I have never played Minecraft a day in my life, yet I decided that I needed to experience the new Minecraft movie in theaters after seeing clips from the film all over social media.
A Minecraft Movie hit theaters on April 4th and stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa. Having a budget of $150 million, the movie’s opening success beat all expectations after making $163 million during its debut weekend. The film’s opening ultimately became the third highest Warner Bros opening ever, surpassing Barbie (2023).
Fans of the video game were obviously quick to come to the theater to see their favorite game be brought to the big screen. It’s no secret that this movie is meant to be silly and goofy and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Many audience members have played into the unseriousness of the film by cheering and clapping at certain lines and parts of the movie and posting these clips on Tik Tok.
A Minecraft Movie was definitely an experience when I saw it – so let’s talk about it. There will be some spoilers below, so read at your own risk!
The movie begins with the backstory of Black’s character, Steve. When Steve was younger, he was mining and found a glowing blue cube that transported him to the Overworld. (Aka into Minecraft.) Steve begins to (literally) build a new life for himself in the Overworld with his new wolf-dog pal, Dennis.
Steve eventually gets sucked into the Netherworld, a dangerous world run by an evil pig named Malgosha. Malgosha explains to Steve that she wants the glowing blue cube he found, but Steve is able to quickly give the cube to Dennis and he tells Dennis to hide the cube in the human world. As Dennis runs back to the human world, Steve becomes held hostage by Malgosha.
In the human world, Momoa’s character, Garrett, is struggling to keep his game shop open. Garrett buys a storage unit in hopes that it will have something of worth in it, but he’s met with useless things – but also the glowing blue cube.
We’re then introduced to a brother and sister duo, Henry and Natalie. After their mom passes away, the siblings move to town so Natalie can begin her new job. On the morning of Henry’s first day of school, he stops by Garrett’s shop.
Long story short, Henry has an embarrassing first day of school and goes back to Garrett’s shop afterwards to decompress. The two find the glowing blue club sitting around the shop and the pair get transported to the Overworld.
When Natalie gets home from work and can’t find Henry, she asks their real estate agent, Dawn, for help finding him. Natalie and Dawn are able to track where Henry was last seen, but then also get sucked into the Overworld. Natalie and Dawn find Henry and Garrett just before it becomes nightfall. Once it’s nighttime, the Creepers come out and the group has to fight them off.
Steve has somehow escaped the Netherworld and finds the group struggling to fight off the Creepers. He helps the group fight off the Creepers and introduces himself to the group by saying his iconic “I am Steve” line. Steve then catches the group up on where they are and how they need to return the glowing blue cube back to Malgosha so there can finally be peace between the Overworld and the Netherworld.
The group ultimately begins their quest, and you guessed it, they successfully beat Malgosha and save the Overworld. In the end, the group makes it back home, and Steve joins them back in the human world.
This movie was super fast paced and had a lot going on the whole time – and I honestly didn’t expect anything less. Black sang four original songs in the film, one of them titled “Steve’s Lava Chicken” which was about, you guessed it, lava chicken.
In between all of the action scenes, one-liners, singing, the Steve and Garrett bromance, and the “Chicken Jockey” moment, we’d cut to a separate storyline. In this storyline, Henry’s new vice principal, played by Jennifer Coolidge, is on a date with a Villager who escaped to the human world from the Overworld. Just imagine what it would be like to watch Jennifer Coolidge in a movie about Minecraft, and that was exactly what her scenes were like.
At the end of the film, there is a huge singing and dancing sequence starring Steve, Garrett, and the rest of the gang. It is then revealed during the credits that Vice Principal Marlene and the Villager are in love. We also learn that the whole film has taken place over the last 24 hours.
Overall, I’d recommend seeing this movie if you’re a fan of Minecraft. Knowing the game will definitely make the movie more enjoyable for you. Although I went to the movie not knowing anything, (and left still not knowing much), the film was still an entertaining experience.