Let me begin this review by saying that I’ve never played Minecraft and my eight-year-old son who came to see “A Minecraft Movie” with me, has also never played it. He did somehow get hold of “The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters”, which apparently tells biblical stories via Minecraft, but aside from this, we are both Minecraft virgins.
The film is clearly made on some level for Minecraft fans. At multiple points throughout the showing at my local cinema the audience would laugh, cheer or clap at what to me seemed very random moments. Clearly you have to be a Minecraft player to get the joke.
Despite this, “A Minecraft Movie” is still pretty fun, even for non-aficionados like myself and my son. The plot is a pretty standard adventure quest i.e. go through the forest and over the mountains to retrieve the valuable item and then we can all go home. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s not meant to be.
The characters and the way they are performed are perfectly fine, although I must admit, I can’t remember any of their names other than “Steve” (Jack Black) and “Garbage Man” (Jason Momoa). Jack Black, as usual appears to be having a lot of fun in the film, although there is very little functional difference between Steve and Po the Panda, arguably Black’s most famous performance.
A Christian perspective (very minor spoilers ahead)
From a Christian perspective there are some real points of value that are made in A Minecraft Movie.
First of all, we have Jason Momoa’s character. Garbage Man is a loser and a has-been who consistently acts like he’s actually the world’s most successful and beloved celebrity. The glamourous façade he shows the world hides a deep emptiness within.
Momoa’s character spends most of the film trying to be the alpha male, leader type but eventually his failures pile so high that he is forced to admit that he is a fraud whose life is going nowhere.
It is from this point that his “redemption arc” begins. Much like the prodigal son, it is only when he realises the full extent of his sin and failure, that he can begin to walk the right path.
Secondly, we have an encounter between a young boy (Sebastien Hansen) and some kind of evil Minecraft stick man wizard (my apologies to Minecraft fans for not knowing the exact technical term). Much like the devil, this creature attempts to deceive the boy by telling him he is neither loved nor valued by those around him. It’s only by seeing through the lies of evil that the boy is able to achieve his quest.
Finally, and I believe this is the main point of the whole film, is the idea that every person has a talent and that this must be used for the benefit of others. Every character in the story begins the film with a talent or passion that is mocked, under-utilised, under-appreciated or even unknown.
By the end of the story every character has found their talent.
The final message of the film is a surprisingly good one. The characters are presented with the choice of staying within the safety of the fantasy video-game world of Minecraft, or of going back to the real world, with all its mundane difficulties and where life is hard, and using their talents there. I won't give the game entirely away for those who haven't watched it yet but I'm sure you can guess where it's going.
For me this had echoes of Jesus’ parable of the talents. That parable teaches us that all of us have God-given gifts and talents. It also tells us that the greatest tragedy is the failure to use those gifts for the benefit of God’s kingdom and for those around us.
It is very tempting to bury one’s talent in the ground and to stay in the world of Minecraft due to fear of failure or fear of engaging with a hostile world. But as Christians, we are called to “go forth and multiply”, to play our part in making the world a better place and ultimately, to use the gifts God has given us for his kingdom.
We all have value and we all have something to contribute, however small it may seem.
