“A Minecraft Movie” has been a controversial topic since the trailer released in late 2024. Many thought it  should have been an animated movie. The story is based on the sandbox “Minecraft” game with  a plot and new characters. The movie is inspired by the iconic game that Mojang created in 2011, known for being able to build whatever your mind creates with blocks and surviving to defeat the game. After many years of talk about creating a Minecraft movie, production finally started in early 2024.

The film is aimed mostly for kids and people who are fans of the game, but it can’t help but fall short of what people were expecting. The story follows Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and his sister, Natalie (Emma Myers) when they move into a new town. When they meet Garrett (Jason Momoa) and get sucked into the overworld. They have to save the universe with the help of Steve (Jack Black) and find a way to get back to their world.

The characters encounter different mobs and different biomes that are also seen in the game. The most memorable acting, aside from the obvious Jack Black, was from Sebastian Hansen. He gave the story more emotion and seriousness while still keeping it a comedy. You get to watch the chemistry between the characters grow. In the beginning only certain characters really like each other and others, like Steve and Garrett, can’t really stand each other. Watching these friendships grow did help the movie a better watch.

Though it is obvious that nearly all the movie is fully CGI, it does help make it look more faithful to the game. Some of the hyperrealism of the mobs, like the villagers, were a little weird to look at but it also added to the comedy of it. The worldbuilding does seem like the game, with random biomes and villages that just fade into each other with no reality aspect to it. When Steve builds, they really do seem like things that a kid would craft while playing this game and creating their own world.

The humor is mostly targeted for fans as inside jokes but is simple enough to allow anyone unfamiliar with the Minecraft fandom to understand it. There are different cameos and mentions of Minecraft media aspects. In the beginning of the movie, when we are first introduced to Garrett, we also get a DanTDM cameo, later on in the movie we see a pig with a crown on as a nod to the streamer Technoblade. Both cameos meant a lot to Minecraft fans due to these streamers’ contribution to the popularity of the game.

The theater experience made it better in our case. While our theater was tame, other theaters were rowdy. The trend of saying “chicken jockey” was fun in the beginning, but some took it too far. From destroying the theater to bringing a real live chicken in, the ”chicken jockey” trend got annoying to other people trying to enjoy the movie. The workers that have to clean up the mess, and even one theater worker getting body slammed, theaters were trying to put a stop to the trend. In our case, the cops came to the theater because allegedly someone planned to light off fireworks. Overall, the movie was a good watch. It was entertaining and all Minecraft fans should definitely give it a try at least once.