A Minecraft Movie is one of the stranger movies to dominate the box office in recent memory.

This odd ode to a 14-year-old computer game has captured the public imagination in the same way that the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon did in 2023, drawing huge crowds for loud, interactive screenings. It is comfortably the biggest English-language film of the year and seems poised to continue raking in receipts from its young target audience.

For the parents who take their kids to see this movie however, it is genuinely confusing and offers little in the way of plot to keep you invested. And that’s okay.

Children’s movies, particularly animation, have become increasingly adult in recent years. I don’t mean they have become inappropriate, but rather the level of craft, writing and direction is such that big releases often draw as many adult fans as kids. Many of those movies are excellent and offer important lessons to the younger viewers, but they also have one eye on keeping parents entertained.

A Minecraft Movie doesn’t concern itself with moral lessons or narrative clarity and goes all out to be as wildly entertaining as it can be for pre-adolescent viewers. There’s explosions, silly jokes and huge pops of colour and sound that do not hold together at all, but seem to absolutely thrill kids. Some youngsters, probably around eight or nine, laughed so hard when I saw it that I thought they were going to pass out from joy.

Which is all to say, it is a tricky movie to review.

Jack Black is suitably high-energy in the main role, while a pretty random supporting cast – including Jason Momoa as a vintage video game store owner – is passable enough. The Minecraft world itself mostly looks good, but the CGI falls apart when the human characters are transposed onto the animated background.

If you have no emotional link to Minecraft, I think it is unlikely you will laugh or even understand what is going on. But if you have kids under 12, it seems they will have the time of their lives.

Rated PG for Violence.
2.5/5.

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