Minecraft is one of the biggest video game successes of all time. The open world made up of blocks has been inviting players to mine, craft, explore and fight since 2009. The unlimited building options in creative mode are particularly attractive. Warner Bros. has now released the first teaser for the movie "A Minecraft Movie", which will be released in early 2025. Despite well-known faces such as Jason Momoa and Jack Black in the lead roles, the live-action adaptation by director Jared Hess has been met with harsh criticism. But is this justified at this early stage?
The teaser reveals that four nerds are suddenly drawn through a portal into the overworld of Minecraft. The actors are Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Jack Black (School of Rock), Emma Myers (Wednesday) and Sebastian Eugene Hansen (Just Mercy). In their roles as flashy adventurers, they seem to experience everything that a film can tell about the video game: creativity, crafting and danger. Surrounded by a pinch of humor, lots of bright colors and 80s vibes.
Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity is not only a tool for crafting, but a key to survival! – Warner Bros. Pictures
First, it's worth taking a quick look at the gameplay to form a vague opinion of the first teaser. The open-world game Minecraft offers a virtually unlimited world in creative mode that players can freely design. The sandbox system can be used, for example, to recreate real cities. There are hardly any limits to creativity. The worlds in the other four modes are more specialized. You can choose between an adventure mode, which is used to play adventure maps that are available for download and created by other crafters. A survival mode, which invites you to fight with opponents, and a hardcore mode, which offers the same, but in which the death of the character is final. Finally, there is the spectator mode, which offers what its name promises: watching other players.
The block terrain of Minecraft can take on any imaginable form. Green, snowy or barren. Valleys and mountains, seas or dark cave systems and more. This unique environment was implemented by Hess and his team, as far as can be judged at the moment, in a typically cubic and, without question, very colorful way.
In the video game, in addition to exploring the world, dungeons usually play an important role. The teaser for "A Minecraft Movie" also shows the underworld known to players, including the enemies that the adventurers have to fight. Not to forget: no Minecraft without mining and crafting. In one scene it is clearly visible that the crafting system has been implemented in the film. This is underlined by Jack Black in the role of the builder Steve.
There is harsh criticism of the Minecraft teaser
The film project is currently being hit by a wave of criticism on social media, some of which is a series of insults and sarcasm. Some of this momentum seems to be coming from a bandwagon movement, with the rest of the internet community voicing understandable objections to the live-action adaptation of "A Minecraft Movie". It almost always feels like it's a deeply felt disappointment that the game you love, which you've invested years of your life into and which is like a second home you look at with great pride, has been chopped up into a ridiculous parody. That makes sense.
The teaser certainly shows that it's going to be silly. Extremely silly: Balloon silk, 80s hairstyles and lame sayings are all part of the director's work. This will undoubtedly appeal to younger viewers. But I couldn't help but smile. At this point I should admit that my expectations of the Minecraft film aren't particularly high. At best, comedies provide me with lightness and fun for a short period of time, I don't expect anything more than that.
In keeping with this, there are always comments that want to expose the Minecraft teaser as an April Fool's joke, and perhaps that is exactly the crux of the matter. An entertaining prank that takes place in the Minecraft universe, but does not place any emphasis on an exact cinematic adaptation of the video game template. Finally, one possibility could be to not understand "A Minecraft Movie" as "The Minecraft Movie". If we watch the teaser again with this attitude, we might still laugh heartily or at least see a brief smile cross our faces. We don't have to give it away.
I would by no means describe the critical voices as injustice. They clearly show that Minecraft players have waited a long time for a serious film about their favorite game and now have to expect a comedy without depth. Minecraft seems thematically contrived and the film is not very adult. That is understandably painful. On the other hand, I see the shitstorm as theatrical stomping of adult gamers and an injustice. It remains to be seen what the full-length Minecraft film has to offer when it hits cinema screens for the first time on April 3, 2025.
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Ravensburger Family Game 26132 - Minecraft Game Builders &... * |
34,99 EUR |
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