The first teaser for A Minecraft Movie released in September to some decidedly mixed reactions, particularly concerning the CGI and character design and especially Jason Momoa’s hair. And yes, there were many ridiculous memes. We were inclined to give it a chance based on the casting of Momoa and Jack Black. Now the full trailer has dropped, and honestly, odd design choices aside—and they are indeed odd—it looks like a perfectly acceptable fun family film and not much more, albeit very light on actual plot.
YouTube Trailer: A Minecraft Movie | Official Trailer
Why are people so angry about this movie anyways? It’s not like we’re adapting Anna Karenina over here, it’s Minecraft. My kids who play the game wanna see it, and that’s really the target audience.
If I had to nail it down to just one thing, I would say that it’s the trope of the sarcastic teenager who just makes fun of all the stuff we think is cool about the source material. The only point for a character like that is to put down the fans who are trying to like the final product and pay for tickets.
I want a movie made by fans for fans, I don’t want a movie made by Hollywood writers who only know about a product from their third cousins son and a quick glance at Wikipedia.
The sarcastic teenager trope happens so much, and we see writers and directors who are proud of the fact that they don’t know the source material so often; I’m so tired of it. It symbolizes a banal cash grab. Will the end product this time be a cash grab? I don’t know, but that’s what I don’t like so far drilled down into one specific thing.