When critiquing a kids movie, you have to try to meet the film where it’s at. It would be strange and counterproductive to judge “A Minecraft Movie” using the same criteria as a best picture nominee, but that doesn’t mean it’s exempt from criticism. “A Minecraft Movie” sets out to be a movie that shows kids the value of creativity through the lens of the hit game, but it is woefully unsuccessful.

The central narrative of “A Minecraft Movie” is that of Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), a recently orphaned kid moving to a small town under the care of his beleaguered sister. Henry is an awkward but smart boy who wants nothing more than to fit in with his new school, but is quickly chided for his creativity. The kids at school scoff at the nearly successful jetpack he makes on his first day at school, and he is quickly made a social outcast. The only solution to his problems is to go into the mystical Overworld of “Minecraft” to learn about the value of creativity and save the day. 

While this is technically the movie’s plot, it doesn’t really reflect the viewing experience of the movie, which is heavily dominated by Steve, who’s just Jack Black playing himself, and Garrett (Jason Momoa), a dude-bro former video game champion from the ’80s who spends most of the movie being generally standoff-ish to the rest of the cast. These two characters are funny enough, but go through so little character development and use up so much screen time that it’s impossible to see the narrative through them.

The main draw of the movie — the world of “Minecraft” — is in many ways also left by the wayside in service of comedy and convenience. “Minecraft” is a game about the process of building things and exploring just for the sake of it, which isn’t necessarily conducive to a feature film, so it would make sense that some new material would have to be created to make “A Minecraft Movie” work. Despite this, it’s shocking just how many erroneous elements are added to the movie, with many plot-relevant “Minecraft” objects, characters and mobs being original to the movie.

While this isn’t inherently problematic — “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is propelled largely by original material, and it’s probably the best family adventure movie of the decade — so many of these additions strip away the appeal of building and exploration. Conversely, the movie is now in favor of purely combat-oriented avenues, making it difficult to grasp why this script was even attached to the “Minecraft” property.

In addition to having very little interest in the mechanics and modes of play afforded by a game like its based off of, “A Minecraft Movie” doesn’t honestly commit to the value of creativity. There are no traps made from redstone, imaginative uses of game mechanics, exciting building scenes or even an instance of legitimate exploration. Instead, every problem is circumvented by a singular use of the crafting table, or using a diamond sword really well, or jumping on a slime block — nothing which actually conveys the game’s full potential.

While the film will try to make you believe it’s about creativity when Steve tells Henry that he’s being creative by knowing how to use a crafting table, its uses of creativity are limited to singular actions or glossed over in montage — because why would we want to take away from a sword fight? We don’t get to see the process of creativity, only its results, because “A Minecraft Movie” does not see creativity as a process, but rather the result of something inherent in you.

What makes all of this so problematic is that, while “A Minecraft Movie” is funny enough and will certainly get a kid to shut up for two hours, it can only function as a pacifier. I remember when “The Lego Movie” came out, and kids around me tinkered with Legos and constructed new things because of its concept of Master Builders. That narrative had similar goals to “A Minecraft Movie”: to advocate for creativity and advertise a product. But unlike “The Lego Movie,” “A Minecraft Movie” distracts with flashy fights, failing to encourage a commitment to learning and making new things. What’s going to be the takeaway for kids watching “A Minecraft Movie?” Chicken jockey? Flint and steel?

Contact Max Vetter at [email protected].