If you’ve opened any social media platform at all within the past three months, you probably already know about the Minecraft movie released on April 4. Weeks before the movie was released, countless scenes from the trailers were made into memes; phrases like “chicken jockey,” “flint and steel,” and “this is a crafting table” filled teenagers’ For-You pages and reels. This is an epic recreation of the sandbox video game, Minecraft, where players can build, mine, and craft.
Miradorians, prepare your flint and steel, because it’s time to teleport to this crafty Minecraft movie review by Amelia Mordy and Anna Ryan.
Give three words that you believe best describe the Minecraft movie.
Anna:
Lit. Crazy. Movie.
Amelia:
Tasty. As. Hell.
If you could own any item from the movie, what would it be?
Anna:
Hands down, I would pick Henry’s tater tot blaster. The moment someone crosses me, I’ll shoot them clean in the face with my tots. Or, I would pick Steve’s lava chicken because it’s tasty as hell.
Amelia:
Personally, I would pick the Super Iron Golem. He can fly, plus I would have my own bodyguard. What could be better than a guy who could take on more than a hundred enemies?
Overall, what was either your favorite aspect or make-or-break flaw of the film?
Anna:
My favorite aspect was definitely the YouTuber cameos (small references/features). After Technoblade, a Minecraft YouTuber with over 18 million subscribers, passed away in June of 2022 after a year-long fight against cancer, his legacy continued in the Minecraft community. In my theater, Technoblade’s 3-second cameo got a longer standing ovation than the notorious “chicken jockey” scene (and, if you’ve been on TikTok or Instagram, you know how crazy theaters go over that scene). Even Minecraft movie haters online refer to the Technoblade cameo as “the only redeeming quality of the movie.”
The movie also featured DanTDM, LDShadowlady, Mumbo Jumbo, and other popular Minecraft YouTubers as extras in a short scene. When I was seven, I made my Xbox gamertag “Dimondz4Life” (yes, spelled like that) as an ode to DanTDM. So, when I saw Dan in that dashing cowboy hat bidding for a storage locker, naturally I was ecstatic. While I wish he got more than 2 seconds of screen time, I appreciate the cameo.
Amelia:
I was absolutely appalled by the inconsistencies between vanilla Minecraft and the Minecraft movie. First of all, the woodland mansion is supposed to be made of dark oak wood, but for some sick reason, the directors of the Minecraft movie decided to make it out of regular oak wood. Maybe, if they had kept it like it should be, the ambience of the original mansion would add to the sneaky atmosphere the cast is trying to pull off. Also, according to the movie endermen are the final boss of the woodland mansion — what happened to the vindicators and evokers?
How did the audience affect the atmosphere of the theater and your overall Minecraft movie experience?
Amelia:
With the majority of the audience being eleven to thirteen-year-old boys, every single time something iconic happened, the entire audience would clap. It made all of the cringeworthy moments feel more funny because these boys would clap at EVERYTHING that Jack Black did.
Anna:
I saw the movie on opening day, so I avoided the notorious “chicken jockey” scene hype. While my theater did not disappoint with the cheering, it was thankfully not yet a trend to throw rotisserie chickens across the theater.
Final Comments
Overall, we would rate the movie a very solid 3.5 out of 5 diamonds. While the plot was honestly not the greatest, we think the satirical aspects of the movie along with the atmosphere of the theaters made the Minecraft movie one to remember.
