From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures and starring Jason Momoa and Jack Black, “A Minecraft Movie,” directed by Jared Hess, is the first-ever big screen, live-action adaptation of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time. And let me just say, the theaters have been crazy with fans creating a pop-culture phenomenon, much to the dismay of many theater owners. From riding on shoulders of fellow fans, to throwing popcorn, to bringing in live chickens, the theater’s “quiet” motto have been throw to the side as the audience enjoys the release of A Minecraft Movie.
After seeing so much excitement and insanity across social media, I decided to attend a showing with a huge Minecraft fan to see what all the craziness was about. [SPOILERS BELOW]
Steve (Jack Black) starts the movie off with an in-depth description of who he is and how he came to be in the Minecraft world. When Steve finally digs in the mines, his world is turned upside-down when he finds the square orb of Dominance and opens a portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination.
Fast forward to the 90s (my guess) and we find the less colorful land of reality. Shown to be a harsh landscape of failed dreams, death, and working to the bone to make ends meet. We happen upon Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), who peaked in the 80s after winning an arcade game. But now, he faces an eviction notice, failures, and a job as a non-thriving storage unit investor. I felt for Garbage Man. There was no decade like the 80s, and for many, it has been a hard timeline to relinquish. We all want that colorful time in our lives back. It truly was magical.
But, life goes on and time moves forward. Imaginations get curb stomped and we find ourselves in a vapid vacuum of reality, skirting by in a face-paced world like zombies with unrealized dreams, following the rules of others and told not to make waves, “Keep your head down and work harder.” This impossible-to-sustain scenario is further pushed when we meet Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), and their real estate agent, Dawn (Danielle Brooks). Henry and Natalie lost their mom and have been forced to move to Idaho. With cheap rent and a job offer, Natalie finds that her childhood has been cut short to care for her brother. (Dreams are crushed everywhere in the real world). Dawn becomes the mascot of our time when she shows off all her side hustles she has just to survive and pay the bills; one, of which, includes a traveling petting zoo. Girl is never bored.
What does this pathetic version of reality lead to? The desire for more, of course. Henry wants to create. His imagination can’t be contained, and in a quick moment of curiosity, he ends up accidently getting the Garbage Man, Dawn, and Natalie sucked into the Overworld. Where the real word is dismal, flat, and harbors no hope, The Minecraft World features the direct opposite, and here is where the audience begins to get restless. Kids and adults begin vibing in their seats as the epic world of cubes flourishes in all its colorful glory. Eyes sparkle to life and popcorn buckets begin to jostle.
We watch as the cast learns how to mine materials and build their first make-shift hut. We watch as Minecraft creatures scurry across the land. We watch as creativity comes alive and a small group of people realize that this square world may not be as square as they think. Suddenly, a hopeless reality turns into a reality of possibilities. A reality where the creative are encouraged, in fact, creativity is essential to one’s survival! And too survive they must Minecraft!
This is where the audience loses their mind. We have Black’s character, Steve, sucking in the audience with iconic quotes and musical numbers. “I…am Steve”, “Chicken Jockey”, and “Flint and Steel” all lead to rambunctious fans shouting, cheering, and having a sporting good time. While I didn’t get to see the throwing of popcorn or people climbing on someone’s shoulders, there was quoting, clapping, laughter, and excitement. Of course, the theater I attended, did ask that we do our best to keep it quite so that others can enjoy the film. We did our best. However, the owner of Hayden Cinema did explain that he would be providing several showings where fans can be fans. He calls it “A Minecraft Movie: Chicken Jockey“! The one request… please no food throwing. How cool is that? So if you are looking to enjoy the movie as only a fan can, here are the showings for you in the state of IDAHO!
I have to say that the audience participation really helped bring the movie alive. The excitement from the fans feeding into the creativity of Minecraft is fun and entertaining. While this is not a scene for every movie goer, it certainty ramps up the hype of such and iconic game-to-movie event.
Regarding the actual movie, I feel as if my review will clash with the more standard critics in the world, because I actually loved the movie. I didn’t go to the theater looking for comedy gold, but, a mining movie did supply it. Where some saw unimaginative, I saw creativity at its finest. From musical numbers to hilarious dialog, I thought the film had the ping of genius attached to it.
A Minecraft Movie is a non-stop film. From the moment we are introduced to Steve, the movie moves forward at a great pace and follows through with all of their foreshadowing. We start with Steve and his story, flow into The Garbage Man and his troubles, discover a misfit family, find Dawn and get sucked into the Minecraft world. And like most movies, the current events of our time are often laced within the story.
Lately the laced current events lead to jarring moments. Writers, actors, and directors struggle to seamlessly add the struggles of our time into their plots and often come out as almost indoctrination or in-your-face conditioning. And most of the struggles chosen to showcase are overused and have lost their emotional driving force. However, A Minecraft Movie easily takes the hardships of today, especially for the creative and gamers, and makes the movie flow seamlessly.
A Minecraft Movie focuses on several realities that those of us in the “real world” deal with daily. Creativity is squashed or is at best a ‘hobby’, kids are growing up too fast and sometimes are left to parent their siblings often sacrificing their own childhood, and there needs to be a balance of gaming and real life.
Cutoff Crafts put it simply, “The pressure to forsake creative endeavors and dreams because people demand it of you is strongly rebuked in this film” (Cutoff Crafts). We start with the dreams of Malgosha being trampled on by her family and by her community. It leads to Malgosha becoming the villain of the story. Basically, she takes what she learned and pressures an entire world to follow, “No creativity, no arts”, the Piglins should only be mining for gold. But making the anti-art character the villain competes with the norm of our time. Instead of squashing what makes each person unique, the film encourages creativity. Steve wants to see what each person can create and wants to see a world of fantastical builds. Perhaps that’s why Minecraft the game is so popular. It’s a haven for the creative and an outlet is a time of depravity.
And if you thought that theme was heavy, get ready for another zinger. A Minecraft Movie showcases a more controversial issue of children becoming parents. How a child, who is forced into parenting their siblings, loses part of their childhood. After the death of their mother, Natalie is forced to care for her sibling. While she is technically an adult, she does state in the film that she would have liked to be a child a bit longer. However, who would have taken care of Henry? It is a complicated feeling to love family but also feel robbed of time that can never be returned. You are only young once and growing up too fast is sad. This isn’t a theme we see often in our movies today, but it does show where we might be failing as a society. Even when it comes to rambunctiousness of shouting and cheering in the theater, we scream for the kids to stop and demand that they fit social norms through silence.
The final theme that hits home for my generation is the balance of game and life. Games can be an escape but they can also be too much of an escape. The Garbage Man and Steve both want to live in a world where they don’t have to interact with people and can just play games all day. They want to escape reality. But, by doing so, they remove the magic that they could bring to the world. Spending all day playing means that what you could change for the better is left to the next creative mind, if it’s ever discovered at all. I like how A Minecraft Movie basically states yes, this game is fun and creative, but don’t forget the real world exists and it’s not the same without you in it. Bring that creativity out into the open and share it with others. Remember the quote above, “the real word is dismal, flat, and harbors no hope”, you can change that by just being you!
From audience behavior to iconic messages of the time, A Minecraft Movie brings the heat and the fun for every generation watching. It is a kids film laced with lessons that all members of the audience can relate to. I can say with absolute certainty that I loved this film. It is definitely SKGaleana approved.
Ok, so I know i dove deep into the heart of this movie and maybe, even, overanalyzed a few themes. So what do you think? Is A Minecraft Movie as great as I am stating? Should the audience be chastised for their loud behavior? Share in the comments below.
