Who doesn’t like a white woolly llama? Well that’s probably the highlight of this derivative CGI-fest that finds a quartet of geeks and gamers dragged through a magical portal to a world ruled by the evil “Malgosha”. Now she wants to use this glowing cube to escape from her dark and dingy “Overworld” realm and take over the peaceable and colourful real-world but she hasn’t banked on the tenacity of former gaming champion “Garrett” (Jason Momoa) and the geeky “Henry” (Sebastian Hansen) who reunite with the long trapped “Steve” (Jack Black) to save the day and the world. You don’t really need to know much about the video game to appreciate the simplicity of this, but then again I’m note sure you’d need to be much over 5 to appreciate it either. The visuals are engagingly 1980s with some references that did remind me a bit of “Back to the Future” (1985) meets “Dungeons & Dragons” and a decent soundtrack that allows Black to get straight into his element and prove that it is possible to entertain amidst what was undoubtedly (for him) a sea of green! Momoa isn’t afraid to send himself up both Danielle Brooks and Sebastian Henry seem to be ready to immerse themselves in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a big-budget movie without really having any lines to learn, cues to make or long sessions in the make up chair. As ever with these weakly written fantasies, the denouement is never in jeopardy but with so much enthusiasm on the screen for something that was, for many, an integral part of their growing up it’s difficult to be overly critical of something so shamelessly sentimental. What it isn’t, though, is funny and the laughs are few and far between so I think it’s best to just aim low and let the whole tide of your adolescence (if you are old enough) to wash over you before you leave the cinema, completely forget all about this and hope there isn’t a sequel.

Who doesn’t like a white woolly llama? Well that’s probably the highlight of this derivative CGI-fest that finds a quartet of geeks and gamers dragged through a magical portal to a world ruled by the evil “Malgosha”. Now she wants to use this glowing cube to escape from her dark and dingy “Overworld” realm and take over the peaceable and colourful real-world but she hasn’t banked on the tenacity of former gaming champion “Garrett” (Jason Momoa) and the geeky “Henry” (Sebastian Hansen) who reunite with the long trapped “Steve” (Jack Black) to save the day and the world. You don’t really need to know much about the video game to appreciate the simplicity of this, but then again I’m not sure you’d need to be much over 5 to appreciate that either. The visuals are engagingly 1980s with some references that did remind me a bit of “Back to the Future” (1985) meets “Dungeons & Dragons” whilst a decent soundtrack that allows Black to get straight into his element and prove that it is possible to entertain amidst what was undoubtedly (for him) a sea of green! Momoa isn’t afraid to send himself up and both Danielle Brooks and Sebastian Henry seem to be ready to immerse themselves in this once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a big-budget movie without really having any lines to learn, cues to make or long sessions in the make-up chair. As ever with these weakly written fantasies, the denouement is never in jeopardy but with so much enthusiasm on the screen for something that was, for many, an integral part of their growing up it’s difficult to be overly critical of something so shamelessly sentimental. What it isn’t, though, is funny and the laughs are few and far between so I think it’s best to just aim low and let the whole tide of your adolescence (if you are old enough) to wash over you before you leave the cinema, completely forget all about this and hope there isn’t a sequel.

I am Enderman! (I love that line in the movie)

<em>'A Minecraft Movie'</em> is, eh, a great time? I'm genuinely taken aback by how much I actually enjoyed this one. All 101 minutes are extremely stupid and silly, but they lean into it so much that I happily managed to look past it. It entertained me, what can I say? I did play Minecraft growing up but only casually, though I did admittedly heavily watch YouTubers play it (s/o Mindcrack, CaptainSparklez, ChimneySwift11 lmao). Personally, I was more a superflat, creative world type of guy, the amount of time I wasted (nay, embraced) building 'true to life' cities... good times. Despite not being super into the game's inner workings, I still picked up plenty of calls to the game which is fun. The world itself here feels fun and vibrant, they take some creative license but it only turns out positive. Based on early shots I saw pre-release, I didn't like the look but in actuality the animation is excellent. The humour is strong too, I was chuckling all the way through - rather unexpectedly. Much of the comedy is played for adults as well, I would've predicted it'd be more directly for kids; not that there's anything crazy in this, but it's not super dumbed down, which is pleasant. It all has a pulse, that's for sure. Jack Black is funny, he fully commits to the role of Steve and, for me, it ended up being somewhat of a perfect performance to be honest; no-one would've bettered Black. I wasn't actually sold when I heard the casting, so I'm glad I was wrong. Jason Momoa is the same, especially after seeing trailers. Momoa is very good in this, as are the whole cast in truth. Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks are all pluses. Rachel House brings strong voice work, while Jennifer Coolidge (and Hiram Garcia) have solid smaller parts too. A cast that surpassed my (admittedly aimless) expectations. In fact, that last sentence just about sums up my overall thoughts on this 2025 release. I'm sure I should not have liked this as much as I did, but here we are! If you told me hours ago that I'd be giving it this rating, I'd have called you an absolute nutter. Based on the general reaction I'm seeing, I should probably keep my thoughts on this quiet. I am susceptible to a supposed bad movie every now and then, leave me alone. Mind you, many others do agree with me so... goat video game adaptation?!