A Minecraft Movie (2025)

Dir: Jared Hess

Cast: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen

While it may appeal to the vast Minecraft fanbase, this cringey live-action adaptation is seriously lacking the creativity that has become synonymous with the record-breaking sandbox game

Ever since the release of the absolute car crash that was “Super Mario Bros.” in 1993, video game developers, in collaboration with major Hollywood studios, have been continuously looking to expand their beloved pixelated characters beyond the confines of the forever developing home console. Despite there being an endless array of video game content to choose from, somehow in 2025, we are still yet to see a video game successfully translated onto the big screen. Some have undoubtedly faired better than others, especially financially, with the likes of “The Super Mario Bros.” (2023) and the recent “Sonic the Hedgehog” trilogy absolutely smashing at the box-office, the biggest issue when adapting iconic video game franchises continues to lie with the narrative.

Old-school video games, that received the big screen treatment much earlier on, the likes of “Street Fighter”, “Mortal Kombat” and the aforementioned “Super Mario Bros.”, were created when the world of video gaming was much simpler. There was little-to-no narrative explored in video games from the 1980’s and 1990’s, with creative focus purely shifting towards addictive gameplay mechanics. However, as software has developed over the subsequent years, so has video game storytelling. One would thing that some of the many genuinely gripping narratives, that serve as the foundation in modern video games, would translate nicely into a dramatic feature film. The problem movie producers face nowadays when it comes to adapting video games, is that there is too much story and content, so much so it could never be fully explored in a two-hour film. While some have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, the most faithful and well received video-game adaptations have actually been seen on the small screen, with TV shows such as “The Last of Us”, “Arcane”, “Fallout” and “The Witcher” not only expanding the franchise to other sources of media, but also introducing a whole new audience to the original games themselves.

Despite their universal criticism, video game-to-film adaptations are never going to go away, as the gaming market is proving to be more lucrative than ever in modern society, and producers are always going to look at cashing in on any property, most likely with complete disregard in remaining faithful to the source material. This ultimately has led to the release of the latest theatrical release based on a video game, the lazily titled “A Minecraft Movie”, the first live-action adaptation of the record-breaking sandbox game by Swedish developers Mojang Studios.

Following its release in 2011, “Minecraft” swiftly became the hottest video gaming property in the world, going onto becoming the biggest selling video game of all time – by a considerable margin too. Even now, fourteen years on from its initial release, “Minecraft” remains one of the most played, streamed and watched games on online platforms such as Twitch, which has seen the rise of the online content creator reach almost celebrity status. With younger audiences preferring to play or watch live streaming video games than going to their local cinema, a cinematic re-imagining of “Minecraft” was inevitable, and based on the movie’s early financial success, I would not be surprised if sequels or adaptations of other popular games such as “Fortnite” are quickly greenlit.

“Minecraft’s” success lies with the creativity it grants its players, who have the freedom of an expansive, procedurally generated world to mine and craft whatever their artistic or adventurous minds desire. While the game has expanded over the years in terms of lore and online theories, there has never really been a central narrative, especially one solid enough to base a film adaptation on. Directed by Jared Hess of “Napoleon Dynamite”, “A Minecraft Movie” follows a gang of outcasts in the quirky town of Chuglass, Idaho as they discover a mysterious cube-shaped Orb (one of the movie’s very few decent jokes) which leads them to a portal, transporting them to the iconic Minecraft “Overworld”. The gang consists of: 1980’s video game champion, and struggling store owner Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa); Orphaned siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers); and local real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks).

Having arrived in the Overworld, the gang’s presence is detected by the Piglin ruler of the Nether, Malgosha (Rachel House), who seeks the Orb for herself to also rule the Overworld. While fighting off monsters at night, the gang are saved by Steve (Jack Black), a once struggling doorknob salesman whose “yearning for the mines” saw him stumble upon the portal years prior, and his since become a master craftsman. With one part of the Orb being destroyed by the night-time mob, Steve must lead the gang across the Overworld in search of The Earth Crystal, allowing them to return home, and preventing Malgosha from fulfilling her goal of domination.

Due to my relatively limited knowledge of “Minecraft” and its lore, having briefly played it upon release fourteen years ago, I went into this film adaptation concerned that a lot of the action and dialogue would go way over my head, not being a fan of the source material. However, luckily for me, but poor from a filmmaking perspective, no creative effort went into this big screen adaptation of the hit video game. Considering creativity is the biggest selling point of the block-building, sandbox title, which is fleetingly touched upon in the film, it seems that the number of screenwriters who worked on the film appear to have used very little imagination in creating a strong narrative for the impressive world-building to attach itself to. Aside from the scenes in the real world, which see director Jared Hess return to his roots by exploring a colourfully bizarre Midwestern town, “A Minecraft Movie” is shockingly conventional, boasting every plot point from the beginners guide to filmmaking. The film’s central MacGuffin, “The Orb of Dominance” could be taken from any number of Hollywood blockbusters, the use of which of course culminates in a final act sky beam, the least original of third act set-pieces.

Not only is the narrative lacking any imagination, so are the jokes. With the exception of one or two dead-pan line deliveries by Momoa (doing his best “Macho Man” Randy Savage impression), the humour throughout “A Minecraft Movie” is painfully cringey, most of it heavily relying on Black’s over-the-top exposition dumps, of which there are plenty. In fact, the film plays out more like “Jack Black’s Guide to Minecraft”, as the Tenacious D singer repeatedly describes characters, creatures and items from “Minecraft”, which had me question as to who the film is for. Based on its early box-office success and audience demographic, “A Minecraft Movie” is aimed at teenagers who play the game, but if so, why the need to explain it to them? it is lazy screenwriting by the still be determined writing team who clearly were looking to check as many demographic boxes as possible with this one.

Negatives aside, I can see why this has been so successful. While it may not appeal to me, or most audiences of 25 for that matter, “A Minecraft Movie” is clearly winning over the vast fanbase of the game, which I can only put down to its faithfulness to the source material, and the visual recreation of the Overworld itself on the big screen. While it may be thematically and narratively empty, there is no denying the impressive visuals when our heroes navigate through the Overworld and the Nether. Thanks to a great combination of practical and digital visual effects, our characters seamlessly interact with the Overworld its block-shaped architecture. I think this wow element alone for fans of the game will be enough to justify the price of admission for the large majority of them, regardless of the actual story playing out.

Verdict:

Shockingly devoid of any creativity or imagination, completely going against the video game’s ethos, “A Minecraft Movie” proves to be another disappointing big screen adaptation of one of the biggest properties in gaming. What it lacks in substance and compelling narrative, it makes up for in immersive visuals that bring the Overworld seamlessly to the big screen, and it is no surprise it has become such a hit with young audiences and fans of the game.

A Minecraft Movie is now showing in UK Cinemas

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