“A Minecraft Movie” is a 100-minute catastrophe with an incoherent plot, an awful script and almost no character development consisting mostly of Jack Black saying things from the game in a funny voice. 

The movie, released April 4, follows a forgettable cast of characters who find themselves trapped in the Minecraft world, called the “overworld,” and need to escape back to reality. Much of the story is rushed over in favor of action sequences or comedic bits, and many scenes felt so unconnected, it was almost like watching a series of random scenes rather than a continuous story. 

The film leans heavily on nostalgia for turn-of-the-century adventure blockbusters like “Jumanji” and “Back to the Future” with its retro-styled opening credit graphics. Unlike those yesteryear classics, “A Minecraft Movie” hilariously fails to be interesting in any way, instead relying solely on childish humor to tell its story. 

And yet, I enjoyed every second of it.

Jack Black plays Steve, the game and movie’s main character, but really, he just plays himself. Every line that comes out of his mouth was uttered in Black’s over-the-top and operatic delivery. 

At one point, he literally says, “Let’s minecraft.”

There are even several musical segments where Black sings in a very theatrical falsetto, parodying the high-pitched vocalists of heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden, a staple of pretty much every movie Jack Black is in.

Another one of the main characters is a flamboyant manchild, Garrett Garrison, played by Jason Momoa. Momoa and Black have great on-screen chemistry, their shared sense of humor made even funnier by the contrast between Momoa’s imposing size and tough-guy appearance and Black’s wild eyes and dad-bod. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the main characters were not given the same depth or even the screen time that Steve and Garrett had. Sebastian Hansen and Emma Myers gave great performances as siblings Henry and Natalie, but their characters were so annoying and uninteresting that they came across more as human macguffins than as actual characters to care about. 

Dawn, played by Danielle Brooks, was given a colorful outfit and featured heavily in comedic sequences, like Black and Momoa’s characters, but no backstory or development other than a brief introduction. Her character felt severely underutilized, especially given how much screen time she was given.

There was also a subplot between Jennifer Coolidge’s character and a villager from the Minecraft world, which was shown in full but had no consequence on the outcome of the film at all. While funny in its own right, the uncomfortable side story felt very unnecessary.

Despite being a bad movie, “A Minecraft Movie” has been a smash hit, raking in over half a billion dollars at the box office since its release. The film was guaranteed to find success because Minecraft is one of the best-selling video games ever, and this was its first ever live-action film adaptation. 

Before it even came out, clips of its horrible dialogue went viral and people began memeing the film without having seen it. The movie itself became a joke, and its popularity skyrocketed from that virality. 

At the screening I attended on opening day, several audience members were quoting the film during the trailers. People clapped and cheered whenever funny moments came up, especially during the infamous chicken jockey scene. 

Like almost all other video game adaptations, “A Minecraft Movie” was clearly made to capitalize on the popularity of the video game, not to create an artistic statement through visual storytelling. Its massive budget and A-list actors were not enough to save it from its fate of being another so-bad-it’s-good video game movie like “Mortal Kombat” or “Resident Evil.” 

Anyone seeking to watch a movie with a memorable plot, interesting characters or a unique setting should steer away from this film. But, if you are like me and will laugh at anything, this cinematic abomination is perfect for you.