A Minecraft Movie (2025)

A Minecraft Movie (2025) is a complete misfire—an example of what happens when a studio sees a brand, not a story. It fails both as an adaptation and as entertainment. It’s not funny, not charming, and not visually interesting. It’s just loud, dumb, and disposable. For a game that has inspired millions through endless creativity and player agency, this movie feels like the exact opposite: rigid, forced, and fundamentally joyless.

‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review

A Minecraft Movie is the kind of film that makes you question why Hollywood keeps chasing after video game IPs without the slightest idea of what made the original source material special in the first place. As someone who grew up playing Minecraft—and still boots it up from time to time to decompress—I went in hoping for something playful, creative, and even a little bit weird. What I got instead was an ugly, chaotic, and deeply cynical adaptation that barely understands the game it’s based on and cares even less about delivering anything of substance.

Directed by Jared Hess, whose past films like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre at least understood how to lean into their own offbeat sensibilities, A Minecraft Movie feels like it was built out of leftover marketing strategy decks, not creativity. There’s no coherent story, no compelling characters, and not even much to laugh at, unless you find constant meme-bait and shouty non-jokes inherently entertaining. It’s sensory overload without any rhythm or payoff—just noise layered over half-hearted world-building.

Jason Momoa (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Dune: Part One), the film’s co-lead, is the most egregious misfire of all. His performance is pitched at a level so broad and detached that it borders on parody—but not in a way that’s knowing or subversive. It’s just lazy. He looks visibly uncomfortable, like he knows this material is beneath him. Jack Black voices Steve, the silent protagonist of the Minecraft games, and while he brings some energy, there’s only so much he can do with this script. Jennifer Coolidge is here too, but again, presence alone can’t save the film from its own lack of imagination.

Visually, A Minecraft Movie is a mess. The CGI environments have brief moments where they resemble the pixelated charm of Mojang’s original game, but those are quickly undercut by awkwardly composited live-action actors that make the whole thing look like a bad theme park promo reel. If this movie had fully committed to animation, it might have had a fighting chance. Instead, it ends up looking like a half-finished VFX project with too many cooks and no aesthetic coherence.

To be fair, it’s not surprising that A Minecraft Movie has made a ton of money. The Minecraft brand is massive, and Warner Bros. was always going to find a built-in audience, especially among younger viewers. And sure, some audiences seem to be enjoying it in a shared theatrical experience—there’s undeniably a communal thrill in seeing something you love brought to the big screen. But even by the low bar set by other video game adaptations like Uncharted or The Super Mario Bros. Movie, this feels especially soulless. It’s not just that it’s bad—it’s that it doesn’t care about being anything but a platform for merchandising, memes, and inevitable sequels.

If there’s one thing to salvage from this wreck, it’s the faint glimmer of what A Minecraft Movie could have been. The idea of blending adventure, world-building, and open-ended creativity into a narrative feature is a fun challenge. But this movie doesn’t rise to that challenge. It avoids it entirely. Hess’s direction offers no real vision, and the script is packed with low-hanging fruit and forgettable dialogue that feels like it was written by committee. Even for a film meant to appeal to kids and longtime fans alike, it’s shockingly thin.

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Ultimately, A Minecraft Movie is a complete misfire—an example of what happens when a studio sees a brand, not a story. It fails both as an adaptation and as entertainment. It’s not funny, not charming, and not visually interesting. It’s just loud, dumb, and disposable. For a game that has inspired millions through endless creativity and player agency, this movie feels like the exact opposite: rigid, forced, and fundamentally joyless.

Score: 1/10