The latest movie adaptation of a beloved video game has just hit cinemas, but it could be game over if the reviews are anything to go by.
In recent years, video game fans have watched HBO’s acclaimed The Last Of Us series, which is about to premiere its second season, and the 2023 summer blockbuster Super Mario Bros. Movie starring Chris Pratt, which, despite mixed reaction, made a staggering $US1.363 billion at the box office.
Now, we have Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie, based on the multibillion-dollar 2011 sandbox game, with a big-ticket cast including Jason Momoa, Jack Black and Jennifer Coolidge.
Made on a $150 million ($A240 million) budget, the adventure comedy follows the quest of four misfits, Garrett ‘The Garbage Man’ Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks) who find themselves trapped in the fictional Overworld.
Black’s character Steve, an expert crafter, comes along for the ride as they embark on the weird and wonderful challenges Minecraft is famous for, forced to tap into their individual creative potentials to come out the other side and return safely home.
In not-so-welcomed news for fans of the gaming franchise, critics have been scathing in their assessments of the movie, with Daily Beast calling it an “absolute disaster gaming fans will hate”, while popular gaming and entertainment website Dexerto dubbed it “the worst film of 2025 so far.”
IndieWire’s review conceded there was “some legitimate fun to be had” during the film’s one hour, 41 minute runtime, but ruled it a “deeply unimaginative blockbuster.”
Things don’t get much better from there, with Discussing Film giving it a one-star rating with the headline, “Horrible in the Most Boring Way Possible.”
The Independent mustered a two-star rating, ultimately ruling the film was “underwhelming.”
Screen Rant’s critic didn’t have a positive word to say about A Minecraft Movie, dubbing it a “shallow story that underwhelms on almost every front.”
Some issued fair credit to Momoa and Black, with Variety writing, “Whatever your feelings about Jack Black (I’m mostly a superfan), no one can ever say that he phones it in. And though he might strike you as a little long in the tooth to still be doing his happy dazed stoner line readings, he invests them with so much conviction that he spikes the film right along.”
Entertainment Weekly, meanwhile, thought Momoa nailed his first foray at a comedy.
“The real fun is watching Momoa do the “tough guy who is actually a big lunkhead” routine — and while this isn’t anything too new (see several notches in the resumes of Dave Bautista or Dwayne Johnson or even the mighty Arnold Schwarzenegger himself) Momoa’s comic timing is particularly sterling in A Minecraft Movie. He’s doing extremely good work here, seriously. Broad comedy is not easy.”
While it’s too early to tell how A Minecraft Movie will fare at the box office, it has every chance of making a small fortune despite the poor reviews, with school holidays in Australia about to start, and the US going into its summer blockbuster season.
A Minecraft Movie is in cinemas now
