Fans Disappointed By The Minecraft Movie Trailer

The Minecraft Movie trailer just dropped, and most fans seem to agree. It looks bad, and long-time Minecraft fans are worried that the gaming Goliath is next on the movie-to-game adaption chopping block.

At this point, the game-to-movie adaptation trend is like a game of Russian roulette, either destroying your favorite gaming franchise in the public’s eyes, like with the disaster of Borderlands, or bolstering it to even further critical acclaim.

So, it’s no wonder greedy production companies are quick to jump on this train, hoping to create the next Mario Movie or The Last Of Us.

Still, as a longtime Minecraft player, one of those kids who, back in elementary school, had a diamond necklace and creeper shirt, my immediate reaction to seeing this trailer was a guttural “oh god no.”

Like Mario or Sonic, Minecraft is a tricky game to get right; no adaptation would be able to appease every fan. But almost everything shown in the latest Minecraft movie trailer points toward a team of corporate suits trying to piece together a Minecraft epic and, in turn, failing to capture the essence of the franchise.

Although this is merely a trailer and not a way to thoroughly review a movie, as proven with the Sonic movie trailer in which they ultimately re-animated Sonic completely to appease fan reception, first impressions are very important.

Look How They Massacred My Boy

The first and most blatant issue is that it feels like live-action slop, with Jason Momoa and Jack Black’s star power being the only reason we’re given to even care about these characters.

Sure, Jack Black was brilliant as Bowser in the Mario Movie, but his presence here seems to be, hey folks, it’s Jack Black! Which, while intriguing, is barely enough to carry the weight of what Minecraft means to all of us longtime fans.

Not much was revealed about the actual plot. Still, given that the main human characters seem to step through a portal into the Minecraft world, it appears to be the typical isekai tale akin to the Mario Movie, in which people step into a brand-new fantasy world and must survive.

While this isn’t a bad idea for a movie plot, once again, it feels like we’ve seen this exact idea used for video game adaptations a hundred times already. Basic lines and stilted acting make us scared that this will be another safe, uninspired movie made for general audiences before the fans.

The funniest criticisms also lie in the art design. Minecraft is a blocky, highly pixilated game, and comments point out how aspects like the animal design look like a YouTube video of Minecraft in real life from 2013.

That said, I don’t think there are many ways to make a Minecraft movie look technically impressive other than turning it into a high-budget CGI blockbuster. However, some aspects still feel wrong; blocky trees, for instance, feel more like something from a Dr. Seuss children’s book rather than a Minecraft world.

With the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour playing in the background and Jason Mamoa’s loud costume, this trailer plays things incredibly safe.

And yes, trailers sometimes tend to be the most off-putting, corporatized representation of a final product, so maybe there are diamonds under the surface with this one, and we’re just judging it based on the lousy portrait the trailer put out.

Minecraft is one of the most unique games; a sandbox where everyone can play their own way and create whatever they want. While much more about this movie has yet to be shared, as fans, we can only hope they pull this thing together.