From an old and simple sandbox game in 2009, initially worked on by Markus “Notch” Perrson, which soon got a full release in 2011 had expanded with new enemies, animals, biomes, items and complete overhauls to menus and gameplay. And in the world outside the game, it has been given dozens of merchandise and a movie, specifically “A Minecraft Movie”, directed by Jared Hess and released April 4, 2025 in the United States.
The movie includes Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), Dawn (Danielle Brooks) and Garret Garrison (Jason Momoa) as they all end up themselves in the Minecraft world with Steve (Jack Black) as their guide throughout the colorful and blocky world. The movie also includes a side plot where a Villager from the Minecraft world enters the real world and ends up with Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge). A lot of the actors in the movie do such a well done job with their line deliveries, though most of the jokes mostly revolve around scenes where Steve is with Garret and or when Steve says random and recognizable Minecraft terms, items and mobs which have also been popularized, even before and after the movie came out.
In terms of the music, which this movie is a mix of a musical as well, although only a few, these songs still do a decent job doing well, mostly with the help of Black’s performance helping most of it. For most of the music, some of them are licensed songs, but most try to recreate that style of music similar to the old tracks made by Daniel Rosenfeld or “C418”, recreating that nostalgic sound and charm that was used back then.
Looking at the style of the characters, they look pretty weird since they’re usually not meant to look this realistic, due to being pixels. Although some mobs like the creeper, the enderman, wolf or the sheep, look the best without looking off, which could not be said for other mobs like the skeleton, the zombie or even the villagers, which look very off putting compared to their game counterparts. For characters such as the piglins, they are a mixed bag of looking the most off putting and the least off putting since some are unique designs for the movie that are not in the game.
Speaking of things not in the game, there is many items in the movie that are not in the game. Chained buckets which appeared in one of the trailers or even rideable ghast, although it is an exception since in the game, it was soon added in one of the latest updates for 1.22 called the “Spring to life” update in the form of the happy ghast which you can find by gaining a dried ghast in the nether.
Looking at the visuals, the normal world is set in a random area in the US, likely Idaho due to the look of the various use of potatoes, but in the Minecraft overworld, it has these beautiful visuals that stand out, whether if it’s the grassy lands with trees to even the ton of red shown in the nether, which shows a contrast of the overly evil like colors compared to the once mentioned overworld.
Along with the many small references Black says out of nowhere, there are some cameos and even tributes to certain Minecraft YouTubers in the movie, even the lead designer for Minecraft, Jens Peder Bergensten, mostly known as “Jeb” makes a small cameo.
If you’re wanting a movie that is faithful to the source material, this movie may not be for you. Although, if you’re looking for something to laugh at while hoping that you won’t get popcorn thrown at you, this movie is good for that.
