A Minecraft Movie

Who doesn’t like a white woolly llama? Well that’s probably the highlight of this derivative CGI-fest that finds a quartet of geeks and gamers dragged through a magical portal to a world ruled by the evil “Malgosha”. Now she wants to use this glowing cube to escape from her dark and dingy “Overworld” realm and take over the peaceable and colourful real-world but she hasn’t banked on the tenacity of former gaming champion “Garrett” (Jason Momoa) and the geeky “Henry” (Sebastian Hansen) who reunite with the long trapped “Steve” (Jack Black) to save the day and the world. You don’t really need to know much about the video game to appreciate the simplicity of this, but then again I’m note sure you’d need to be much over 5 to appreciate it either. The visuals are engagingly 1980s with some references that did remind me a bit of “Back to the Future” (1985) meets “Dungeons & Dragons” and a decent soundtrack that allows Black to get straight into his element and prove that it is possible to entertain amidst what was undoubtedly (for him) a sea of green! Momoa isn’t afraid to send himself up both Danielle Brooks and Sebastian Henry seem to be ready to immerse themselves in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a big-budget movie without really having any lines to learn, cues to make or long sessions in the make up chair. As ever with these weakly written fantasies, the denouement is never in jeopardy but with so much enthusiasm on the screen for something that was, for many, an integral part of their growing up it’s difficult to be overly critical of something so shamelessly sentimental. What it isn’t, though, is funny and the laughs are few and far between so I think it’s best to just aim low and let the whole tide of your adolescence (if you are old enough) to wash over you before you leave the cinema, completely forget all about this and hope there isn’t a sequel.

Who doesn’t like a white woolly llama? Well that’s probably the highlight of this derivative CGI-fest that finds a quartet of geeks and gamers dragged through a magical portal to a world ruled by the evil “Malgosha”. Now she wants to use this glowing cube to escape from her dark and dingy “Overworld” realm and take over the peaceable and colourful real-world but she hasn’t banked on the tenacity of former gaming champion “Garrett” (Jason Momoa) and the geeky “Henry” (Sebastian Hansen) who reunite with the long trapped “Steve” (Jack Black) to save the day and the world. You don’t really need to know much about the video game to appreciate the simplicity of this, but then again I’m not sure you’d need to be much over 5 to appreciate that either. The visuals are engagingly 1980s with some references that did remind me a bit of “Back to the Future” (1985) meets “Dungeons & Dragons” whilst a decent soundtrack that allows Black to get straight into his element and prove that it is possible to entertain amidst what was undoubtedly (for him) a sea of green! Momoa isn’t afraid to send himself up and both Danielle Brooks and Sebastian Henry seem to be ready to immerse themselves in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a big-budget movie without really having any lines to learn, cues to make or long sessions in the make-up chair. As ever with these weakly written fantasies, the denouement is never in jeopardy but with so much enthusiasm on the screen for something that was, for many, an integral part of their growing up it’s difficult to be overly critical of something so shamelessly sentimental. What it isn’t, though, is funny and the laughs are few and far between so I think it’s best to just aim low and let the whole tide of your adolescence (if you are old enough) to wash over you before you leave the cinema, completely forget all about this and hope there isn’t a sequel.

Chickey Jockey is so fun to watch. I love it so much

⸻ I was really disappointed by the movie and I was even more surprised that Jack Black agreed to take on such a role It just didn’t fit him at all and it honestly brought down his image in my eyes. The script was weak and the story was not good either. Overall I think it was a poor choice for Jack Black, considering I usually see him as a great actor The movie definitely doesn’t deserve more than a 4 out of 10.