Almost three weeks ago, the Minecraft Movie was released in theaters, and I’m sure everyone has seen or heard the “Chicken Jockey” or “As a child, I yearned for the mines” memes online. It has intrigued many people, including myself, to go to theaters and see what all of the commotion is about.
The Minecraft Movie starts with Steve (Jack Black), sharing his “yearn for the mines.” Steve wanted to be a miner since he was young, but children were strictly forbidden. Since he wasn’t able to follow his dreams, Steve forgot about them completely, and became a doorknob seller. After many miserable years of working in the doorknob selling business, he remembers his dream to go to the mines. Finally qualified, he begins working in the mines, able to mine to his heart’s desire.
While mining, Steve finds a sentient blue cube, called the Orb of Dominance. The orb connects to the Earth Cube. When put together, it opens a portal to another land, and as Steve goes through the portal, he is transported into the Overworld. There, he explores the unknown world, free to mine and create, eventually taming a wolf and finding a dog named Dennis.
Then, he finds the Nether through an abandoned Nether portal, a place filled with mistreated lands stripped of its life and gold. There, he meets the piglins, who have mined the land clean of gold. Their leader, Malgosha, greedy for gold, wants the Orb of Dominance to rule the Overworld and obtain more gold. Steve, not understanding the glowing cube’s worth, puts himself and Dennis in danger. Malgosha captures Steve, but Dennis saves the day by hiding the blue orb, under Steve’s bed in the real world.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Garett (Jason Mamoa), a video game champion, also known as the “Garbage Man,” buys the sacred Atari Cosmos game from a storage auction. Unfortunately, it seemed that Garett had spent $900 dollars on a scam, and all he got was the Orb of Dominace and the Earth Cube, unaware of its power. On his way home, his car breaks down, stranding him on the side of the road.
On the same road, a boy named Henry and his sister, who is also his legal guardian, Nataile, are driving to a new, cheaper neighborhood, and when they arrive, they are welcomed by Dawn, a lively, extroverted lady, who has many side hustles. She introduces them to the neighborhood before leaving them off to explore their house.
The next day, Henry starts school and sees that Garett started a new business called “Advice Giving.” This is how Garret meets Henry, and begins their friendship. Once Henry meets the kids at his new school, he shares his love for rocket science. The school kids consider him weird for wanting to be a rocket scientist, since they think that it’s dumb. To prove all of them wrong, Henry goes home and builds a rocket. The next day, he brings it to school and sets it off, and accidentally knocks down Chuggy the Chip, the mascot of his sister’s workplace. Since Henry is afraid to tell Natalie that he was guilty for knocking down Chuggy, he convinces Garett to pretend to be his uncle. Garett takes him to his video game store after the dilemma, and together they find The Orb of Dominance and The Earth Cube. They merge the cubes together, and it leads them to a mine, where the portal to the Overworld is. Natalie and Dawn, who have been searching for Henry for hours, find the two, thanks to a tracking app, and the group of four enter through the portal. When Malgosha senses the Orb of Dominance back in the Overworld, she makes a deal with Steve that if she sets him free, he must find the Orb of Dominance and give it to her. If he disobeys her, Malgosha will kill his dog.
Garett, Henry, Natalie, and Dawn, are now in the Overworld, and they are exploring, until nightfall, a time of monsters and terrors. After a few minutes of getting chased by mobs of monsters, Steve shows up and saves the four newbies of the Overworld. After all of the introductions, Steve gives them a tour of the land, and everything’s fun and creative until Malgosha unleashes the beast, the biggest and baddest of the warrior piglins. Now, the Overworld is in danger, and Henry, Natalie, Dawn, Garett, and Steve are responsible for saving the Overworld from the wrath of the gold greedy Piglins of the Nether.

Overall, I thought that this movie was a very interesting take on the story of Minecraft, since it gave a whole backstory on the Nether. I really liked that the movie portrayed the amount of free will you have, because you really can make anything you want in Minecraft. It had really funny aspects, like Garett being really cocky (and attempting to speak Spanish and speak to a sheep), and a villager finding a little too much interest in the portal to the Earth. I definitely understand how some people might have the opinion that it was “cringy,” but it was almost so cringy that it was good. I thought that the live action acting on top of the animation was a bit strange, but the more I watched the movie, the more I got used to it, but I didn’t really like certain parts of the animated animals, since they looked kind of unsettling and odd. I had mixed feelings about Nether’s backstory, because I liked how creative it was, but it was also random. I think that if you want a good laugh with some sibling bonding and stupid cockyness, this is definitely the movie for you!