“My World.”
This is the default name given to every world “Minecraft” players create.
I loaded into my first world on Aug.13, 2016 after my siblings and I begged my mom to buy “Minecraft.” That same loading screen from loading into a brand new world was shown on the big screen April 4, 2025. At that moment, I realized “Minecraft” has kept me involved in its events, livestreams and game updates for almost a decade.
I heard about the “Minecraft” movie when the first trailer came out in November. My brother called me over to watch it on a friend’s phone and, upon seeing the live action realistic CGI world, I was concerned.
My first thought was that this was going to turn into a “Sonic the Hedgehog” incident, where the internet complains about how wrong something looks, leading the movie studio to change it. This was not the case. Because of this, the movie was expected to be a cheap money grab and soon-to-be flop at the box office.
“A Minecraft Movie” follows four misfits opening a portal to the Overworld: a cubic world with unlimited imaginative potential. Shortly upon entering, they become stuck and have to rely on a mysterious man named Steve (Jack Black) to get back to the real world.
As I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but realize how cookie cutter the plot, story and character relationships were. Even with Henry (Sebastion Eugene Hansen) and Natalie’s (Emma Myers) sibling relationship, and Henry and Garrett’s (Jason Momoa) mentor relationship, I couldn’t find a way to feel deeper emotions. It lacks depth and couldn’t be more basic.
However, it doesn’t always have to be about the story.
A month before the release of “A Minecraft Movie” the internet blew up with memes created around Black’s character, Steve, announcing lines throughout the movie trailers. Things like, “I am Steve,” “Chicken Jockey” and “The nether,” became quotes expressed across the internet. Because of the memes pushing the hype to see these quotes within the movie, whenever one of these quotes were said, my theater erupted in cheers.
All of this hype leading to the movie changed my perspective when showing up to the theaters. I knew this was going to be big. When the report from the box office came, it didn’t disappoint. “A Minecraft Movie” earned $163 million domestically and $313 million globally within its opening weekend alone. The movie became the best opening weekend for a video game movie ever.
The movie delivered comedically, especially with the erupted cheers within the theaters after each quote. Even if I couldn’t say much about its story, the entertaining wait for each Black quote kept me excited. If it wasn’t for the memes, the movie would not have done so well and gotten such young and eager engagement, even with it surrounding the best selling video game of all-time.
If you’re walking into “A Minecraft Movie” expecting a deep, well-written story, you’ll probably leave disappointed. But if you’re just looking for a fun, entertaining movie — especially if you’ve seen the memes across the internet — you’ll enjoy it. Even with its lacking story, I left this memorable movie feeling satisfied, which is more than enough to recommend this movie to every child I know.
