The Minecraft Movie Trailer: Aw, Man
I’ve been a longtime Minecraft player, my earliest memories of the game are playing on Xbox 360 with my four sisters. To put how long I’ve been playing into perspective, I played before creative mode was released. So, when the Minecraft Movie trailer was released, I was really excited to see one of my childhood games, a game that I still play to this day, come to life. Minecraft is a beloved game, not just to me, so its movie has been one of the most anticipated for fans. Being released in 2011, Minecraft has expanded into being one of the most iconic games of all time, getting several different spin-offs. Its fanbase is also one of the biggest, being an influential sphere of gaming & streaming. The past year of film has been a monumental time for video game movie adaptations. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie (2023), Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s trailer (2024), and now the Minecraft Movie trailer.
As hyped as the fandom was for the release of the Minecraft Movie’s trailer, the disappointment was greater. The trailer itself was extremely disappointing to both myself and to the rest of Minecraft’s fanbase.
The trailer, based upon the characters’ first reaction to the world they find themselves in, follows the “audience surrogate” trope. The audience surrogate is a character who embodies the audience, who asks the questions a member of the audience may ask. In this case, the characters know nothing about the fantastical world they find themselves in, which is Minecraft. The plot is similar to Jumanji, (2017), which follows the story of four high schoolers who get sucked into the video game world of Jumanji. Compared to Minecraft, the audience surrogate trope works better for Jumanji because it’s not nearly as popular as a game.
Jumanji has three films and was never a game, so it never had a fanbase prior to any of the movies. Therefore, the mechanics of the game were completely new, both in the 1995 version of the film and the 2017 version of the film. Minecraft’s release date is more recent, and has a bigger fanbase. Minecraft’s popularity also stems from the fandom: fanart, streaming, videos, and even conventions such as Minecon. And even if a person doesn’t play Minecraft, the graphics of the game are extremely recognizable because of its distinct artstyle. Minecraft has made a bigger splash in the gaming community, so the assumption that the audience does not know what Minecraft is or how it works doesn’t work for the film. This is the reason that the audience surrogate trope works better for Jumanji: it’s less widely known, so not as many people know the visuals, rules, or the mechanics of the game.
But just like the characters who are bewildered when they enter the game, fans were equally bewildered by the world of Minecraft as it’s presented in its movie trailer. Common sentiment spread across the Internet: Why isn’t the movie animated[1] [2] ?
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023): all these major successes were animated. The Minecraft Movie’s live action aspect creates hyper-realistic Minecraft mobs that are unsettling to the viewer. The animated aspects of the listed films above make those movies fun, and the visuals are more unique than they would be if those movies were live action. Animation is more versatile than live-action CGI, which is evident in the Minecraft Movie. Minecraft’s blocky visuals are a core part of the game’s identity, which the live action aspect completely misses, so it fails to capture the iconic Minecraft style that fans know and love.
One of the horrifying consequences of the movie not being animated is the infamous pink sheep. Funnily enough, this sheep actually shares an uncanny resemblance to the original Sonic design in Sonic the Hedgehog’s original trailer. Similar to the backlash of the original Sonic trailer, Minecraft fans on social media pushed for a redesign of the movie. However, Sonic’s redesign was possible because there was only one singular model that had to be changed. Besides the sheep, the whole movie’s CGI is an issue.
Some fans have already taken to animating the trailer, such as @Alumio and @QdAndy on YouTube, but seriously: who looked at Minecraft and went, “yeah, this should totally be live action!”
Animation especially would’ve worked well with the crafting mechanic of Minecraft. Minecraft Story Mode’s animation style lends itself well to crafting within Minecraft, which lends itself to the audience’s immersion within the blocky universe of the game.
This is why one[3] of my personal least favorite moments of the trailer is the crafting scene. In the background of the scene, there’s a shelf featuring iconic Minecraft items, such as TNT, diamond armor, and fireworks. However, I felt like there was a missed opportunity in what was crafted. Instead of crafting nunchucks, it should’ve been something more reminiscent of Minecraft, such as a diamond sword, or maybe a bow & arrow. The movie is a mish-mash of Minecraft and non-Minecraft elements. Minecraft doesn’t have any rules, but there are mechanics that players adhere to.
Every player has different expectations of what the Minecraft Movie trailer should’ve looked like. The movie hasn’t even been released yet, so perhaps the trailer might not be representative of the entire film. Yes, the trailer is silly, (especially Jack Black’s “I…am Steve! Line), but silly movies aren’t necessarily bad movies. The biggest problem, though, is the CGI of the film and it not being animated, which isn’t an issue that’s likely to be changed.
Animated films of video game franchises are the most popular, especially if we look at successful animated adaptations. This is especially true because Minecraft has such a distinct, pixely art style. Without animation, the film doesn’t get that distinct Minecraft look. This trailer doesn’t exactly scratch that Minecraft itch.
Writer: Addison Delgado
Artist: Brooke Barnes
