A Minecraft Movie - A Fun Adaptation of Hugely Popular Best Selling Game

This movie had its special screening during the previous weekend in Indonesia and only had its wide release last Wednesday. But amazingly, even on Saturday the cinemas were still full of audience which made it very hard for us to get tickets. After hesitating a while, my wife and I finally decided to buy tickets in the cinema that we frequently went even though they were not our favorite seats. Without further ado, here's more on the movie. 

Brief Story Line

Steve (Jack Black - Kungfu Panda 4, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween etc) was a doorknob salesman who felt he had been wasting his life and decided to go to the mysterious mine that made him curious since childhood. Inside he found a unique world called the Overworld where he felt happy and decided to stay there. However, Steve later uncovered the Nether world with its ruler Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House - Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Heartbreak High TV series etc) who was trying to take over the Overworld and turn it into a dark place like the Nether. 

Meanwhile in the outside world, Natalie (Emma Myers - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder TV series, Wednesday series etc) and her younger brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen) just moved to Chuglass after their mother's passing. Henry who had difficulties adapting in his new school, befriended a video game owner Garret (Jason Momoa - Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Sweet Girl etc) despite their age difference. Since he made a huge mistake that damage the city's property, Henry's guardian was called by vice principal Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge - Shotgun Wedding, The White Lotus season 1 etc). Not long after, everything became problematic as Henry, Garret, Natalie and the Real Estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks - Peacemaker TV series etc) were somehow transported to the Overworld. With the help from Steve, all of them would have to find the keys to return to their world while trying to avoid capture by Malgosha and her minions.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I already knew that this movie would be a funny one ever since I saw its trailer few times before. And I also knew that it was based on a popular 2001 game titled Minecraft created by Markus Persson of Mojang studios. However my wife and I never played it before so we did not have any knowledge of the gameplay and the playable characters, so we were unaware of how similar this movie would be to the game. Anyway, it turned out that the movie was indeed hilarious and despite not knowing about the game at all, we still found ourselves enjoying the movie as it had a very simple plot and interesting characters.

The main attraction of this movie would certainly be the various elements from the game that were shown here which definitely delight the hard core fans (apparently there are a lot of them). Even both of us could capture the important things like creating buildings using the blocks, collecting items, creating weapons, fighting against piglins and so on. The weird looking block-headed animals and people were also funny to see. When we saw this movie, the studio was filled with some adults but mostly were young children which made us confused at first cause it was rated for 13+. But after seeing it, we could understand why they were excited as probably they have played the game and had fun seeing it on large screen. Although some of the jokes & humors were lost by these kids as they were better suited for teenagers and above.

The cast in here looked to be enjoying themselves with Jack Black totally killed it as Steve, while Jason Momoa seemed so perfect as this selfish adult who was stuck with his old achievement and refused to grow up (his shrieking voices always made us laughed). Meanwhile Jennifer Coolidge (always my wife's favorite) provided her usual humorous nature. There was one time she responded to the question from the waitress which was really funny but it seemed like we were the only ones who got it in the studio. I checked the info on this movie and found there were additional cast like Jemaine Clement (Avatar: The Way of Water, What We Do in the Shadows TV series etc) as the auctioneer and several Youtubers as cameo. The film was directed by Jared Hess (Nacho Libre, Gentleman Broncos etc) who also provided the voice for General Chungus.

For a movie based on game, this one was pretty well received by audience as proven by its box office performance. Though likely it would not be as huge as The Super Mario Bros. Movie (coincidentally Jack Black also played in there), but it is still great for Hollywood to have a new blockbuster. Critics though were less impressed. I read that a sequel was already in development which should not be a surprise especially looking at the post end credit scene that gave a strong hint. I only understood the relevance after reading it, but I am sure people who played the game would immediately got excited. Oh, there was also some funny scenes during the closing credits that you could watch while waiting till the end. 

Overall this was something that would be enjoyable for people looking for fun adventure comedy. Although it was a game adaptation but it was not difficult to understand the plot and you could still be entertained by the hilarity of the characters. It was fun and light and despite the age category for 13+, I guess children can still enjoy it like so many of them who saw this movie with us. So if you are fans of the game, surely you do not want to miss this. If you have never played but still want to give a try, I think you would have fun watching this like both of us.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars