A Minecraft Movie - Review 

Rating: 1 out of 5

WHERE to begin? A Minecraft Movie may have been the fifth highest grossing film of 2025 but it’s another damning example of why most video game to screen transfers don’t (or shouldn’t) work despite the obvious reasons for studios attempting to cash in on them.

Adapted from the popular gaming franchise, one of the most successful in the world, and delivered in partnership with Mojang Studios and Warner Bros, this feels every bit the cynical piece of filmmaking that it unashamedly is.

It’s a movie without purpose: a concept in search of a decent story, devoid of appealing characters and one that hypocritically sets itself up as a champion of creativity in a world driven by the joyless pursuit of profit.

It almost goes without saying that the film falls victim to its own message - which makes its box office success all the more dispiriting (another win for tireless consumerism).

The plot (or what passes for it) follows four misfits - orphaned siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers), estate agent with a mobile zoo Dawn (Danielle Brooks) and debt-ridden Garrett (Jason Momoa), an arcade game champion still lamenting his glory days - as they are inadvertently sucked through a portal to the Overworld, and forced to fend for themselves in an alien environment.

They’re soon met by Steve (Jack Black), a long-term Minecraft veteran, who left his unhappy reality in the real world to world build in Overworld, until he found himself held captive by a piglin villain named Malgosha, who seeks nothing but gold and the return of the magical orb now rediscovered by Momoa and co.

The ensuing film takes these characters on a game-like quest to save the Overworld from the clutches of Molgosha and save themselves in the process.

It’s all very formulaic and predictable no matter how much its main character, Steve, bangs on about the power of imagination and the wondrous nature of this magical world.

Indeed, one of the big frustrations of this movie is the way in which it shamelessly references far better films and franchises, without having the ability to deliver anything fresh of its own.

There’s nods to both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, as well as Lord of the Rings and Jumanji (all family friendly classics). But there’s also references to Mad Max: Fury Road and the horror tropes of both zombie and vampire movies, which don’t feel appropriate for a movie that targets such a young audience.

The former nods feel like just plain plagiarism, while the latter contribute to the general desensitising nature of films and horror for younger audiences (something that has been going on since the days of Scooby Do and which even Star Wars and Marvel are guilty of).

Elsewhere, the performances lean towards acting by shouting, invoking a pantomime style without the laughs. Black rolls out his madcap energy, while also being afforded some Tenacious D nods, while Momoa is content to clown around without delivering a credible character. Likewise, Peacemaker’s Brooks.

Hansen and Myers do better but the latter delivers only a shade of the charisma she has previously displayed in Wednesday.

A sub-plot involving Jennifer Coolidge, playing to her typecast as a seductive school teacher, is just plain risible to have to endure.

But then even at 102 minutes, A Minecraft Movie generally feels like an endurance test, with director Jared Hess (formerly of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre fame) content merely to adhere to genre expectation rather than bringing any of the quirky indie spirit that first got him noticed.

Its box office success points to everyone having hit on a winning formula: but this feels more like feeding the machine the film claims to be rallying against. And that’s more like game over for true creativity.

Certificate: PG

Running time: 102minutes