Today, The Minecraft Movie released its first full-length trailer, expanding on the blocky world hinted at in a teaser released in September. Although the game Minecraft provides players with a minimal sense of direction, there is a traditional story that drives Minecraft movies.
Jack Black provides a narration about how his character Steve, Minecraft’s mascot and stock avatar, was drawn to mines as a child and discovered the overworld. He teams up with four other people who appear to be from the real world as we know it, and use their ingenuity and creativity to protect the Overworld from the “forces of darkness.” This all sounds like pretty standard fare for a video game movie. It’s about a ragtag group of misfits who band together and learn the power of friendship. It is unclear whether their enemies will be villains from the Nether or the End. Because, as painful as they may be, by default they don’t seem interested in world domination.
But I’m not here for a clever or convincing plot. The trailer is a hot reel of a familiar in-game experience, and that’s exactly what I want. Taming a bone wolf, building a redstone machine to grill chicken, and night falling much earlier than you’d like are all natural. The team certainly did their homework on that front. The art style they chose is beyond me, but I’m willing to admit that I’m somewhat biased after spending hundreds of hours looking at the original source material. I also don’t know if they’re going to land on humor and emotion or fall flat like an elytra that’s run out of juice. We’ll know when The Minecraft Movie comes out on April 5, 2025.
