Shadows on the Wall | A Minecraft Movie

A Minecraft Movie

dir Jared Hess
scr Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, Chris Galletta
prd Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Roy Lee, Jon Berg, Jason Momoa, Jill Messick
with Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House, Jared Hess, Jemaine Clement, Hiram Garcia, Matt Berry, Mark Wright
release US/UK 4.Apr.25
25/New Zealand Warners 1h41

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Perhaps gamers will make sense of the nuttiness that fills this movie, because it feels random to the uninitiated. Adapting the best-selling videogame, director Jared Hess echoes his 2004 debut Napoleon Dynamite, with its small-town Idaho setting and a steady stream of silly jokes and head-banging music. It's far too wacky for its darker action moments to generate any suspense, but it's goofy enough to keep us smiling.

After Steve (Black) discovers a glowing cube-shaped orb, he enters the Overworld, where he can create whatever he wants as he befriends the wolf Dennis. But in the hellish Nether, Malgosha (House) wants to use the orb for destruction. So Steve hides it in Idaho. When struggling shop owner Garrett (Momoa) finds it, he enters the Overworld with teen Henry (Hansen), his sister-guardian Natalia (Myers) and estate agent Dawn (Brooks). As they meet Overworld's nice and nasty residents, they are soon battling Malgosha's pig horde for the orb in a series of chases and battles.

Everything in this movie feels both nonsensical and haphazard. Dangers and rescues are sudden, and weapons are created and deployed in a flurry of wildly outrageous action that takes place in forests, mountains, underground and in the sky. There are also constant nods to games, and a steady stream of smart jokes aimed squarely at adults in the audience. There's also a parallel plot involving Henry's school principal (Coolidge), who has an amusing run-in with an Overworld villager who has wandered into Idaho.

Momoa and Black double down on their woolly aesthetic as metalheads, having a lot of fun. Momoa particularly dives into the physicality, and their hesitant bromance provides a nice counterpoint to the chaos. Black also gets to sing a few Tenacious D-style numbers. Hansen has superb presence as the heroic Henry, Myers brings the feisty and capable Natalie to life, and Brooks is hilarious as the up-for-it Dawn, who really wants to run a zoo so is fascinated by the Overworld's boxy critters.

Amid the preposterous mayhem, there are terrific running gags about how people bury their true dreams out of necessity. And there's also a nice message about bringing your innate creativity to the real world, rather than hiding it away in your fantasy. But the main point here is to simply indulge in the potential absurdity of this inventive world, keeping the audience smiling at each progressively ridiculous thing that happens. And in the post-credit sting, there's the promise of more to come.

themes, violence, innuendo 30.Mar.25

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