REVIEW:
The Minecraft movie is not very good. It’s not interesting and it’s not funny. Now on the one hand, some might say, “what did you expect? It’s a kids movie.” To which there’s the easy counter argument that a whole ton of kids movies happen to be really good for adults as well. One of my favorite movies from last year was The Wild Robot, for example. But then there’s also the argument that it’s not just a kids movie, but a kids movie made from a video game. I would remind those people of Super Mario Bros from just a couple of years ago, or Sonic the Hedgehog. In other words, there is really no excuse for the movie being so unfunny and uninteresting.
So let’s talk about what it is. The movie is about another world where there are giant enemy pig monsters and zombies, and characters trying to find magical orbs or objects. It’s about a generic as it gets. What does work, in the first half or so, is Jason Mamoa as a former video game champion from when he was a kid, who is now an adult with attitude. His interactions with characters, while in the real world are pretty funny, as he dismisses everyone who comes near him, even kids.
Once things get to the Minecraft world, however, the movie gets lost in the effects, and attempts at doing more, while actually doing less. What that means is that more silly and uninteresting action, but less story. The main characters are kids, which is always a problem if you’re trying to make a movie that appeals to adults. Think about the animated films that have worked in the past. You can make the characters teenagers (The Little Mermaid, Moana,) but not kids (An American Tale is a rare exception.) And that’s animated movies. There’s a reason why the Lion King only kept Simba as a kid for half the film before changing it up. For live action, it’s even harder. You need adults to relate to. That’s why they have Jack Black and Mamoa in here. But those two don’t quite take the attention away from the fact that the leads here really are the kids. It’s a problem. This movie nevers find the formula to appeal to both adults and kids that it really needed to figure out.