On Friday, April 4, the highly anticipated and advertised “A Minecraft Movie” premiered, and it did not disappoint. While critics have rather mixed reviews over the movie, it is safe to say that watching this movie on opening day will be a moment remembered by everyone who attended. 

With critics rating the movie at 48% Rotten Tomatoes a few days after release, the movie appears to be unpolished and unappealing to some. When looking at the audience rating of the movie however, it sits at a high 87%. In my opinion, this disparity can be attributed to the fact that watching this movie in a room by yourself is a drastically different experience than watching this movie at your local theatre on opening day. While the movie may not have had the best character arcs or plot, the true entertainment came from crowd interactions, the nostalgia value, and the numerous funny moments from Jack Black and Jason Momoa.

Leading up to the release of “A Minecraft Movie,” many sneak peaks and teasers were released on social media, and these clips quickly went viral. Most of these moments didn’t contain intricate jokes or hints towards the plot, but simply showed Jack Black referencing something random from the video game on which the movie was based. While these clips had the purpose of advertising the movie, they lead to theaters going wild during the actual premier of the movie. It wasn’t a good plot or compelling characters that made the film so entertaining and fun, but rather being surrounded by people that threw popcorn and screamed when Jack Black’s character, Steve, yelled “Chicken Jockey!”

Another big reason for the movie being highly rated by audience members is the nostalgia produced by the movie. Released in 2009, the sandbox video game “Minecraft” has been a staple in many kids’ childhoods for the past 15 years. “A Minecraft Movie” targeted this audience of children and teenagers with a colorful and blocky world. However, while the movie succeeded in hitting this massive target audience, the movie’s reliance on inside references to the online culture around the game made it hard to connect with broader audiences.

While I enjoyed the experience of watching the movie in theatres, I did have a few problems with the movie. One of these problems was the fact that the nostalgia and comedic scenes often overshadowed the plot, leading to it feeling rushed and unsatisfying at times. There were moments in the movie that had me wondering why the writers were trying to squeeze in an emotional scene with choppy character development between two scenes where Jack Black is singing and making jokes. In other words, the movie excelled when it didn’t take itself seriously, but at the cost of any serious emotional development for its characters.

Despite the obvious flaws and shortcomings in the movie, I think it is safe to say that the movie had a successful release and will definitely go down as a film to remember.