noNothing makes you feel older than seeing people two generations younger than you playing Minecraft, except for people two generations younger than you. Looking at other people YouTubers are playing Minecraft (what are they doing? Why are they always so excited?). This seems a bit 2011. Gen A has generally grown up watching YouTubers play Fortnite, Roblox, and Elden Ring with their hearts out. But there are millions of people playing it every month, most of them kids. And there’s a strong nostalgia for the game among Gen Z youth who grew up with this blocky, virtual Lego game. A Minecraft movie was inevitable.

The film has been in the works since 2012 and was originally set to be directed by Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham FC pal Rob McElhenney and star Steve Carell. But a series of setbacks, the COVID pandemic and a pesky actors’ strike meant filming didn’t begin (in Auckland, New Zealand) until early 2024. Due for release in April 2025, the Minecraft movie will be directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess and star Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Jennifer Coolidge, Jermaine Clement and Matt Berry. And judging by the trailer released this week, it’s even crazier than you’d think.

Video games and movie franchises can take many forms. Sometimes game characters escape into our world, like Sonic (the alien hedgehog) being sent to Earth or Barbie and Ken sneaking out of Barbieland. Real people get sucked into a video game and have to complete a magical quest to escape, like in Tron. Sometimes video game characters transform into humans, like in Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Prince of Persia, Doom and The Last of Us. Tetris is set in a real-life competition for the game’s license, while Gran Turismo tells the story of a player making it in real life as a driver.

In The Minecraft Movie, a group of humans are sucked into the Overworld, the dimension where Minecraft is real. A bewildered Momoa has just had highlights and bangs done at the hairdresser and accidentally bought a pink coat. Danielle Brooks from Orange is the New Black arrives with some “kids” (including 22-year-old Emma Myers from Wednesday). Here they meet Steve, one of Minecraft’s default characters. Steve is dressed in a light blue T-shirt and jeans, and is played by Jack Black, who is no doubt viewed as something of a talisman by Warner Bros. since playing Bowser in the Super Mario movie last year. “This guy is so useless,” Myers laments.

“Anything you can dream up, you can build here,” Black explains to our bewildered heroes, as cube-shaped pigs fly around and blocky pink sheep bleat. To get home, “they must embark on a magical quest to conquer the world (and protect it from piglins, zombies, and other evils).”

Reaction to the trailer:terrible“, “Devastating” and “Expensive and cheap“To”It’s hard for the parents who are taken away.” and “The worst thing that will happen in the movie world in 2024” But like many video game spinoffs, the film isn’t aimed at adult film critics. Film buff Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian was highly critical of the 2023 film Super Mario Bros. The Movie in a two-star review (Wendy Eide of The Observer was similarly critical in a one-star review). That left The Guardian’s games editor Keza MacDonald inclined to defend the film as a decent translation of the game, even if it’s not that good a movie.

So what do the real connoisseurs think? “I think it looks awful,” says 10-year-old Arlo, playing Roblox on his iPad after school. “Minecraft isn’t even at its peak anymore, so why make a movie now? I don’t think it’ll be a hit.” (And he has a point.) Maybe he likes that the Minecraft world includes real people?

“No. They should have made it like The Lego Movie or Super Mario Bros., which were good because they didn’t have any live action characters. Steve is not Steve.” Sorry Minecraft. Sorry Jack Black. The experts said it. We’ll find out in April next year if the full version can save the day.