Rent A Minecraft Movie on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Chris Bowman & Hubbel Palmer and Neil Widener & Gavin James and Chris Galletta (screenplay by), Allison Schroeder and Chris Bowman & Hubbel Palmer (story by)
Directed by: Jared Hess
Starring: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Jemaine Clement
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home they'll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected expert crafter.
Verdict
It's probably one of the better Minecraft adaptations that could have been produced, which isn't saying much. This has several nods to the game, but a prerequisite of watching this movie is having played the game. This doesn't bother with explanation, and this has leaps of logic both in reality and the game world. The decision to make the game characters realistic is never less than uncanny and even creepy. This movie was a near certainty to eventually get produced based on the game's sales numbers alone. That explains plenty of the shortcomings for a game that never had a dedicated story.
Skip it.
Review
Based on the 2011 video game, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with over 350 million copies sold and having been ported to several platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and various video game consoles. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion which is the same year movie adaptation talks began. With the number of sales, a movie was inevitable. Video adaptations are rarely good, even when the game has a story. This seems like a cash grab, and the title alone probably did most of the selling.
Steve (Jack Black) finds a portal to the Minecraft world and provides a primer to the game and thus the movie, though you really need to know the game to get some of the subtle inclusions. This wastes no time getting into the world with very little explanation. The realistic looking animals that still maintain a blockiness creates an uncanny valley of weird looking creatures. If you think that's odd looking, just wait until you see a villager.
It's easy to predict where this is going as we meet former video game champ Garrett "The Garbage Man" (Jason Momoa), two siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers), and real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks). At times this feels like some kind of satire with a tenuous grasp on reality and a distinct lack of logic, but this movie's goal is to get us to Minecraft world as quickly as possible.
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| Emma Myers, Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Danielle Brooks play Natalie, Henry, Garrett, Dawn |
This relies on the audience knowing the game, otherwise even less of this movie makes sense. If you haven't played Minecraft don't even bother watching this. Even knowing the game, this has fundamental story issues. Henry sees this as something fun, a way to express his creativity as he doesn't fit in. Garrett hopes to find treasure to save his failing business. He's stuck in the past, living on his past successes. Steve was happily living in this world until the villain imprisoned him. This group must embark on a journey to save the portal and work together so they can get back.
It's mindless entertainment, heavy on references. To fix the portal Steve and crew must fight the pig men and defeat the villain. It's a kids movie, though even then shallow.
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