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The most volatile part of A Minecraft Movie was always going to be community reception. Despite being around since 2009 and still retaining its aging playerbase, Mojang has also managed to keep the game incredibly relevant among younger players. It’s for this reason that finding the target audience for A Minecraft Movie was always going to be tricky.
It’s obvious that A Minecraft Movie is predominantly for kids, with all of Jack Black’s yelling, big explosions, and wholesome humour. But the director and producer didn’t want to completely cut out older players from enjoying this film, and so had the tricky task of making this film more appealing to older players.
“I think the biggest thing just for all of us was to have fun,” director Jared Hess tells PC Gamer. “We all had a personal relationship with the game, and so when we put together the movie, we all wanted to bring all of those details that we love about the game and celebrate them. We thought if we do that, if we are true and authentic about our love for the game and these totally unique, iconic characters and the world and the themes and everything, it’ll all work.”
There are enough fun Minecraft references to make it clear that the people working on this film care about the game. But if spotting a Technoblade tribute and watching a Minecraft Legends fight play out wasn’t enough to convince you, then hearing about how much Minecraft Jack Black played while on set should set you at ease.
“We’d have endless conversations about how to represent the mobs, the biomes, and what stories to tell in what locations, and how to get the characters out of trouble and into trouble in the most Minecraft way possible,” producer Torfi Ólafssonon says. “I’ve been playing the game for 13 years, and have been working for Mojang for seven years, and I’ve played Minecraft a lot with my kids.
“So I tried not to just use my experience as an adult at Mojang, but also see [the film] through the eyes of my kids. What they like, what kind of humor they like, and what they think is engaging about the game, but it was certainly a challenge.”
A Minecraft Movie may predominantly be for kids, but I think there are enough cool scenes, pretty vistas, and lore-accurate critters around to appeal to some older players as well. If you love Minecraft, then this film is good enough in that it lets you look at the Overworld in a different light.
“We poured as much love and heart as we could into everything, and that’s all that you can really do,” Hess continues. “You’re never going to be able to take the infinite expanse of the game and put it all into a finite hour and a half. So you have to take some swings and really curate and pick your favorite things.”
“I think the key to it was to be fun,” Ólafssonon continues. “To not take ourselves too seriously, but take the game very seriously.”
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Kurt Indovina
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