Skeletons, zombies, fierce wolves, scrappy chickens and wild pigs swarm 鈥淎 Minecraft Movie,鈥 but fear not, fraidy cats. They鈥檙e all literally blockheads 鈥 a Minecraft trademark 鈥 and they鈥檙e here to make you laugh.
The movie takes a grown-up absurdist鈥檚 approach to adapting a kid鈥檚 video game for the big screen, with mostly entertaining results that should appeal to more than just squares. It鈥檚 like a Saturday morning cartoon painted by Picasso in his Cubist period.
The story is as simple as its characters 鈥 you don鈥檛 need to know the game 鈥 but under the cockeyed command of director Jared Hess (鈥淣apoleon Dynamite鈥) it leans into its dopey charms. Its cast of appealing players includes comic actors Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge and Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie from the Flight of the Conchords comedy duo. (Watch also for an uncredited former “Saturday Night Live” cast member.)
Minecraft is the bestselling video game of all time, with 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly players. With fan loyalty like that, woe betide any moviemaker who screws it up. But Hess 鈥 like Wes Anderson and Taika Waititi, a devotee of deadpan comedy 鈥斅燿irects with finesse, bringing the right combination of player service and nutty hijinks to this live-action adventure.
Like 鈥淛umanji,鈥 another game-into-film, 鈥淢inecraft鈥 catapults four human misfits into its fantasy world: boastful 1980s game star Garrett 鈥淭he Garbage Man鈥 Garrison (Momoa); brainiac loner Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen); Henry鈥檚 feisty older sister Natalie (Emma Myers); and helpful realtor Dawn (Danielle Brooks), who uses her car as a mobile zoo. They come from the fictional town of Chuglass, Idaho, the 鈥淧otato Chip Capital of America.鈥
Chuglass is an odd place, but it鈥檚 nothing compared to the CGI-enhanced Overworld, the main “Minecraft” domain, where primary colours abound, creativity (and bad jokes) are encouraged and squares of all kinds reign. These include bees, chickens, sheep, monsters and handle-nosed humanoid nerds called villagers. Even the glowing magical 鈥渙rb,鈥 sought by many players (it鈥檚 this film鈥檚 MacGuffin), is actually a cube.
There are also multiple Easter eggs for sharp-eyed fans of both the game and Hess films 鈥 鈥淣apoleon Dynamite鈥 llamas, ahoy! Anything can happen in Minecraft because it鈥檚 a place of endless imagination, a 鈥渟andbox鈥 realm in gamer jargon.
The misfits meet Steve (Jack Black), a society-shunning human adventurer with a bright turquoise shirt, a pet wolf named Dennis and a yen to mentor. Steve has spent much time in the Overworld and its negative flip side the Nether, the latter a hellish place of warlike pigs (called piglins and hoglins) ruled by maniacal porker Malgosha, voiced by Rachel House (鈥淕odzilla x Kong: The New Empire鈥).
Malgosha can鈥檛 abide creativity and the Overworld and she seeks to smother both: 鈥淭o create is to suffer,鈥 she snarls.
Enough about the plot, which the humans struggle to understand as well as to survive. It鈥檚 the amusing interactions that make 鈥淢inecraft鈥 a game-based movie that鈥檚 a click above the usual claptrap.
The film could be cut up and sold as bacon because there鈥檚 so much ham acting in it. Not so much by the younger actors 鈥 Hansen, Myers and Brooks are more reactive that proactive 鈥 but the older ones practically oink with excitement at the chance to get their freak on.
Black, who previously starred in the Hess-directed 鈥淣acho Libre鈥 and who also has 鈥淛umanji鈥 and 鈥淪uper Mario Bros.鈥 to his credit, is in his element as the manic Steve.
He even gets to sing, teaming with Momoa鈥檚 pink-jacketed and equally game Garrett for rocking numbers that bring to mind Black鈥檚 group 鈥淭enacious D.鈥 (One of the songs was written by Black with 鈥淏补谤产颈别鈥 tunesmiths Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, who were Oscar-nominated for 鈥淚鈥檓 Just Ken.鈥)
Most welcome of all is the extraneous but hilarious character Marlene, vice principal of Chuglass High School where Henry and Natalie study. Played by Coolidge, she鈥檚 a bonus for viewers who have been missing her in this season鈥檚 鈥淭he White Lotus.”
The recently divorced Marlene finds herself wooing a villager, aptly named Nitwit (McKenzie), who somehow wandered into the real world and whom Marlene meets after she drives into him with her car. He鈥檚 the subject of the film鈥檚 most outrageous pun.
It鈥檚 at a restaurant where the pair are having a weirdly romantic dinner.
The waiter asks Nitwit, 鈥淎re you finished?鈥
To which Marlene replies, 鈥淣o, I think he鈥檚 Swedish.鈥
I laughed. Does that make me square?
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