If I didn’t have a kid, I would not have watched A Minecraft Movie. Maybe I would have watched it once it hit streaming (just because I sincerely try to watch as many new release movies during any given year), but no way would it have warranted a trip to the theater. I’m not being a mindless hater here; it’s just that I know very little about the source material. This movie is not for me. But, thankfully, the filmmakers thought of people like me when they put this film together.
Even though I consider myself a gamer, I’ve become increasingly out of touch over the years. I know a little about Minecraft only because I was a junior high / high school teacher when it first came out, and I always told students they could write about whatever they wanted for certain essays. This led to quite a few Minecraft essays from boys that normally claim to have “nothing to write about.” So I knew about zombies and creepers, but nothing sounded interesting enough to get me to play.
Flash forward to today, and I have a five-year-old son who loves Minecraft. He enjoys watching videos of it more than playing it, but let’s just add that to the list of generational gap stuff I just don’t understand. Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to taking my kids to the movies since they were born, and it’s only getting better because now they will ask to go see movies rather than just getting taken to the latest animated release. My son has been asking about this one ever since he saw the first preview months ago.
I’ve written about how having kids has changed my viewing habits, so I don’t want to get into that here, but I will say that it brings me joy to see my kids get excited about movies, even if those movies are not meant for me. I’ve always been lenient with movies regarding their target audience. I don’t like the Twilight movies or the Fifty Shades movies, and I even think they are objectively bad in many ways, but who cares what I think when I am not the target audience? I don’t begrudge any critics that take these movies to task, but I just feel like “Old Man Yells at Cloud” when I even think about critiquing a movie like this in any kind of serious manner, especially when the movie is aware of what it is.
No one involved in A Minecraft Movie thought for a second that they were making a traditionally “good” movie. They set out to make something children and fans of the game would enjoy, and they tried to pepper in enough random silliness to keep people like me entertained. In that regard, A Minecraft Movie is a total success (more importantly to all involved, it’s also a massive financial success).
There are viral videos making the rounds showing fans losing their minds over some in-jokes that went completely over my head. I didn’t know what a “chicken jockey” was until I watched the movie, but apparently it’s a big deal to the Minecraft community. Despite not understanding some of the references, I still enjoyed the portion of the movie that took place in the Minecraft world. It looks great, and the action is easy to follow. The fact that the world is populated with skeletons, evil pigs, square faced animals, oddly-nosed villagers, creepers, Jack Black, and zombies didn’t matter. It’s all fun, and there’s enough exposition to keep me in the loop.
If that’s all A Minecraft Movie was, it would be fine, and my son would still love it (his one sentence review leaving the theater: “God, that was good!”). But thankfully, director Jared Hess (Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite) added his trademark quirkiness to the “real” world portion. There are multiple tater tot jokes, everyone is a weirdo, and everything looks like it takes place in the 1980s despite it taking place in the present.
There’s nothing as unique and funny as his most popular films, but Jason Momoa and Jack Black get to let themselves completely loose in Hess’s playground, and they hit more than they miss. They could easily come across as annoying, however, so your enjoyment of this hinges on how much of their nonsense you can stomach. Despite Black’s current sell-out phase, I still enjoy his stupid shit. And Momoa is clearly enjoying himself, easily pulling off the likable dickhead character. Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, and Danielle Brooks are a bit overshadowed by Black and Momoa, but they’re all funny and provide the heart of the movie. I didn’t expect to care about any characters in this movie, but they got the job done.
All that written, I don’t think A Minecraft Movie is very good. It’s meant for children, and there’s enough randomness to keep people like me entertained. But from an objective standpoint, it’s a bit of a Jumanji ripoff, and it’s predictable as hell. Even though I’m not a fan of the game, it still felt like a lot of fan service was crammed into it just for the sake of fan service. And for a game about creativity, I think, there wasn’t a lot of creating. Yeah, they craft some weapons at the end, and Steve gets to build some wacky stuff in the intro (that felt like it was tacked on as an excuse for the movie to begin in the Minecraft world rather than the real one), but overall it was more of a stereotypical quest story.
Perhaps older players of the game will come away disappointed, and anyone seeking a “good movie” will need to look elsewhere. But for my son and his Minecraft-ignorant father just happy to take his kid to a movie he’s excited about, it was exactly what we wanted.
Random Thoughts
Maybe I’m part of the problem giving movies like this a pass, but plenty of interesting, thought-provoking movies are still being made. Yeah, it sucks that stuff like this and comic book movies are sucking up most of the money, but until people stop watching them, this is the cinematic world we live in.
I can understand why people could see this as one of those death of cinema moments, but anyone who thinks that needs to calm down. First off, the industry has changed enough so that studios can churn out money-grabs like this while also funding new movies from directors like Paul Thomas Anderson. Yes, it would be nice for auteurs to get bigger budgets and more chances to make whatever they want, but it is what it is. This kind of stuff is clearly what the masses want. Secondly, these movies are going to happen no matter what; at least this one has a bit of character to it, even if that character relies a bit too heavily on tater tots.
I’m lukewarm on this Jennifer Coolidge moment we’re going through, but she is perfectly cast as someone to make random noises to a nonverbal villager.
And her moment pays off nicely in the mid-credits scene with some Matt Berry voicework for the villager.
I could’ve used at least one scene of Momoa and Jemaine Clement’s character hanging out in some unisex turquoise blouses.
It really sucks that Jack Black ended Tenacious D over some bullshit. It would’ve been great to see Kyle Gass in a weird role.
The constant search for new IP to adapt is getting annoying, but they waited just long enough for this one. Just like with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the game has been around long enough for both kids and parents to be players. That wasn't the case with me, but with the game debuting back in 2011, there are definitely players who have kids of their own who play that went to see this.
My audience must’ve missed the memo with this viral nonsense going on, especially with the chicken jockey scene. There was plenty of laughter, and people even clapped at the end, but there was no full on freak out like I’ve seen in a few videos.
This is the first time that my son had to explain the post credits scene to me. He told me, “I know who that is. It’s Alex.” I still don’t know why that’s significant, but it got him hyped up for the sequel. I’ve never felt older.