In the past, video game movies have had a poor reputation, often flopping in the box office and disappointing fans. 

        However, the game adaptation films released within the past few years seem to point to a new trend. 

        After director Jeff Fowl listened to the initial wave of backlash and criticism from its trailer, the 2020 “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie would not only go on to become a commercial success, but also part of a trilogy that grossed over $1 billion total, alongside a fourth movie in the works.

        In 2023, the “Super Mario Bros. Movie” went on to break several box office records and made a total of $1.3 billion. It was met with mixed reviews from critics, but rated highly among audiences.

        Following that, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” adaptation grossed nearly $300 million worldwide. While similarly panned by critics, it was received well by fans of the game franchise and has a sequel on the way.

        In continuation of this pattern, “A Minecraft Movie” has also become a major success. Box Office Mojo, a site run by IMDb, lists its global profits as roughly $910 million.

        The movie starts with four characters, Garrett (Jason Momoa), Natalie (Emma Myers), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), and Dawn (Danielle Brooks). At Garrett’s failing video game store, Henry accidentally opens a portal to the “Overworld” which guides them to a mine. With help from Dawn, Henry’s sister Natalie searches for Henry after noticing his abscence. All of them get pulled through the portal, and into the “Overworld,” which is essentially the environment of Minecraft. They meet Steve (Jack Black), who has lived in this dimension for several years. The rest of the story follows Steve and the group working together in order to rebuild the portal to direct them back home.

        Initially, I had low expectations. The trailer seemed so detached from the game, since in all fairness Minecraft is a sandbox game, a genre where the player has a very high level of freedom and establishing a solid plot is pretty much left up to them. Steve and Alex are the only well-known official characters. Even then, neither have a defined personality or backstory since they’re just an option to set your appearance as.

        However, the movie was still able to work as it focuses more on accurately representing the mechanics of the game. While players can go through Minecraft differently, there are a lot of shared experiences which appear in the film. 

        Personally, even insignificant moments such as Steve showing that he started out with a rudimentary dirt house and eventually personalized it more after gathering resources reflects a standard aspect of Minecraft gameplay. Like the grandiose structures and statues Steve built over his time, fleshed out Minecraft worlds usually feature a lot of the player’s creations. 

        Just the inclusion of small actions possible in the game like taming dogs, gliding with an elytra (wings that allow your character to fly) and using fireworks for boosts of speed when in the air, and accumulating things–or environmental things such as the giant mushrooms that appear in some biomes; getting ambushed by creepers, green four-legged creatures that often sneak up behind the player and explode; and fighting off monsters at night, then watching them disintegrate once the sun rises helps “A Minecraft Movie” reflect the game. 

        The fact that the entire main group are simply people with a life in the real world further emulates the essence of Minecraft, and unlike other adaptations such as “Super Mario Bros.” or “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” it’s able to portray the interactive nature of video games and not just the general storyline. 

        I liked the silly and unserious nature in both this movie and other recent game-based films, and it was fun seeing subtle cameos like DanTDM. 

        My only legitimate problem is that “The Nether” realm, the hellish dimension of the game, was featured much more prominently than “The End.”  As shown with its name, this space-like world is home to the Ender Dragon. Defeating it is seen as an unofficial “final thing” or act of completion in Minecraft. So, I don’t think a new character for an antagonist was necessary, especially since Minecraft’s developer has confirmed basic details such as the Ender Dragon being female and having the name Jean.

        Overall, I think that this movie could be enjoyable for kids and adults as there are a couple of slightly mature jokes. Having some kind of experience playing Minecraft though allows for a much more enjoyable watch, which goes for most video game adaptations as they’re mainly targeted toward the fanbase. 

        With the film’s ability to replicate the feeling of the source material and its fun story, “A Minecraft Movie” is definitely part of this wave of successful, better received video game adaptations.

This story has been updated to reflect new box office numbers.