“A Minecraft Movie” is not really about “Minecraft.”
Sure it has the characters, but does it really get at what makes the game great? Sadly it does not, but I do not think that is what director Jared Hess wanted to do.
The characters are extremely flat, with only surface level quirk, and only made to deliver jokes as quickly as possible. However, these shortcomings make more sense when looking at the most notable previous work of Hess: “Napoleon Dynamite,” which shows the same prizing of quirk and quick jokes over development of story or character. It feels as though Hess does not care about “Minecraft” the game, but rather his own familiar directorial sensibility.
“Napoleon Dynamite” was not alone in its era, the 00’s is filled with these comedies of the same type. It shares the same sensibility of Will Ferrel, Adam Sandler or Judd Apatow comedies.
Though, in no way is Hess creating an outdated film, as these stylistic anachronisms deepen the nostalgia that a video game movie tries to induce. Both “Minecraft” and these films are defining pieces of entertainment for the ideal audience of this movie. It is also important to note that these 00’s movies are not entirely irrelevant to teens; Apatow’s “Superbad” is a Gen Z favorite and Sandler is still a relevant style icon.
It would have been better if Hess could confront its viewers with a movie about what makes “Minecraft” so compelling even after 15 years, or he could have taken a route more akin to the mysterious poem at the end of the game instead of swaddling viewers in nostalgia. It was definitely hilarious and was quotable just as those 00’s comedies are, so I guess it achieved what it set out to do.
Jason Momoa was sublimely hilarious. Jack Black is a veteran of the 00’s comedy, and he does swimmingly with Momoa, but I cannot help feeling like he is playing a caricature of himself, in the same way that Jim Carrey seemed to play a caricature of himself in the recent Sonic film.
The rest of the cast is adept; although, Danielle Brooks as a sassy Black woman reeks of the worst stereotypes of 00’s comedies.
The movie is worth seeing, but expect a safe dabbling in Gen Z nostalgia rather than a movie actually about “Minecraft.”
