Jack Black has already starred in one of the best video game movies with 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and now he’s hoping to have similar success with a different franchise. A Minecraft Movie is set to hit the 2025 movie calendar on April 4, much to the delight of many who love the popular block building game. Critics have seen the film and are now sharing their opinions on the upcoming family friendly movie.
Alongside Jack Black, A Minecraft Movie’s cast includes Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks, who star as four misfits who get pulled through a portal into the bizarrely cubic Overworld. To get back home, they must master the game with the help of expert crafter Steve (Black). First reactions called the movie “stupid,” but is that a good thing or a bad thing? Grab your Minecraft popcorn bucket, and let’s see what the critics have to say. Jesse Hassenger of IGN rates it an “Okay” 6 out of 10, writing:
For a big-studio adaptation of a massively popular video-game, A Minecraft Movie lets a surprising amount of its director’s personality shine through. Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess manages to fit some laugh-out-loud silliness into his Overworld saga before surrendering to the obligations of CG-driven fantasy adventure. Thematically, A Minecraft Movie offers a pat world-is-what-you-make-it lesson, but Jack Black and Jason Momoa in particular sell it with a lot of comic enthusiasm.
Mark Kennedy of the AP gives the movie 2.5 stars out of 4, saying Jason Momoa shines in the comedic role and that the world is “like Lego only on shrooms.” Fans will likely appreciate how faithful the film is to the game but newcomers to the franchise may get a little lost. Kennedy writes:
The Jared Hess-directed action-adventure artfully straddles the line between delighting preteen gamers and keeping their parents awake. It’s an often-bananas adaptation, with bizarre digressions into turquoise blouses and tater tot pizzas. It has Jennifer Coolidge being very Jennifer Coolidge. Need we say more?
Owen Gleiberman of Variety says Jack Black is at an 11 throughout the movie and Jason Momoa’s performance is a delightful surprise. Overall the critic says it’s “just a flaky, spirited, low-hijinks quest comedy,” and that’s no insult. Gleiberman says:
Hess brings something likable to A Minecraft Movie. He’s a genial camp satirist who knows how to invest not taking anything seriously with a flaked-out conviction. A Minecraft Movie never stops goofing on itself, and that’s appealing. As a movie star, Jack Black had a hand in inventing this school of air-quote daffiness, but the surprise of A Minecraft Movie is how much Jason Momoa gets onto the self-skewering doofus-kitsch wavelength.
Jacob Oller of AV Club gives the a C-, saying that the upcoming video game movie shows flashes of personality that are ultimately buried by obligations to its blockbuster structure. Oller says it’s a “failed recipe with plenty of seasoning,” and writes:
This Minecraft Movie doesn’t tap into a vein of imagination. Instead, it resembles someone’s first in-game creation: Dime-a-dozen parts, flavored with personal eccentricities, assembled with a child’s disregard. From these ingredients springs a movie that’s both annoyingly predictable and perhaps the most erratic live-action video game adaptation since the original Super Mario Bros. film went to Dinohattan.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire agrees A Minecraft Movie is “deeply unimaginative,” which is especially ironic given the game’s potential for endless creativity. It’s at its best when it leans into the Jared Hess-ness of it all, which is mostly before the characters get sucked into the Overworld that drives the paint-by-numbers plot. Ehrlich gives it a C, writing:
Fleet pacing, vivid colors, and a poppy Mark Mothersbaugh score do what they can to paper over the film’s prefab nature, but even kids — especially kids — will pick up on the disconnect between what they can make in Minecraft (anything they can imagine) and what Hess has made of Minecraft (nothing they haven’t seen before). Things unfold without any trace of surprise, as the gang links up with Steve and embarks on a spirited quest in search of the other MacGuffin thingy they need to get home or whatever.
It seems like critics are overall disappointed that A Minecraft Movie doesn’t take advantage of the creative freedom the game allows its players, though Jason Momoa and Jack Blek are getting some positive feedback. Black admitted the backlash against the trailer made him nervous about how fans would receive the movie, and ahead of its release, it holds a 53% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you want to check out the newest video game movie, you don’t have to wait long, because A Minecraft Movie arrives in theaters on Friday, April 4.
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