Video game fans are losing their mind over the live-action A Minecraft Movie for reasons I don’t quite understand. Harmless yet tedious, very little in the Jack Black-starring comedy should inspire much reaction at all, no matter how obsessed with this game you are.
My girlfriend of course asked about the Chicken Jockey scene given the viral videos of crazy fans unleashing torrents of popcorn and in some cases live chickens upon audience members, to which I responded, “Huh?” So little of A Minecraft Movie leaps from the screen in any impressionable way, I was floored to see people going berserk for no reason whatsoever.
Especially over a game with low-res special effects, no matter how addictive.
But clearly I’m not the target audience of this surprising spectacle of a film. With no real knowledge of the game other than a superficial understanding, all I can say about A Minecraft Movie is that it feels like Jumanji-lite, with less cohesive humor and unremarkable set pieces. The writing is neither offensive nor elevatory, the action about what you’d expect from a picture made for preteens.
The cast is decent. Jack Black gives the movie his all, making the most of a semi-bland character with his typical crazy antics (of course, if you can’t stand Jack Black, A Minecraft Movie won’t do anything to change your mind). Give Jason Momoa credit for playing a sad, pathetic, and flamboyant former arcade game champion, a role that could have been priceless if the material was a little better. Sebastian Hansen makes for a fine young lead, while the movie largely wastes Danielle Brooks. Jennifer Coolidge has a fun if underwritten role.
What’s most disappointing about A Minecraft Movie is how unimaginative the whole thing feels. It’s not that director Jared Hess and crew don’t do some moderate world-building, but for a movie based on a video game where “anything you can think of is possible,” A Minecraft Movie doesn’t really flex. What comes to mind is Marvel’s Ant-Man, where director Peyton Reed delivered some incredibly creative action scenes by leaning into his character’s unique “powers.” What happens in A Minecraft Movie feels routine, when instead it should have tried to shoot for the block-shaped stars.
A Minecraft Movie is more of a square dud than anything else, but clearly it’s the Chicken Jockey that makes this movie a win. On the positive side, my six-year-old loved it.
Review by Erik Samdahl.