The 2025 film “A Minecraft Movie” is a PG-rated comedy directed by Jared Hess, featuring well-known actors like Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge, as well as Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers and Sebastian Hansen. It hit theaters on April 4 and broke box office records, earning well over $300 million globally within the first week of its release.
Theaters have been filled with people excited to watch this movie and it’s quickly becoming an Internet sensation.
Set in the fictional town of Chuglass, Idaho, four misfits discover a glowing orb that leads them to an abandoned mineshaft. Inside, they find a mysterious portal and get teleported to the Overworld, where everything is cube-shaped. In their desperate search to find safety from the monsters that lurk at night, they break part of the orb and the portal closes. Henry, Natalie, Dawn and Garret must find a way to repair it in order to return home with the help of Steve, who is being hunted by the evil piglins.
“A Minecraft Movie” revolves around themes of creativity and self-discovery, but in a very light and generic way. Henry, the youngest of the misfits, is initially bullied at school for his ideas and quickly begins to struggle with his artistic side after it gets him in trouble and jeopardizes his sister’s job. However, his imagination comes in handy in the Overworld when it comes to crafting. Steve’s encouragement teaches him that he shouldn’t suppress his creativity because it’s what makes him special.
Alongside its heartwarming message, this movie is overwhelmingly packed with dramatic irony and memes, like General Chungus, “let me tell you something,” “unalived” and many more. It is a 101-minute fever dream of jokes and Jack Black oneliners that have taken over the internet – particularly “chicken jockey” and “flint and steel.”
Well known YouTubers in the Minecraft community like DanTDM and Aphmau are also featured in references or cameos, and Jens Bergensten, one of Minecraft’s developers known as Jeb, plays a background waiter in the dinner date scene. Directors even include a tribute to the late Minecraft content creator Technoblade, who lost his battle to cancer in 2022 at just 23 years old.
The visual effects in this film are almost seamless and the game’s signature blocky style is impressive, considering it’s a hybrid between live-action and CGI. It’s a different take on the normal animation used for Minecraft Story Mode and the game itself, but it works.
It is obvious that the creators of “A Minecraft Movie” had fun making it. It is an absurdist comedy full of nostalgia, online references and chaotic energy thrown into an unapologetically unserious plot and talk of a sequel is already in the air. Although it has its flaws, this movie is charming and funny to the right audience, especially for those who grew up with the game and the content surrounding it.
While it’s not an Oscar-winning film by any means, its humor and absurdity can be enjoyed with the right mindset and expectations.
Layla Phillis can be reached at arg-life@uidaho.edu