Opening 3 Apr 2025
Directed by:
Jared Hess
Writing credits:
Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, Chris Galletta
Principal actors:
Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks
Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa) has a video games shop called Game Over World. Youngsters Natalie (Emma Myers) and Henry (Sebastian Hansen) go to high school in Chuglass, Idaho. Dawn (Danielle Brooks) is a real estate agent. Steve (Jack Black), who is friends with a wolf named Dennis, finds the Earth Crystal and the Orb of Dominance. He goes into the Overworld and eventually lands in a negative world called the Nether. With the help of Dennis, he manages to transport the crystal and the orb to the real Earth World, where Garret finds them. Soon, all five are experiencing life in the Overworld (where they eventually have wings called elytra and can fly) They are confronted by Malgosha, who resembles a witch and has a square head. She leads a group of creatures called piglins. They are square, perhaps due to the influence of the crystal which is now also a cube. Not only creatures, but also trees, houses, sheep, bees, skeletons, etc., are all square. Garret, Natalie, Henry, Dawn, and Steve eventually return to their village in the real world, followed by Malgosha and the piglins.
Here we have constant action with fighting, running, burning; “creating is more difficult than destroying.” All is supported by strong music; Steve even sings a few times. A Minecraft Movie takes its form from a game called Minecraft, often played by my colleague, Amber, age thirteen. She said, “Knowing the game makes it easier to understand the film. One difference between the two is that there are no real humans in the games, only villagers who are supposed to be the humans in Minecraft, but there are five real humans in the film. Here there is not the typical endgame boss like in the game called Ender Dragon, but a new character instead: Malgosha, which is a piglin.” Amber and I both chose the same favorite character: Garrett. Also interesting was the character Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge), a school vice principal who talks about her marriage, goes out for lunch with a piglin, and has the kids draw pictures of an orange and a banana. (Becky Tan)
