While the game that serves as its source material thrives on creativity, endless possibilities and player-driven storytelling, “A Minecraft Movie” (2025) strips away all charm and leaves audiences wandering through a barren wasteland devoid of meaningful narrative or heart.
The film, directed by Jared Hess, brings the popular video game “Minecraft” to the big screen, and stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Danielle Brooks.
Hess, known for cult classics such as “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004) and “Nacho Libre” (2006), feels utterly out of his depth with “Minecraft.” His signature offbeat humor and charm are completely lost here, replaced instead by uninspired, mechanical storytelling that betrays both the spirit of his earlier work and the source material. Each scene is directed with little flair and creativity, delivering scenes that feel flat and induce boredom. In the film — particularly scenes that include clunky, exposition-filled dialogue — the camera is always static, making it obvious the film was shot primarily with a green screen on a small set, with the actors possibly not even being in the same room together.
Speaking of the actors, everyone in the cast does a terrible job with the material given to them. Black does his best to save the film with his charisma, but his level of enthusiasm is far above those of his castmates, making him stand glaringly out of place. The other leading male and female actors in the film deliver each line without any effort. They also all have very little chemistry, something the movie constantly tries to force us to believe is there in excess.
The visual effects, though colorful, are clunky and awkwardly stylized, feeling more like a glorified advertisement rather than a carefully crafted feature film. “A Minecraft Movie” moves from one meaningless plot point to the next in a story that seems mashed together from generic video game tropes rather than genuine imagination.
As someone who stayed up late during sleepovers in elementary school playing “Minecraft” and building expansive worlds with friends, I found that “A Minecraft Movie” feels less like the labor of love fans hoped for and more like a soulless cash grab. With its lack of genuine entertainment value or any real respect for the source material, this blunder of a film proves some things are better left unadapted.
Rating: .5/5
