I’m split. On one hand, this is one of the most entertaining two hours I’ve ever spent, some of the most fun I’ve had at a movie theater in recent years, and, consequently, the most packed theater I’ve seen in years. On the other hand, this is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life. My movie critic brain is chanting, “Horrible movie!” while my teenager brain that went to see this with a bunch of friends is telling me it’s magnificent. 

A walking clichè with little story, zero character development, and a distracting overuse of visual effects, this movie tries to do way too much and still manages to hardly be an adaptation of the Minecraft video game that it’s based on. The movie creates entirely new characters and storylines; it feels more like a completely different movie that just so happens to be cubic. It’s a colorful, corny mess largely held together by Jack Black.

However… I laughed harder during this than any other movie I’ve seen in a long time. The whole theater erupted at every iconic quote and many (including myself) dressed up in everything from full suits to full Minecraft cosplay (and occasionally both). The movie is hilarious. Intentionally funny at times, unintentionally at others, but funny regardless. It also got people back to movie theaters which is always a win in my book. The biggest theater at the local AMC was filled to the brim with eager fans.

There’s a lot to say about “A Minecraft Movie,” so much in fact, that I’ll let it speak for itself through its famous (or infamous) quotes.

“Flint and steel.” What must have been dropped in the writer’s room to burn all of the good writing to the ground. The writers must of then had to scramble to reproduce a whole movie script 30 minutes before they started filming because that’s the only thing that could possibly explain this horrible, horrible writing

“First we mine, then we craft.” This speaks for itself.

“Full man sandwich!” The thought process behind this movie. In the movie, an unsuspecting group of humans all accidently come together through the portal into the world of Minecraft. Of this crew, two are women. Yet, throughout the movie they only walk and talk and help out the group of guys. At the halfway point where the guys split up to go on their own (much more exciting) adventure, the women in the story just walk around,talk some more, and care for the guys once they come back. Additionally, while they walk and talk, they only talk about the guys. Their characters are only there to develop the male characters while receiving zero character development themselves.

“Chicken Jockey.” When you really think about it, “A Minecraft Movie” is just like one big Chicken Jockey. Two opposite things that should not work, but do. Stay with me now. A zombie and a chicken? It works as a combination of two opposite things that come together to form one, beautiful unit. As J. Robert Oppenheimer famously says in the 2023 movie “Oppenheimer:” “It’s paradoxical and yet it works.” A horrible movie and a great experience; it’s an oxymoron and yet stays true. “A Minecraft Movie” only works because of how it doesn’t take itself seriously. Is it a horrible, horrible movie? Yes. Is it also incredibly enjoyable? Yes it is. “A Minecraft Movie” works. If you go see it, go see it in a theater with friends. “A Minecraft Movie” only comes together in a room full of people there to have a good time, not to analyze the mise en scene (which is horrible, for the record). So go, mount your chicken jockey, pack your diamond sword, and have a dumb fun joyride at “A Minecraft Movie.”