s Marlene is the funniest thing that A Minecraft Movie has to offer
My verdict
Two questions have dominated my thoughts since the press screening ofA Minecraft Movie.
The first ‘Will families and/or Minecraft devotees enjoy this?’
can be answered with an emphatic ‘yes’.
A Minecraft Movie should be more creative than it actually is
Whenever I leave a film screening, I always ask myself, ‘Did I enjoy that?’
and, unfortunately for this movie, the answer is a firm ‘no’.
Quit this game while you’re ahead and wait for one of 2025’snew moviesto be available to stream onMaxinstead.
A Minecraft Movie’s plot doesn’t creep along like one of the game’s iconic Creepers do
A Minecraft Movie launches exclusively in theaters worldwide on April 4.
