‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review: An Unenchanted Experience

A film adaptation of Minecraft was first announced all the way back in 2014, and to say it went through development Nether would be too kind. From Shawn Levy, to Rob McElheny, to Jared Hess, the film went through creative teams faster than a gold shovel would break. And now, 11 years later, we at long last get to put quill to book and bring you our review of A Minecraft Movie.

I have played Minecraft all my life, and while I did have some fun with what we got, I can’t help but feel they had the items to make a much more interesting recipe. During the first half of A Minecraft Movie, my nostalgic itch was being scratched. The crew’s first night in the world really felt the most accurate to the experience of the game. Unfortunately after the main group is split up following the attack on Midport Village, my enjoyment began steadily dropping. While there were a few fun moments here and there after that point, nothing ever matched that first night. 

For a movie based on Minecraft, there unfortunately was very little mining, which is obviously core to the gameplay experience. Too much time however, was instead diverted to the uninteresting Piglin antagonists. It is a bit of a shame that they opted not to tackle the very obvious and much better suited to film Ender Dragon, which personally I believe would’ve made for a much more satisfying gameplay-accurate film. For fans of the series there were easter-eggs-o-plenty, including a very touching tribute moment to the late Technoblade, who sadly passed away back in 2022. 

One thing that disappointed me the most about A Minecraft Movie was the score to the film. Minecraft might have some of the most iconic video game music of the 21st century, which in this film of course was replaced with a generic action score and modern pop songs, which will become very dated with date, outside of one or two moments max. A common complaint online leading up to the film was the VFX, however most of the film genuinely looks decent outside of a couple obvious usages of greenscreen and a pretty ugly third act.

Most of the performances were alright, nobody does anything particularly innovative or interesting. If you want to watch Jason Momoa act a little silly or for Jack Black to be… well Jack Black, you will probably find some enjoyment here. Those two steal the show along with Jennifer Coolidge’s insane subplot. Unfortunately Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks’ characters had the least amount of substance and are pushed out of the main crew for much of the runtime. Sebastian Hansen’s Henry is also a little undercooked as a protagonist with his main arc not reaching its full potential. The movie will often have you wondering: who is actually the protagonist?

Overall, if you are a big fan of the series or enjoy Hess’ other films like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, I would recommend giving the film a shot. For me personally, while there was some fun to be had, the film really felt like a chunk of unrefined ore. If the team behind it did a bit more digging they probably could have struck diamond, instead they ended up settling for iron.

A Minecraft Movie is directed by Jared Hess and stars Jason Momoa, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Jack Black. The film hit theatres on April 4th, 2025.

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