Cinematic Dumpster Diving - A Minecraft Movie

This quality of this image is what I get for sourcing photos from theguardian.com

When I created this article series, I didn't consider that I may cover the Minecraft movie at some point. However, when I saw the opportunity I went and saw the film the day of it's release. Not exactly dumpster diving am I, but I need a fresh meal at some point. Don't get me wrong, the movie's still worthy of criticism and that's what I plan to do.

The movie stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa and was directed by Jared Hess. Upon diving into Hess's filmography, I found Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, which are some of my favorite movies in case you didn't know (if you did know that would be weird). Jack Black is also an actor I like seeing in anything he's in, even if he doesn't really fit. All things considered I'm surprised Nicolas Cage isn't in this movie either.

If you want the same kind of long synopsis that I perform, well, I would feel almost guilty about doing that considering the movie still hasn't left theatres, so instead I'll just say that the plot is nothing special and is mostly just a catalyst to show off the visuals which I believe is the movie's strong suit. Often times the line between CGI and practical effects isn't very clear. If it even has practical effects I wouldn't know. I don't get paid to do this so don't blame me for not going in depth on behind-the-scenes material.

Now, I would consider myself a sort of Minecraft veteran, so I'm definitely the target audience that this movie goes for. The sheer amount of references to not just mechanics but community aspects of the game. Things such as NPC farms and water-bucket saves are cool additions and a clear sign that the crew behind the production of the movie actually cared to portray some elements beyond just the surface level.

This image was sourced from quakercinema.com

Now I typically don't discuss the more cultural aspects of a movie but I mostly attribute this to being that I cover films nobody has heard about, but also because I typically go more in depth with the plot, which I didn't do here. I'm sure if you've had the bravery to approach any internet communal/forum site you've seen some sort of post related to the pre-release trailers. People screaming, "Chicken Jockey" has become as regular as a insufferable middle-aged woman asking for the manager at a Burger King. Many in the Minecraft community originally (and still do in some cases) protested the release of the movie due to the belief that source material isn't exactly adaptable onto the big screen because of the game's sandbox nature. Others were skeptical of Jack Black's involvement, and believed casting directors only chose him because of his role in other video game adaptations such as The Super Mario Brothers movie and, God forbid, Borderlands.

If you wanted my best attempt at an objective rating I'd probably put it around a temporary 6/10. (Highlighted for the less attentive among us) The reason it says temporary is because the actual theater experience itself earns a point on the scale (seriously, the theater reactions are what you would expect from the Roman Colosseum), however this won't hold up once it's stopped showing. The actual movie being bad but at least enjoyable adds up to around 4 points, with an additional point for the more deep references to the game.

Although I gave the movie a 6/10, I can't find a reason why I wouldn't recommend it. If you're a parent and your kid likes Minecraft it's easy reputation points. On a more unrelated note on video game adaptations, I'll say it. I enjoyed this more than The Five Nights at Freddy's movie which came out in October last year. I know, that's a real hot take but hey, that's how opinions work. While I do run an article series discussing movies that I think are bad, I still am not brave enough to try and watch the Borderlands movie, and I still haven't watched the Mario movie but most people say it's good so I take their word for it. With that I conclude this review.

Gunner Farrell is a member of the Poudre Press and focuses on writing critiques and analysis on popular media such as film and video games. He does a bi-weekly series where he covers obscure films that are typically bad.