A Minecraft Movie

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “Half the time, Black’s dialogue is just announcing what we’re looking at, from diamond swords to flying hot air balloons that look like goth squids. But it’s the gleam in his eyes, the gusto in his delivery, that makes every line zing.”

  Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times · 80

• “It feels like a small miracle that the resulting film is so funny, lively, and light on its feet.”

  Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine (Vulture) · 80

• “A relatively accessible, often enjoyable adaptation of the best-selling video game of all time, its family-friendly good heart unencumbered by its overstuffed narrative.”

  Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence · 75

• “Jared Hess, co-creator of Napoleon Dynamite and a string of other small oddball pictures, brings a fresh perspective to what could have been a lumbering IP-pallooza movie.”

  Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly · 75

• “There’s something almost refreshingly bold in the full-tilt inanity here — in taking a blockbuster budget and embracing idiocy, as if to knowingly say, “I mean, it’s a Minecraft movie.””

  Brandon Yu, The New York Times · 70