‘A Minecraft Movie’ review: If ‘Lord of the Rings’ was directed by Mr. Beast

Sam McCarthy, Contributing Writer • April 14, 2025

In the pilot episode of Seth Rogen’s new Apple TV+ series “The Studio,” Rogen plays the newly-appointed creative chief of the fictional Continental Pictures, who’s given a ludicrous mandate from an unhinged CEO, played by Bryan Cranston: develop a big-budget blockbuster based on the powder-based beverage Kool-Aid.

Amazingly, director Jared Hess’ “A Minecraft Movie” flies dangerously close to turning this kind of satirical absurdity into a reality. What was a joke just weeks ago during the premiere of “The Studio” is now eerily prophetic.

There’s some legitimate fun to be had in watching Hess and his small army of screenwriters try to construct a family-friendly adventure saga from the infinite sandbox of “Minecraft.” Unsurprisingly, as someone who’s fond of Hess’ work on “Napoleon Dynamite,” I found that most of the fun throughout “A Minecraft Movie” stems from moments when it feels like it was made by the guy behind the cult classic. The majority of those moments are concentrated within the first act, before the brunt of its human characters are sucked into the cubic dreamscape known as the Overworld.

The movie begins with young Steve, who — like any 11-year-old boy — yearns to work in the mines. But his dreams of swinging a pickaxe all day had been shut down, so poor Steve grew up to be a sad doorknob salesman that never left his home in Chuglass, Idaho. Also, he grew up to be “Nacho Libre” star Jack Black, who’s level of unhingedness here makes his work in “School of Rock” look monotone.

So to the mines Steve goes, where a glowing orb zaps him into a magical cube-shaped world where you can build anything you want. But it’s only a matter of time before Steve is taken prisoner to a malicious swine named Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House).

Enter: our recently orphaned teenagers Natalie (Emma Myers) and her Frodo-coded little brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen), who move to Chuglass to fulfill their mother’s dying wish. There, they meet animal-loving real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) and former video game champion stuck in the 80’s, Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Mamoa).

While Hess isn’t credited in writing the screenplay, there are stretches of the film that truly feel like he was the sole creative voice. Yet, the film seems more focused on submitting its creative energy rather than building something cohesive. Though “A Minecraft Movie” doesn’t get around to its half-a–ed message until long after the action has been encompassed by toyetic spectacle, the first act of the story somehow manages to be semi-amusing even with the monstrosity the third act becomes.

Hess is able to maintain a certain degree of irreverence throughout the film, but most of its personality is pushed further to the side as the story wears on. That trend is epitomized by the amusing subplot where one of the Overworld’s unibrowed Villagers collides with Jennifer Coolidge, a subplot the movie makes zero attempt to weave into the rest of the story.

It’s almost like the studio agreed to let Hess maintain a sprinkle of his absurdity, as long as it didn’t interfere with the mindless high-energy chaos he was hired to keep sacred. The bickering dynamic between Black and Mamoa becomes the story’s entertaining center, with the rest of the cast left to roll their eyes at the wannabe alphas and/or discarded to their own subplots just to keep them out of the way (Myers and Brooks are sidelined to the action).

The silliness of “A Minecraft Movie” will appeal to kids who love the game, as well as those who are chronically online, but the list ends there. So when Jack Black’s Steve enthuses to the group, “First we mine! Then we craft! Let’s Minecraft!,” you are either pumping your imaginary pickaxe in the air or you are blank-faced, staring like Homelander (“The Boys”) at the sheer madness unfolding.

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