Opinion: “A Minecraft Movie” falls short

That might not shock the readers of this article here. The trailers didn’t look very promising and while it’s not the worst thing that’s ever been conceived by Hollywood, it’s definitely something that could have been better. It’s a shame that a movie adapting a game that’s all about raw creativity is so predictable and by the numbers in its story, while having the temerity to say that its message is about embracing your inner creativity. 

But it’s for kids, one might say. But so was “The Incredibles” and “A Lego Movie,” which this film will likely be compared to, and those films were fun, witty and even insightful films that showed that just because movies are meant for child audiences, it doesn’t mean they should talk down to children or slack when it comes to having things like stakes or a good story or something to make kids think on, because kids are much smarter than you think. 

It’s not all bad of course, Jack Black is always fun to watch and it’s clear that he’s having an absolute blast playing this role, but the best part was actually Rachel House as the main villain Malgosha. She brought an energy and hamminess to the character that felt right for this kind of movie and it’s clear that she was giving it her all with this performance. She was one of the few parts of the movie that was consistently enjoyable. 

Overall, the film was a massive disappointment. The pacing is nonexistent, the characters aren’t interesting. There are points where it feels like the film is speedrunning through the pacing, like there are moments that were left out of the film. The jokes were forgettable (there were maybe one or two that were actually funny.) It just felt…empty. 

It’s films like “A Minecraft Movie” that exposes the increasing soullessness in American cinema. Moviegoers deserve better than this.