On April 4, “The Minecraft Movie” came out in theaters. This action/adventure movie has been a meme on many platforms, made fun of for seeming cheesy and cliché, and the film surpassed any expectations.
Starring Jack Black as Steve, a well-known mascot of the game “Minecraft,” this movie was funny and exactly what the memes predicted. The other four characters were all made out to be misfits, struggling to fit in or make a living in the real world. Natalie (Emma Myers) and Henry (Sebastion Eugene Hansen) moved into a new town, living without a parent after their mother died. While Natalie takes the role of a parental figure, Henry finds himself in the companionship of a former video game champion, Garett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa). Natalie confides in the realtor who sold the house to her, Dawn (Danielle Brooks), after Henry goes missing after his first day of school. Together, these four unlikely companions find themselves pulled through a portal into a blocky world.
This film automatically stood out to me as self-mocking and an overused trope, but that’s what made it amusing. It started by showing Steve as a young boy in the real world, being denied his dream of working in mine shafts because he was too young. Once he grew up, he suddenly remembered his goal and returned to the mines, finding magic items that created a portal to the blocky world of Minecraft.
After living for a very long time in this place, Steve found another portal to an extension of the world called the “Nether.” When Steve goes into the portal, he gets captured by Malgosha, the leader of piglin, who wants the item for the portal back to the real world. Steve gave his dog the magic item and sent him to hide it in the real world, closing off the portal. This part of the movie felt very overdramatic but also not taken seriously, making the movie come across as more of a comedy. I personally didn’t like that the antagonist was Malgosha because that’s not the case for the real game, “Minecraft.” I would’ve enjoyed seeing the goal being to beat the game as it’s usually played instead of creating a different storyline.
The movie then introduces Natalie and Henry, two siblings who recently lost their mother and moved to Chuglass, Idaho, with the help of a realtor, Dawn. When Henry has to go to his first day of school, he meets Garett on his way there, and they have a small talk before he leaves. Henry gets in trouble at school, and when he was asked to call his guardian, he called Garett instead of Natalie. From there, the two boys find the magic portal item in Garett’s store. They find the portal, and right before they enter it, Dawn and Natalie find them, and they all go in together. During this part of the movie, I noticed that Henry was made out to be a “weird kid” who was creative and, therefore, out of place. It was another stereotype in the movie that stood out to me.
In the blocky world, the group of four is confused at first, and when night falls, they find themselves running from zombies, skeletons, and creepers. Henry was the first to realize that he could build things easily in the world, exhibiting his creativity and intelligence. Right before a bunch of zombies were going to attack the group, Steve appears and saves them. He was let go by Malgosha and told to bring back the magical portal item. He teaches the group about the world, but they are attacked by a group of piglin. One of the first things I noticed during this fight was that the three men in the group were the only ones effectively fighting, and the women were made out to be lost and confused. This came across as the stereotype that women don’t know how to play video games. The men and women ended up separated as well, and while the boys were having a very dangerous adventure, the two girls were left to sulk around the woods without any idea where they were headed. It also felt like the women were forgotten and unimportant in the plot.
The rest of the movie mostly surrounds Steve, Garett, and Henry as they go on an adventure to stop Malgosha from getting the magic item and taking over the block world. When the whole team reunites and defeats Malgosha and the piglin, they all go home to the real world.
Despite the memes online that criticized this movie, I’ve only heard positive things about it. In the theater, the crowd was interactive and would yell quotes with the characters and clap afterward, such as “I yearned for the mines” and “Chicken jockey.” There were also a few pop culture references in the film that made the movie feel suited to the target audience. I think it was wonderful despite the overused cliches because it was purposeful, and that’s what made it funny. I would recommend this movie to teenage audiences because of the lighthearted, cliche humor that is popular right now, but I would not suggest it to people who are unfamiliar with the game, “Minecraft,” because it could be confusing.
