A Minecraft Movie

As a longtime Minecraft player, I've waited years for this movie-and while it didn't blow me away, it didn't disappoint either.

The film delivers solid humor and entertainment, backed by impressive CGI. Jack Black and Jason Momoa absolutely shine, but the story falls short with flat character development and a predictable, overly shallow plot that could have been so much more.

If you are looking for peak cinema with in-depth meanings and inspirations, I do not recommend watching this movie.

But if you are just looking for a simple, fun, and enjoyable movie, this might be the one for you.

7/10.

Jason Mamoa was absolutely fantastic in this movie. To me and my wife he was the highlight. He seriously deserves an Oscar for bringing a caricature to life and making us care about his character. The CGI was also fantastic: vivid, richly imagined, and engrossing. It was remarkable that a majority of the film occurs in the Minecraft world and yet it (and the real human characters in it) felt truly real. Truly outstanding work by the whole production team. There was also a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, and over the top silliness which was a ton of fun. On the way home all of us (me, my wife, and our three kids: 13,10, 8) were sharing our favorite moments and quips from the film. Our kids loved it, and from the engagement I heard of all the kids around us (some much younger than ours), everyone was having a good time. I'd say this is a fun family film anyone from 4 to adult (I'm 47) will enjoy. And thanks again to Jason Mamoa for committing so hard to his character and Jack Black for bringing the music and enthusiasm.

While I'm not completely familiar with the lore or overall structure of the game Minecraft, a game I've only played once in my life, I'm extremely familiar with the filmography of Jared Hess; an eternally goofy yet somewhat clean indie filmmaker with an uneven yet auteur worthy filmography under his belt. When I went to see A Minecraft Movie on Tuesday, I didn't go in to see a movie about Minecraft. I went in to see a movie from the director of Nacho Libre and Napoleon Dynamite. And in that regard, I was entertained. The film is full of Hess' strange trademarks such as awful hairdos, silly replacements for swear words, comedically macho characters, odd sentiment towards the retro, a fondness towards Idaho and potatoes, and familiar faces in the form of Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jermaine Clement. It was exactly what it needed to be: silly, good humored dumb fun.

The film is quirky and somewhat stays true to the game. The cast is unhinged to the point where it works. Sure there are some cliches here with the story and then as well as character flaws but the film paces itself well and delivers a well rounded family film. Jack Black does the absolute best with what he is given as well as Jason does. Both of them lead the project with grace. As for some of the supporting characters, they seem to have a few tropes that were heard of before. I've played Minecraft for 10+ years and this is the best version of film we're going to get at this high of budget. Is the film perfect, no. But it is indeed quite enjoyable.

I walked into the Minecraft movie hoping for at least a spark of the creativity and mystery that made the game iconic. Instead, I got 90 minutes of painfully generic kids' humor, zero emotional depth, and a plot so lazy it could've been written by a focus group high on sugar. Jack Black? He's the only soul in this lifeless block-fest. Man pours his heart into it, cracks some laughs, and single-handedly saves this thing from being a total trainwreck. Respect to him. But even his talent can't fix the fact that this movie does nothing for Minecraft fans. No lore, no cool nods to Redstone engineers, no epic Ender Dragon moments - just a forgettable cash grab dressed up in pixel skins. It's a movie made for 6-year-olds whose only exposure to Minecraft is watching YouTube shorts. For the rest of us? It's just insulting.