“A Minecraft Movie†doesn’t exactly spell out the game’s attraction, but once you see Jack Black and Jason Momoa horse around, you know it’s not going to corrupt a generation.
Here, in a blocky kind of world, the two must help friends survive the multiple threats before enemies try to end their fun.
There are probably deep stories behind all the activity, but the film simply spits out favorite lines, hops around familiar territory and lets its two stars act like they’re in an over-long television skit.
From left, Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Sebastian Hansen appear in a scene from "A Minecraft Movie."
Momoa plays the owner of a video game store in Chuglass, Idaho. He once held an ‘80s gamer title but now the world is hardly clamoring for arcades and VHS tapes. Before he closes the place, he winds up in Minecraft where he’s guided to the mines by a quiet kid (Sebastian Hansen), who’s tracked by his sister, Natalie (Emma Myers) and a real estate agent (Danielle Brooks) who runs a traveling zoo atop her car. They’re caught in the Cubist world where piglin warriors try to end their journey. To help them maneuver, Black appears and shows them the ropes – particularly how to make rounded objects out of squares. He’s a master builder, you might say, and just as creeped by the piglin folks as his new friends.
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Both Momoa and Black don’t worry how silly they look. They approach this like an extra-curricular activity and agree to some of Director Jared Hess’s more outrageous stunts, just to get laughs. Those don’t always come but some lines do encourage audience participation. Black, for example, gets a rousing “Steeeeeve!†welcome when he comes on screen. He also gets plenty of butt jokes and a line about “mining†or “crafting†that apparently registers among those who play.
While “A Minecraft Movie†involves treasure, outrageous forms of transportation and a cavalier approach to death, it doesn’t contain satanic messages or answers to the great questions of life. Instead, it lets outsiders just see what goes on in this world and, maybe, why fans would want to mess around in it for an hour or so.
Black has the right demeanor for such a venture, but he’s not exactly the hero most are seeking. He just is.
Momoa risks a bit more artistically, but it’s not like his resume is filled with art films.
The real adventurer is Hess, who made a mark with “Napoleon Dynamite†and could, given the box office returns, score here, too. He includes tater tots on the menu and welcomes comparisons every time the Minecraft world seems a little too limiting.
Explosions and skeletons aside, watching the film doesn’t necessarily lead to thirsting for a sequel. This gets the job done and moves on. That’s as much as anyone could ask.
