A Minecraft Movie

Story

Steve (Jack Black) has always dreamed of something more. As a child he desperately wanted to explore a forbidden mine. As an adult, he finally finds the courage to go inside.

In the mine Jack comes across a couple of artefacts – the Orb of Dominance and the Earth Crystal – which, when placed together, open a portal to a realm called the Overworld. Here, Steve lives happily, mining and crafting, until he discovers a hellish world called the Nether, where he is taken prisoner by Malgosha (voice of Allan Henry), leader of an evil swine army. Knowing that Malgosha is after the crystal and the orb, Steve has his dog take them to the real world and instructs him to hide them away. Eventually, the artefacts come to be hidden in an old storage container that is bought at auction by Garrett (Jason Momoa), a former gaming champion who has fallen on hard times.

Following the death of their mother, Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers) move to Chuglass Idaho in an effort to restart their lives. Here, Henry meets Garrett and puts the orb and crystal together, once again opening a portal to the Overworld. Henry, Garrett, Natalie and local real-estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) are all sucked into the portal where they find themselves in an unfamiliar landscape where they must fight to survive.

When the orb is destroyed in a zombie attack, Steve agrees to lead them to the Woodland Mansion where they can find another orb so that they will be able to get back home. However, reaching the mansion is easier said than done. They must survive the frequent attacks from zombies, skeletons and creepers, and a disturbing creature that easily explodes, as well as evade Malgosha and her relentless swine army who will stop at nothing to get the orb and destroy the Overworld.

Themes

Greed; revenge; failure; bullying; disenchantment with life

Violence

A Minecraft Movie has some violence. For example:

Two bullies sabotage Henry’s jet pack, causing it to crash into a potato factory where it knocks down a beloved icon.
When night falls, creepy skeletons shoot flaming arrows at Garrett and the others.
A bunch of spiders and skeletons crash when they’re hit by a flaming arrow.
A zombie falls off a roof while dozens more attack Garrett.
A creeper is shot in the head with a flaming arrow and explodes, blasting a hole in Henry’s fortress that allows a stream of zombie’s through.
Steve kicks and stabs zombies, flinging them off the roof, jumping onto them and ripping their arms off. He watches in triumph as they catch fire and burn in the sun’s rays.
Garrett tells Steve that he, ‘will crack his cabeza [head] with his butt cheeks’. He then clenches his buttocks.
A character is hit by a car.
A chicken is burned by hot lava.
Malgosha’s army attacks a village, looting, trashing or burning everything they encounter.
Garrett knocks Steve out.
Pigs are shot with arrows.
A character is shot in the face with an arrow.
A pig is slammed in the stomach with a blade.
Characters are punched, kicked, hit and flipped over walls.
Hot air balloons shoot fireballs.
The swine army shoots at Henry, Steve and Garrett, and Henry is grabbed and attacked by a pig while he flies until he can fight him off.
A hot air balloon crashes in a fiery explosion and many pigs fall off.
A pig is swallowed by the fiery mouth of a hot air balloon.
Henry knocks into Steve and Garrett and they all plummet to the ground, landing on a water cube near a bunch of pandas.
When a general fails her, Malgosha has him killed and turned into bacon.
Natalie and Dawn stab and bash zombies. One keeps coming back and they repeatedly attack it in defence.
A character is stabbed in the buttocks and hit with numerous objects.
A huge pig attacks Henry, Steve and Garrett. It chases them through a mine and nearly kills them.
Characters slap creepers.
There’s a massive explosion in which it’s assumed that a giant pig is killed.
Steve explains that each floor of the Woodland Mansion is guarded by a different kind of evil. The first floor is full of axe-murderers, while the third is guarded by a creature that will fry your brains out if you look at it.
Creepy men chase Steve and Garret upstairs, trying to chop them with axes.
Garrett is told to fight a chicken to the death. He must also fight a baby Frankenstein. The chicken pecks him in the face and the baby Frankenstein repeatedly bashes his head into a wall.
Malgosha orders her swine to kill Steve and the others. Garrett kicks the pigs in order to give Steve and Henry a chance to escape. He’s on the bridge when it explodes and is presumed dead.
Henry and Steve hit a tree and are knocked unconscious.
A bunch of skeletons are blown up.
There’s a massive battle scene in which countless characters are punched, hit or knocked out. Natalie attacks with a sword and Henry with a gun.
Natalie is nearly crushed.
Dawn beheads a straw pig with a sword.
Henry creates an army of iron soldiers who help fight off Malgosha and her swine army.
Malgosha crushes Steve’s diamond armour and nearly kills him.
A pack of wolves attack the swine army and Henry is knocked off a tower. He is falling to his death but is saved at the last moment by Garrett.
When the orb is destroyed, pigs ‘zombify’ and the ones who are already zombies burn.
One of Malgosha’s soldiers is knocked on the head and knocked unconscious.
Malgosha tries to kill Steve 3 times with knives and daggers.

Sexual references

A Minecraft Movie has some sexual references. For example:

A character tells Garrett, while looking him up and down, ‘You can bag me up and take me to the curb anytime. But you’ve got to bunch it up because I’ve got a lot of racoons in there.’
Two pandas are surrounded by a bunch of love hearts and a baby panda suddenly appears.
While on a date, one character tells another that she, ‘wants to have the guts to invite him over to her house for dessert.’

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no substance use in A Minecraft Movie.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in A Minecraft Movie.

Product placement

A Minecraft Movie has some product placement – for example, references to ‘Minecraft, Oreos, Atari, Sizzler, Ford Firebird, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and an indirect reference to ‘America’s Got Talent’.

Coarse language

A Minecraft Movie has some coarse language and name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

A Minecraft Movie is a fantasy adventure, based on the 2011 game Minecraft by Mojang Studios. It features live action combined with computer animated graphics. The movie will appeal to fans of the game and is best suited to viewers aged 12 and over.

The main messages from A Minecraft Movie are that creativity is the key to survival; and that if you’re brave enough to believe in yourself, you can change the world for the better.

Values in A Minecraft Movie that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, creativity, persistence, loyalty and compassion.

A Minecraft Movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like these:

Failing to pursue your dreams.
Listening to the negativity of others and allowing yourself to be influenced by their opinions.
Getting carried away by greed.
Lying to your friends or loved ones.