This film really ended blew up in theaters and did better than anyone would have dreamed of. It was really impressive and showed just how powerful the world of gaming could be. It took me a while to see it but after watching the film I can confirm that it was pretty solid. The story was on point and the gags were solid. Throw in the fact that it was really not ashamed to be a video game adaption and you have a confident movie on your hands. I would definitely recommend it.

The movie starts off with Steve arriving in the world of Minecraft and quickly mastering the world’s mechanics. Unfortunately he bumps into the dark side of this realm where he is captured by the villains. His dog is able to escape with the gem connecting the two worlds though. Now there is no chance of harm coming to Earth. Unfortunately the gem is found many years later by a guy who is down on his luck. He ends up arriving into the world of Minecraft with two kids and a local real estate agent. Can they find a way to stop the evildoers from getting to the surface world?

I thought that the opening sequence really set the right tone from the start. It was all very fast paced. Instead of waiting 30 minutes for the heroes to make it to this new world, Steve does it in 5 minutes. I liked how quickly he was able to master the different mechanics and wasn’t acting like a tourist. Steve just got to business and it was even pretty heroic how he was able to escape prison long enough to get his dog out of there. Naturally the scenes are played with a slight grin from the movie’s part as this is still a comedy first and foremost but it is actually funny.

That’s something that the film really gets right. The jokes tend to land well with a lot of tried and true gags. The film isn’t exactly going into uncharted territory but it doesn’t need to do that. When you execute an old joke well then it hits as hard as it did the first time. Of course if you don’t tend to like the sillier type of films then this one’s probably not going to change your mind either. It’s all about those old school fundamentals and this is the kind of film you could picture watching on VHS back in the day. If you play Minecraft then you’ll probably recognize more of the gags right away and if not, you’ll still understand all of the important ones.

Steve was definitely the best character throughout the film. He was always in charge of the situation and managed to keep his cool even when things didn’t go as planned. He may not have been a huge success back on Earth but once he was in Minecraft world he was quick to dominate over there. He didn’t whine or complain about his lot in life. He found a creative solution and that’s the way to go.

Garrett becomes one of the main characters early on as another version of Steve to an extent. He was hugely popular at one point but is now poor in the real world. He just can’t find any way to get successful again and is forced to pretend to be someone’s uncle in order to make some pocket change. When Henry finds the magic orb, this becomes Garrett’s chance to make some money. In Minecraft world he is able to finally be the tough guy that he has always portrayed himself to be. It’s not easy but Garrett just makes it work.

He does break down at one point as the pressure becomes too much but for the most part keeps it together. He has a big rivalry with Steve throughout the movie and then eventually earn each other’s respect. Garrett is far from perfect but still makes for a really likable character. It also made sense that he would want some diamonds because he was about to be evicted in the real world. I thought the whole plot line was very reasonable and it’s not like he was doing anything super drastic to get it.

Henry and Natalie can be more on the annoying side. Natalie actually doesn’t get as big a role as you would think. As the older sibling she does her best to look after Henry and make sure that he’s okay. She makes him a pie to bring to school and does her best to be supportive. So I wouldn’t say that she’s a bad character but does randomly try to make Garrett look bad at times by trying to debunk what he’s saying. I never got why some characters want to just be spoilsports like that.

As for Henry, he doesn’t look very good here. After Garrett helps him throughout the movie, Henry is quick to be upset at him later on. I would have preferred for Henry to keep his cool there. Yeah Garrett wasn’t fully honest with him which isn’t cool but I would argue that he still didn’t do anything that was super drastic. It would have been a different story if he ended up being a full traitor or something. Henry’s just a kid so you have to cut him some slack but honestly the film could have worked better without him.

Finally you have Dawn and she ends up being a bit of a downer as well. She just doesn’t know how to have fun as much as Garrett and Steve. They do their best to keep the adventure light while she either starts complaining or trying to get them back on task. What’s the point of exploring a whole new world if you have to be stressed out the whole time? I guess what it all boils down to is that Steve and Garrett didn’t really need any side characters here.

I suppose that would have hurt the banter though. It’s not like every joke landed but on the whole there were more wins than not. If anything this just didn’t leave much room for the villain to be memorable. She does have a really good final scene as she tries to land a hit on Steve when he drops his guard though. That was pretty good, especially when she tried more than once. It was one of the better gags in the film. If you can’t be a serious threat then the next best thing is to be funny and she pulled that off.

The effects throughout the movie are pretty good. I appreciated how much it was copying the game as well like the villains turning into meat. This was a movie that really paid attention to the details of the game. Now if you don’t like slapstick then that would be the only reason to avoid this film. A lot of the humor is physical so you’re going to have characters getting thrown around and beat up but these scenes just work. I’d even say that about the movie in general…it just works.

There is only one weak plot in the film and that’s the subplot of the divorced vice principal dating a random Minecraft character. That said, it’s still 100X better than the similar plot in Pixels. This one doesn’t overstay its welcome nearly as much and the scenes tend to be short. I’d say they should have been cut out as they had nothing to do with anything but at least they aren’t really in your face the whole time. So I won’t be too harsh on that front.

Overall, A Minecraft Movie was better than I expected it to be. I figured it would be a fun time and all but more like a 6. In the end it surpassed that to be a pretty good experience that I could recommend to anyone. I’m definitely eager to see how the sequel plays out. There are a lot of fun things they can do with a sequel like introducing the Ender Dragon. Of course this is the kind of title where a sequel can mess up easily by not being funny. That’s hard to predict though so we just have to hope for the best for now.

Overall 7/10