A Minecraft Movie (PG)
Directed by: Jared Hess
Starring: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge
Review by: Julian Wright
Hollywood hunk Jason Momoa and funny-man Jack Black team up for a big screen adaptation of a video game – with pleasantly surprising results.
When bored office worker Steve (Jack Black) finds a magical glowing blue cube that opens a portal to another world, he steps in and starts exploring.
He falls in love with the endless imagination and creativity that this cubic world offers (everyhting from buildings to people and nature have a block-like appearance), closes the portal with the cube hidden under his bed (he admits, a lousy hiding spot) and never returns home.
Years later and in his hometown, the washed-up video arcade competition champion Garrett (Jason Momoa), siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers) and quirky real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) find the cube and enter this other world.
Together, they must navigate the world, their new-found capabilities, battle local villain Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House) and get back home.
There are definite Jumanji vibes about A Minecraft Movie, and the internal logic of the cubic world was unclear – at one point, Natalie utters “This place makes no sense” and honestly, she wasn’t wrong.
But when the laughs are so consistent, the cast is engaging and the action a pleasant distraction, it is easy to overlook the convolutions.
Momoa and Black bring a lot of charm to their block-head roles, with Momoa in particular thriving in his “The Rock does comedy” era.
Jennifer Coolidge is utterly delightful, delivering some of the biggest laughs (if you are a fan of her style of comedy, and it seems lately, many of us are), in a completely superfluous B-plot that could be easily removed and have no impact on the film.
The film zips along at a great pace so to avoid boring young ones and game fans – the frenetic action pausing only on occasion to reiterate that creativity is good and should be encouraged, nurtured and supported (positive message – check).
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