'A Minecraft Movie' Crafts a Generic Video Game Adaptation
Video game-to-film adaptations have improved significantly over the last few years. A Minecraft Movie is not one of them. The film caters so hard to its audience that it misses the point of telling a dynamic story. A majority of the film is making references to the game while providing nothing worthy of substance. When it tries to be meaningful, the material is flatter than a Minecraft character's appearance. Although it might be pandering to its audience, Minecraft knows it can't take the route of 1993's Super Mario Bros Movie, where the film is a completely original idea, not adhering to the basics of the game, which upset fans at the time. In a way, I wish Minecraft took some chances as the overlooked Mario Bros. did. It could use its message of creativity to make something, well, creative. Instead, the film slavishly calls back to the game as if the screenwriters knew there wasn't much of a story to be told in the first place.
The film starts with one of the most annoying narrations I've heard put into film, coming from Jack Black. As a person, I dig Jack; as an actor, he can be as subtle as scratching nails on a chalkboard. Does Jack have to over-emphasize every line of dialog? Just read the lines normally. This isn't a Tenacious D concert. It doesn't help either when Jason Momoa uses the same high-pitched scream to get laughs. It was funny the first time hearing the jacked-up bro shouting like a little schoolgirl. By the 20th time he screamed, I just wanted it to stop. In this rare case, it's the adults, not the children, who are annoying.
Natalie (Emma Myers) is a mature sister who takes care of her younger brother, Henry (Sebastian Hansen). Sebastian Hansen is a little flat in his line delivery. He's just a kid who, luckily, isn't irritating like most child actors could be. One character whose potential is wasted is Dawn (Danielle Brooks). Brookes is fine in her performance, but she doesn't have much of a purpose in the story, relegating her to more of a filler character rather than someone essential to the plot.
The plot revolves around three characters who have problems. Henry and Natalie are children whose parents are missing from their lives. Natalie takes it upon herself to be a parent and sibling to Henry, dampening her childhood. Jason Momoa plays Garrett Garrison. A man who blew up in the 80s for having the top score for an arcade game that is no longer popular, rendering him irrelevant to society. Living in the past, instead of supporting a viable future, Garrett runs a retro video game store that is not doing well. Hardly anyone visits the store, making it a place that will soon be out of business.
Dawn works two jobs just to make ends meet. She drives around in a vehicle that's similar to the dog van from Dumb and Dumber. The protagonist of the movie, Steve (Jack Black), finds a glowing MacGuffin that transports him to the Minecraft world. In that place, Steve finds belonging, in contrast to our world, where he was working a dead-end, soul-sucking office job.
A Minecraft Movie is very much a Jack Black and Jason Momoa star vehicle. I get that Jack Black likes video games. He's had a gaming channel on YouTube where he would often play Red Dead Redemption; Jack played Bowser in the new Super Mario Bros, and now he's in Minecraft playing himself once again. In every movie Jack Black is in, he plays the same character. Someone who loves music and is emphatic about life. Watching Jack hog the scenery for two hours can be exhausting.
If there's a high point of the movie, it's seeing the world of Minecraft. The game has intentionally ugly graphics as it's aimed at children who couldn't care less about visuals. The way the game incorporates the blocky-looking characters is impressive. They look like Funco Pop Toys, except they're not round. It's faithful to how they look in the game while being a lot more detailed for live-action. The Minecraft world is rich in color schemes with green hills and blue skies. Even the hell world looks impressive. The antagonist, Malgosha (Rachel House), wants the entire world of Minecraft for herself, yet that's not a possibility as the film's heroes fight her to preserve Minecraft's peaceful land.
For a Minecraft movie adaptation, the filmmakers do the best they can to preserve the material while trying to tell a story. In the simplest terms, it's the safest route the movie could take. The only other way to make the film interesting is to have it star all Minecraft characters instead of human actors. It wouldn't be live-action, but who cares? It'll satisfy the fans like the new animated Super Mario Bros. Movie did.
What we have with the human characters is a mixed bag between obnoxious and likable. The plot is easy to guess as the film takes no real risks. It's a base-level video game adaptation that doesn't need to be made, but is because kids bring in a massive profit. The parents might not like the movie, but they'll laugh along with their kids in the theater because they don't want their children to feel disappointed. For a kid, the movie is great. Then again, children like anything they see as long as it's referencing things they already know. It's like a box of candy. You pick your favorite flavors and eat your sweets. It tastes good at first, but it is as bad for your body as this movie is for your brain.
A Minecraft Movie is a predictable, generic video game adaptation that satisfies the easiest target demographic, where the kids will be entertained, while the parents will be tempted to check their watch to see how much time is left during the film. For a flick about being creative, it's unimaginative. It's not the worst video game adaptation by a long shot. That award goes to Max Payne, Hitman, and the Halo TV show. A Minecraft Movie does little to make it a movie worth remembering. The only thing that will be remembered is how bland it is.
