The Minecraft Movie

To be honest, I had no interest in actually watching this film (if you can call it a film) at all. It felt like just a cash grab, making use of a widely-established and quite possible one of the largest known IPs out there. Combining that with triple A actors and a pretty good art style and direction, you know that this will sell. Being viral also helps, and boy did this movie garner attention among the “plugged in”. From trashed movie theaters to crowd reactions to the whimsical food stall jingle to one-liners out of context - the marketing went well beyond the usual corporate design.

Needless to say, it worked. What pushed me over the line and made me add a ticket to cart was just hearing my students talk about it. It was a just a mix of reactions as I just mentioned the name. Some shouted the usual memes, some shared their crowd experience like how one almost got hit by a candy box. I closed the brief discussion with the question I had on my mind since its release: is it good? Again, a mix of reactions. It was corny, it was great, it was just meh, it was fun, it was worth it for the crowd.

Not amazing. Not terrible. Perfectly in that middle range.

So, as a weirdo who loves to analyze visual media and figure out what makes it the way it is, I knew I had to watch it. That, and my students keep requesting I play “Steve’s Lava Chicken” on my saxophone. I know I will have to humor them one day, so I need the context so I can put my heart and soul into this 40 second earworm.

I went to watch it about a little less than a week after its release on a sleepy late afternoon, early evening showing. In terms of my theater experience, it was surely not as rambunctious as the media made it seem. My sister went with me with her 2nd time watching the movie, and she told me the first time she watched it there was a lot of talking esp with the teens that were seated behind her. Even so, she said her experience with the crowd was a fun one and not chaotic like the media made it seem.

I think some would say I missed out, but to me I am very so much glad.

The actual movie itself? I hate to admit it, but I would say it’s a fun watch. Not something I would recommend anyone to go out of their way to watch. But you can tell a lot of love was put into this. And in the midst of the modern trend of video game films like Mario and Sonic which also had a lot of love put into them, this stands alongside with them as a way to invoke nostalgia for current and grown-up kids. To really cement a brand for generations. So that one day, they too can sell an action figure of a 50 year old with the body shape of a retired uncle.

Some off the cuff comments:

They really told Jack Black to turn up the Jack-Black-o-Meter up to the max with his role. Every comedy quirk and style that you know of him exists throughout this movie.

It’s refreshing to see pretty good to decent physical comedy executed. A lot doesn’t hit, but when it does? Boy, does it hit.

The man sandwich scene… whoo boy how did that one get approved. There’s a line in there that went something like “nose to toes” and the warning of not wanting to do a tight squeeze but the “we have to do it bro”. I bet they wanted to write a no homo joke without explicitly saying no homo, but also throughout the film they’ve done the whole “you’re my bro, bro” thing so much that really they should have kissed.

The one joke that really got me was the restaurant scene and the waiter asking “Are you finished?” and the response was “No, he’s Swedish”. The entire little C plot was sooo good. Well needed for what the A and B plot were.

Speaking of plot, it was entirely… passable. Passable for a fun kids story. There’s good messages in there (I guess, “good” can be argued), but some of the story beats either happen too fast or slowed to a point where it just drags on for too long. For example, there’s a huge argument that you know will happen as it gets clued in scene before and it ultimately just really leads to nothing. They still move on in their adventure, they still do their thing, and if anything it just serves as a weak way to do the grand sacrifice trope. The comedy and the linearity of the whole adventure really does hold all the small parts that make up the plot together.

The strongest part of the movie for me was all the fighting scenes. For some reason, all the choreography was super good, flowing, intense, and showed off more of all the character’s personalities more than the whole movie did. My favorite cinematographic scene was the in the boxing ring. You got a stunned and dazed pink buff man in the center, and a zombie child on one end and his chicken companion in the other. Both of them rush to the center, and the camera literally does a 180 rotation. I nearly jumped out of my seat, it was that cool. Gosh, I need to see it again.

I’ll leave it off with this last gag between Jack Black’s character and the evil piglin witch lady. The whole “come closer” dying wish bit and Steve just getting the correct read on her. Very good bit that ultimately distracts the viewer or at least lessens the impact of the main baddie just dying alongside her army. I like how even though we get a bit of a backstory on why she is the way she is, they really made it so that she’s just evil and she does not need to be redeemed in any way.

Overall, fun watch. Again, not worth going out of your way for. I do not thing this movie does anything new or stand-out in its field or genre, but even if it did not it still has something for anyone who watches it. A lot of great execution of action and comedy, the plot is decent, the actors are good at what they do. Oh, and mentioning the love put into this - there are cameos of Minecraft Youtubers and even a reference to a Minecraft community legend. They didn’t need to do all that, but they did. People involved in the making of this film had a passion in the IP, and you can tell.

I had a good time. Shout-outs to my students for convincing me, though it doesn’t take that much to convince me of anything as long as it’s good. Just, please let the memes die out though. Especially the one with the zombie and the fowl. Please.