Does A Minecraft Movie capture what people love about the game?

Considering Minecraft is the bestselling video game of all time, it was perhaps only a matter of time before it got its own film adaptation.

Simply titled A Minecraft Movie, the popular sandbox game comes to life on the big screen with the help of actors like Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge. It features cameos from fan-favourite characters, and serves as a helpful primer for anyone not familiar with the game. But is there any more substance to the story, given the fact that the game is all about creativity?

Today on Commotion, culture critics Niko Stratis, Rad Simonpillai and Sonya Ballantyne join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud for a group chat on exciting new movie releases like A Minecraft Movie, and other updates in the world of film.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including a tribute to Val Kilmer's most memorable roles and a review of the film Flow, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Sonya, Minecraft is the bestselling video game of all time. What did you think of the movie adaptation of a beloved kids' video game? 

Sonya: Well, my nephews are obsessed with Minecraft. And I remember when they would show it to me, I'd be like, "OK, so all you do is make houses and blow up sheep and stuff like that?" And they were trying to show me the mining and I was just like, this doesn't make any sense. So thankfully in the Minecraft movie, they explained it…. I was really surprised by how much I liked the movie. I did have to turn off my brain and be like, "OK, imagine you're eight years old and a Minecraft fan. Watch it with that idea."

I really loved how anti-capitalist it was in a lot of ways. Like I think it's kind of disingenuous to have a major studio production have some sort of anti-capitalist message because, like, how can they be anti-capitalists? But I really loved how fun it was. I really loved some of the jokes. Like there were some legit laugh-out-loud moments.

Elamin: I gotta say, Niko, the point that Sonya is making about it being surprising that a movie this big would be anti-capitalist, that's a fair point. I mean, you don't spend $200 million USD in order to be like, "You know what's bad? Capitalism." You hear Jack Black's character say creativity is key to survival. That is why people play Minecraft…. How do you feel about the idea of creativity being at the heart of this movie? Because I feel like there's something about that that feels maybe antithetical to being also a big IP movie at the same time.

Niko: Yeah, it is, really. My cynical brain and my critical brain are fighting each other, and both of them don't really have a place in a movie like this because it's not a movie that's asking for critical discourse. This is a movie that's asking for money…. This is reverse-engineering The Lego Movie and the Barbie movie and being like, how do we do that for Minecraft? There's an anti-capitalist edge, but it also kind of feels a little bit disingenuous….

It feels like it does a disservice to children's creativity when it's like, "OK, now we're going to tell you the story we should be telling you with this medium." It's like, well no, kids are telling you their own stories. That's why your niece and nephew take you aside and say, "Look what I built in Minecraft," because they're telling you the story…. I can't help but think that the entire time, of like, this is wrong. It's a better movie than it has any right to be. This should be a bad movie and it's not, so good for it. But at the same time, this could be anything. It's kind of nothing the entire time. That is a very expensive piece of nothing…. This isn't doing what it wants to be doing — and I don't even know what it really wants to do. I think it just wants to make its money back so it's not a flop at the end of the day, you know?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden.