The latest blockbuster video game adaptation has lots of laughs, if little substance
By NATALIE SALTER—arts@theaggie.org
If one thing is true of today’s popular culture, it’s that absurdity is everywhere. Just scrolling through social media is disorienting — everything is written in a language of obscure references and indiscernible words that require at least a month’s worth of online knowledge to translate. Simple “top text, bottom text” punchlines have been discarded in favor of media so ironic and bizarre that it swings back into humor. Simply put, in 2025, the word “brainrot” has more power than ever.
However, Hollywood’s latest attempt at adapting a video game for the silver screen, “A Minecraft Movie,” feels like the first time this characteristic of the contemporary online realm has fully leaked into the world of professional art. If its status as a TikTok darling has not made this obvious, the film’s chaotic 101-minute run hammers its clear influence home.
We open with Steve (Jack Black), a disillusioned office worker with a lifelong passion for mining who, in deciding to pursue his childhood dream, digs up a strange pair of artifacts that open a portal to another world. This is the Overworld, the blocky expanse of fields and trees known to every “Minecraft” player, and Steve quickly makes it into his home.
A hostile encounter with the pig-humanoid residents of the Nether, a hellish plane of reality within the Overworld, separates Steve from the mysterious orb that got him there in the first place. Thanks to his trusty dog Dennis, it winds up back in the real world — ready to accidentally fall into the hands of an unlikely group of heroes.
There’s an amusing cast of characters at the film’s center, though some are more memorable than others. Jack Black plays Steve with boisterous authenticity, delivering every line without a hint of irony. He has a particularly fun dynamic with Jason Momoa’s Garrett Garrison, a retro-gaming champ turned broke store owner; their competitive hostility alchemizes into a begrudging fondness that is honestly a delight to watch.
Then there’s Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), a plucky and awkward kid who learns to embrace his creativity and confidence in an arc that is sweet, but nothing new. His older sister Natalie (Emma Myers) is the ragtag group’s voice of reason, teaming up with real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) to try to keep her brother out of harm’s way. There is also a remarkably absurd, yet nevertheless hilarious, arc involving Jennifer Coolidge and a blocky Villager who wanders his way into the real world.
Where “A Minecraft Movie” attempts to excavate deeper meaning, it’s not particularly life-changing. The message of the film is that you should never stop being creative — it’s a nice sentiment, though it doesn’t hit home emotionally.
What the film succeeds at being is an absurd, unbelievable comedy. The film’s gags are just ironic enough to appeal to audiences of all ages, steeped in Internet neologisms (an antagonist uses the word “unalive”) and just-silly-enough lines ripe for using in a slew of over-edited TikTok memes.
This is what makes watching “A Minecraft Movie” so deeply disorienting. You’ll laugh plenty, sure, but it will often be because your brain is so baffled by what you’re watching. It’s nonsensical in a way that is funny and yet also frighteningly resemblant to the experience of scrolling through Instagram reels. It’s, frankly, a very strange filmgoing experience.
Perhaps this is the inevitable consequence of an increasingly online era, the endpoint we’ve been hurtling toward with every iPad we put in a toddler’s hands. The newest generation of kids is more plugged into the Internet than ever, and that means they’ve got a different sort of humor to show for it.
That’s not to say that “A Minecraft Movie” is bad or that it’s 101 minutes of pure cinematic brain-rot. It’s plenty of fun and certainly leaves an impression. There are lots of thoughtful and enjoyable little homages to the original game that anyone who has played it will appreciate. It’s just an entirely singular film, more a reflection of our current online culture than anything made before — whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you.
Written by: Natalie Salter—arts@theaggie.org
