“As a child, I yearned for the mines.” – Steve

“A Minecraft Movie” is a 2025 adventure and action movie that was released April 4, directed by Jared Hess, who is also known for “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004) and “Nacho Libre” (2006).

The movie follows the story of four unlikely companions–Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, Henry, Natalie and Dawn–that are suddenly pulled into the Overworld, an alternate dimension which is made entirely of blocks. In order to get back home, the group sets out on a quest led by an experienced crafter named Steve, where they are forced to use their creativity to master the world and fight against evil creatures like Piglins and Zombies.

The film features an all-star cast that includes Jack Black (Steve), Jason Momoa (Garrett), Jennifer Coolidge (Vice Principal Marlene) and Emma Myers (Natalie), as well as Danielle Brooks (Dawn) and Sebastian Eugene Hansen (Henry). In its global opening weekend, the film made $157 million domestically and $144 million overseas, breaking the record for the best domestic opening weekend for any video game movie in history. So far, it is the highest grossing US film of 2025 by a margin of more than $100 million.

The movie has received very mixed critical reception. The Rotten Tomatoes page for the film speaks volumes: critics rate it a 47%, while audiences rate it an 87%. Many applaud the acting performances in the movie, but others criticize the lack of plot or appeal to non-Minecraft fans.

The actual plot of the movie is a major weakness, as it is both confusing and uninspired. At the beginning of the movie, Henry and Garrett accidentally join together a mysterious “Orb” and “Crystal,” creating a portal to the Overworld that sucks the four nearby into it. Most of the film focuses around the group’s goal of obtaining the “Earth Crystal,” which will activate a portal for them to return to their world. Outside of the main journey to escape the Overworld, the film includes many interesting details of characters’ lives and personalities. Henry and Natalie are siblings who have recently relocated to the town of Chuglass, and Henry’s struggle to fit in in town mirrors Natalie’s struggle to act as a parent figure for him following their mother’s death. Garrett was previously a 1980s video game champion and struggles to make a living in a world that seems to have forgotten him. Steve battles Malgosha, a piglin ruler from the Netherworld who ends up chasing the group during their journey. None of these subplots are explored in enough detail to salvage the movie’s overall plot, but they do suggest potential opportunities for future films.

Besides the plot, the movie was also criticized for its heavy use of CGI and green-screening to create the distinct block landscape and mobs (non-human entities). However, despite drawing much of its inspiration from the globally famous videogame Minecraft, viewers saw the mix of live-action and CGI elements as jarring rather than endearing. Personally, I found that the style grew more familiar over the course of the movie. What felt more unusual than the actual quality of animation was its disconnectedness from the original videogame–nothing about the viewing experience felt remotely “Minecraft-y.”

Part of the movie’s humor is obvious from the building Internet excitement before its release. Many lines from the movie, nearly all spoken by the character Steve, went viral online even before it was released, including but not limited to: “Chicken Jockey!” “Flint and Steel.” and “I am Steve.” In the movie itself, Black and Momoa have a unique and funny dynamic, balancing goofy jokes with genuine charm. The movie also features a romance between an Overworld villager and Vice Principal Marlene from Henry’s high school, with an emphasis on their language barrier for comedic effect.

However, real-life audiences took some of the movie’s humor too far. Numerous headlines have described the disasters cinema workers have had to handle due to audiences setting off fire extinguishers, using fireworks, throwing their popcorn, and even bringing a live chicken to the theater for the famed “Chicken Jockey!” scene.

“A Minecraft Movie” is currently out in theaters, and is estimated to hit streaming services in the summer months ahead. Since the film is distributed by Warner Brother Pictures, it will be released on Max, but may potentially also be released for purchase and rent on other platforms such as Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV, which have allowed audience pre-orders but not named a specific date for release.

Here’s my final rating, broken down into categories:

Characters: 8/10

Plot: 3/10

Special Effects: 5/10

Humor: 8/10

Overall, I would rate this movie a 6/10. As someone who did play the original video game growing up, the occasional references did carry considerable nostalgia. The plot and special effects were off-putting, but the characters and the silly humor were the movie’s main saving grace. I would not recommend the movie to anyone completely new to Minecraft, but it is sure to become a classic for kids’ birthday parties or casual family movie nights.

*Editor’s note: Snigdha Shenoy is a student writer. All views expressed in the commentary are her own and are independent of the district, Rouse High School and the publication.