6.5/10

Minecraft, a 2011 sandbox game that has sold over 300 million copies, is finally hitting the big screen in the form of a live action comedy. Titled A Minecraft Movie, the film follows a misfit group (Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, and Danielle Brooks) who accidentally plunge into the world of Minecraft and team up with an inhabitant, Steve (Jack Black), to stop the evil Piglin army’s assault on the land.

A Minecraft Movie is a zany 101 minute escape from reality. The entire movie centers around Jack Black–who basically just plays himself–running around with the other protagonists and naming objects from the game. He draws most of the laughs in this movie, especially when he excitedly constructs fortresses and breaks into bombastic song and dance routines. Momoa perfectly compliments Black on-screen as Garrett, a struggling ex-video game champion, who constantly clashes with the other characters for superiority.

When the film was announced, there was a lot of pessimism surrounding the choice to make it live action. Because Minecraft is a world in which everything is made of cubes, the producers wondered how it would translate to the big screen. To moviegoers’ delight, though, the film pulled this off very well. The CGI was eye-popping: everything looked vibrant and accurate to the game. There was never a time where the CGI looked rushed or poorly done.

While this film, even with some minor flaws, is very charming, a handful of larger issues prevented it from achieving a higher rating. For instance, Sebastian Hansen’s portrayal of his character, Henry, lacked emotion, but excelled in poor dialogue choices. This was especially clear when Hansen boorishly said the line, “You’re seriously the worst person ever,” to Jason Mamoa’s character.

Another issue revolved around the characters Dawn and Natalie. These two failed to do anything of importance throughout the whole film. They split off from the others at the beginning of the movie and spend the rest of the film catching up, but when they do, they cease to do anything of significance for the remainder of the run-time. If you were to remove these two characters from the movie, there would be almost no difference.

In all, A Minecraft Movie, an entertaining film for any fan of the game, has a few major flaws that make it substandard. While it is not an extraordinary movie, it is definitely worth watching for anyone who is looking for a way to kill some spare time and enjoy some buttery popcorn.