Category: Film Reviews

Before we get into the review, I just want to preface this by saying that this is the first review on the Frame Rate blog. I hope to post one review each week, alternating between films and video games. I haven’t totally decided on the format for my reviews so it may take a few to really figure out a system for cranking these things out (it doesn’t help that I’m still figuring out how to use WordPress). The introduction for the film features no spoilers, however afterwards, it’s fair game when it comes to spoilers. For my first film review, I considered covering one of my favorite movies in order to get started with the blog. However, upon truly thinking about my thoughts on each film, I quickly realized I didn’t have all that much to critique about some of the most iconic films of all time. And thus, I resulted that those reviews would be incredibly boring. So, instead, I decided it would be more fun to write about this absolute mess of a film that I watched in theaters with a few friends last night. As a fan of the game that the film is based on, I am very familiar with the source material and can offer extra insight in that sense as well. So, without further ado, thank you for joining me for my first film review on the Frame Rate blog.

– Colton Sylvester

Introduction

A Minecraft Movie is an absolutely terrible film on pretty much all metrics. But, I don’t think that’s what it’s trying to be. I mean, multiple trailers for the film literally encourage viewers to “turn off [their] brain”. And on that note, this film is an absolute blast to watch, especially with friends or in a full theater (as I learned last night). I believe that it’s a mistake to go into this film expecting anything more than just a fun watch. Now, many people will immediately go straight to asking, “If it offers nothing of substance, why should it exist?” The answer is money. This is a movie based on the best-selling video game ever created. The people attached to the project knew this and pretty much deduced that just creating a fun, fever dream of a movie was the best option. As, in my opinion, it would be incredibly difficult to make a genuine attempt at a great Minecraft movie AND make it anything more than decent. Not to say that it’s impossible, I mean, just look at The LEGO Movie. That film turned out absolutely phenomenal on all fronts, despite it’s concept. But, back on the topic of A Minecraft Movie, I had an absolute blast watching this film. At first, I went in with the mindset of a critic, but the film kind-of forces you to inevitably just, well, turn off your brain. A Minecraft Movie might just be the best worst movie ever made.

Story & Writing(Spoilers Ahead)

You shouldn’t go into this film expecting a story of actual substance. This film is incredibly tropey at every turn. The film follows the trope of “characters from our world go to another world” to a tea. I mean, the characters discover a mysterious object that brings them to the world, the characters all come from different backgrounds and not all of them like each other, and the entire plot of the movie is based around getting the characters back home. I’ve seen this exact plot copy and pasted a million times. The main conflict of the film comes from the Piglins attempting to obtain the “orb” that can bring the characters home, in order to bring about an eternal night, so they don’t zombify. I was personally incredibly shocked that the conflict didn’t involve the Ender Dragon in any way, considering how iconic it is as the “final boss” of Minecraft, in a sense. From a humor standpoint, I found myself laughing at the film more than I was laughing with it. The only bits that truly got me were the final scene with the main villain of the film as well as anything involving Nitwit the Villager. Aside from this, the only laughs they got out of me were from my theater’s reactions to the film. This was the loudest theater I’ve ever sat in, and while I’d normally be very annoyed by this, it was actually the highlight of my viewing. There’s something truly special about a room of 100 people coming together to make fun of a movie with one another. I did find the licensed music to be very annoying at most times, especially during the scene where Steve is introduced. It just mostly feels very out of place. There really isn’t that much to add about the story before we get into more specifics, like characters, as every single thing that happens in the story is just another trope that has been seen a million times.

Characters & Casting

The film follows 5 main leads: Steve (Jack Black), Garett Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), and Dawn (Danielle Brooks). Steve is the default player avatar in Minecraft, so the writers had basically nothing to go off of in terms of his character. What was their solution? Get Jack Black to be Jack Black. Because that’s all this performance is. It’s just Jack Black doing his regular shtick. In fact, this might be the most Jack Black, Jack Black has ever been in a film. It’s clear that the writers noticed how popular Jack Black’s “Peaches” song for The Super Mario Bros. Movie was and so they had him constantly sing random songs throughout the movie. They’ve seen the viral clip of Jack Black using a sax-o-boom on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, thus he uses a saxophone in the movie. I will give Jack Black the fact that he is very clearly having fun and giving his all here, even if the performance is not good. He is definitely selling it as though it is. As for Steve’s Characterization, I was very disappointed as I was hoping for Steve to have some sort of arc that results in him leaving the Overworld, however he just kind-of does.

On the other hand, I think that Jason Momoa has the best performance of the film. Now, that doesn’t mean his performance is that good or impressive, however he definitely shines in comparison to the rest of the film. It is strange that, despite most of the beginning of the film being focused on him, he doesn’t really do anything for the remainder of the movie. He has a fake-out death that is the most obvious fake-out I’ve ever seen and has a little bit of a redemption arc, but aside from that, his character does basically nothing for the second half of the film.

Sebastian Hansen is the real lead of the film. I don’t want to be too mean to a very young actor, however, his performance is absolutely horrid. It’s emotionless and not a single line he says can be taken seriously, even in serious moments. When I said I found myself laughing at the film, Hansen’s line delivery is normally what got me. His character is your average kid that doesn’t fit in at school. They try to focus on his creativity but the only things he really does with it is build a tower and then create things that are, ironically, impossible to create in Minecraft. I just found that to be a weird choice as the film is about how Minecraft allows you to create anything, yet they chose to showcase this kid’s creativity by having him create things that aren’t even in the game.

As for Emma Myers’ and Danielle Brooks’ characters, they might as well not be in the film. Early on, the story literally splits them apart from the other 3 and we barely see them until the final act. Emma Myers’ performance is interesting to me because, at some points, she delivers some of the worst line readings in the film while, at other points, she delivers some of the best. I also found it strange that the film portrays her as the young adult older sister when she looks like 15 years old. She’s seen driving, cooking, and caring for her younger brother after their mom passed away but it just isn’t believable. The actress actually is the age of the character that she is portraying, however she just looks too young for the part. Danielle Brooks is absolutely wasted here. The Oscar-winning actress is relegated to a role that has no character arc, barely any connection the other characters, and basically no screen time. She doesn’t even have a chance to give a good performance because the film doesn’t give her enough screen time. You could remove her from the film and it would be exactly the same.

Is this a good “Minecraft Movie”?

Well…kinda? It’s certainly a better Minecraft movie that it is an actual movie. Frankly, I feel bad for anybody who watches this film and hasn’t played Minecraft, as the film makes a poor attempt at actually explaining what things are and how things work. Things just happen and the audience is expected to just accept it, despite them making no sense. The water bucket causing no fall damage, for example. Considering how often Jack Black says what things are, he rarely explains how they work. Most of the dialogue in this film consists of Jack Black saying what something is and the other characters being confused by it. This is not a film I could imagine my parents or grandparents watching and truly understanding. However, I will still say that this film is definitely meant for the fans first and foremost; from the Technoblade tribute, to the DanTDM cameo, to the use of Pigstep by Lena Raine. For everything that this film lacks, it succeeds in creating an interesting new take on Minecraft, that fans are definitely going to enjoy, even if they’ll purely enjoy making fun of it.

Conclusion

This film sucks. But I’m so happy it does. I’m admittingly a sucker for “so bad they’re good” films, but this is on another level. There’s a reason that this film has been taking the internet by storm ever since even the casting announcement. As I stated previously, A Minecraft Movie might be the best worst movie ever made.