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James Mottram

3/5 stars
“This place makes no sense!” yells Natalie (Emma Myers) in A Minecraft Movie, the barmy new big-screen take on the hugely popular world-building video game.
After watching it – assuming you’re not familiar with the 300-million selling sensation – you’ll probably agree. But that does not mean you will not have a good time.
Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge each bring their own brand of comic smarts to this crazed comedy from director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite).


The story takes place in the Overworld, a pixelated paradise occupied by Steve (Black), a kid who dreamed of building things and found his wish in this bizarre universe.
After the discovery of something called the Orb of Dominance, Natalie and her brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen) are sucked through a portal into this place, where the normal rules of physics do not apply.
Joining them are the garrulous Dawn (Danielle Brooks) and Garrett “The Garbage Man” (Momoa), a 1980s throwback living on his former glories when he was a champion arcade game player.
Soon, Steve is butting heads with Garrett, when all they really need to do is join forces, especially with a crone-like sorceress, Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House), and her army of pig guards streaming in from a place called The Nether to grab the all-powerful Orb.

Fortunately, Henry soon gets a handle on the Overworld – with its cubist bees and pink sheep – as he learns to craft things from his imagination to protect the gang from a phalanx of foes that look like mini Frankenstein’s monsters.
Meanwhile, in a very weird subplot, Coolidge’s Marlene, the vice-principal of Henry’s school, encounters one of the “Villagers”, a Minecraft humanoid who has gone through the portal and wound up in the real world.
The divorcee is soon going on a restaurant date with this odd-looking figure, with a set-up that seems entirely geared to riffing on The White Lotus star’s talent for improvisation. It’s superfluous, but Coolidge’s fans will not care.
With Black also channelling his Tenacious D persona, and Momoa (complete with pink leather jacket with tassels) doing a U-turn on his Aquaman heroics, there is much to enjoy.

It’s a shame that the final third does not quite deliver. Feeling like a Mad Max: Fury Road rip-off with a big, CG-heavy battle that gets tiresome, the plot – if there ever was one – is unceremoniously thrown out the window.
But in a world where movies based on video games do not often land, this one at least manages to level up.
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Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge bring the laughs in this zany adaptation of the world’s most successful video game


Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge bring the laughs in this zany adaptation of the world’s most successful video game.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | A Minecraft Movie review: Jack Black, Jason Momoa take on iconic world-building video game

Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge bring the laughs in this zany adaptation of the world’s most successful video game