Summary
Videogame movie adaptations, like theMinecraftmovie for example, are an odd thing. Either you adhere strictly to the source material and appeal to a small audience and confuse the rest, or you try to pick and choose what to use to try and cast as wide a net as possible. And that doesn’t always work out well.
Points where they’re due though, the Minecraft movie does stick very close to the game and there’s a lot that you’ll recognise if you’ve sunk any substantial amount of time into it. However, there’s also quite a few things they don’t get right. Editing, pacing, reshoots and writing aside, there’s a couple moments that left fans of the game scratching their heads. Here’s everything the Minecraft movie got wrong about Minecraft.
10The Buck-Chucks And Crafting In General
Either It’s Shape Based Or It Isn’t Guys
Starting off strong we’ve got the infamous Buck-Chucks and the overall approach to some of the crafting in the movie. Whilst at first Steve says to put elements in a pattern on the crafting bench, which is similar to the game, when Garret (Jason Momoa) attempts it he creates something that isn’t in the game. Although it did get added as part of a special movie tie-in event. If it’s not in the game originally and you got it wrong, might as well force it in right?
He dumps a large pile of metal onto the table and hits it once to make two buckets on a chain. There’s no shape, it’s just a big pile of scrap. In Minecraft the game you need to put resources in a specific pattern to create a certain item. Filling up your crafting table like that in the game would do nothing. The same applies to Henry’s‘Tot-Gun’, that’s not an item in the game, and crafting like that does not happen.
Guns in general are also not a thing that’s craftable in the Minecraft game.
9The Nether
A Familiar Place With A New Look
Next up we have the Nether. In the game this is an infamous zone that’s an iconic hellish red and orange colour because of all the Nether Rack and flowing lava. In the Minecraft movie however, this entire zone is just black.
There’s nothing else shown there outside ofthe Nether Fortress, and we’re told that the Piglins mined the dimension into oblivion. Which if you played the game you’ll know this is statistically impossible as both The Nether and The Overworld are infinite in size. You also can’t use liquids in The Nether in the game as it instantly evaporates, yet in the movie we see Piglins drinking a potion.
8Everything Involving The Piglins
Look How They Massacred My Boys
Speaking of the Piglins, they don’t fare well either in the movies interpretation of them. According to the film, they’re obsessed with gold, hate creativity, can be one-shot killed except sometimes when they can’t, some can talk and others cant, and they zombify instantly instead of 15 seconds.
Now in the game they’re silent except for the occasional oink, can be found with gold armor or weapons on them, and they’re not particularly resilient or bright. So them somehow being this massive evil force of organised piggy warriors that hates everything creative is hard to believe.
7Malgosha
How Did You Get In Charge Exactly?
We can’t bring up the Piglins without turning the spotlight on Malgosha. If you weren’t familiar with the game you would think she’s a character in it, but she’s not. She’s a unique creation to the movie that can use vaguely destructive magic at specific points when the plot needs her to.
Malgosha is also apparently the source of the Piglins anti-creativity drive, because she once got laughed at for dancing in a talent competition. A competition about creativity held by a species that’s intolerant toward creatives, make it make sense. This is not something the games ever touch upon, feature or mention in any way. It’s completely shoe-horned in for the movie. And unfortunately Malgosha is now in the game post-movie release as part of a special tie-in add-on.
There are boss monsters in the Minecraft game, but these usually require going through specific steps and quests to fight them. They don’t turn up and monologue at you whilst you’re playing the game.
6The Ghast Weapon Platforms
It Would Be Nice If It Was In The Game
This one comes with a small exception, yes Ghasts are tameable and rideable as of an update a while ago, but not to the extent the movie shows. In the Minecraft game you may pull one around with a leash or ride it with a saddle. But it’s on top of the creature, not underneath.
You certainly can’t strap a weapons platform for you and your friends to hang about on, or chuck flaming projectiles at someone from. Also according to the movie, Ghasts fire their explosive projectiles when their tentacles are stabbed or tugged. Yet in the game they just do it when they get near a player or are made hostile through attacks or other methods. So that’s another mark against the movie’s authenticity.
The original Minecraft score apart from the Overworld theme song ‘Minecraft’ are not there either. Instead that’s ripped out and we get pop music and lots of Jack Black singing.
5Zombie Durability
Can They Actually Be Killed Without Sunlight?
Another thing the Minecraft movie gets wrong about the games is how durable the Zombies are. In the game these green lads are more of a pain in the neck than a real threat, but when there’s a lot of them they can cause trouble. Although, a few sword smacks or arrow shots and you’re fine.
In the movie they’re not really shown as a threat. Sure they vaguely paw at Garret, but that’s about it. We even see one getting the snot kicked out of it as a gagg during a casual conversation. But the real sticking point is their durability, they reset broken necks, reknit broken spines and their arms can be detached. None of this happens in the game.
4Creeper Explosions
Everyone’s Favorite Green Griefer Has Been Nerfed
Of course with a Minecraft movie you need to include a Creeper. They did a decent job with the model and how the creature acts in the game, but it’s the explosion that’s the big letdown. In the Minecraft game their blasts are nearly immediate, and they take out a substatial chunk of the environment around them.
In the Minecraft movie though they just let out a puff that vaguely knocks overJason Momoa’s character Garret, and puts a small hole in Henry’s tower. The only time we see a substantial bang from a Creeper is when we see literally thousands of them blowing up on the screen at the same time. But again, whilst Creepers can sometimes chain-react in the game, it doesn’t make their blast size any bigger.
3Two-Handed Block Placement
This Would Be A Nightmare In The Game
It’s a small bugbear, but it’s something nobody paid attention to. In the Minecraft game you can only place a block down with one hand, one chunky square at a time. And you need to also have that particular item in your inventory, as well as a specified amount.
Now in the Minecraft movie we see Steve (Jack Black) and Henry (Sebastian Hansen), throwing down blocks with both their hands at high speed from a seemingly infinite pocket space. Sure it’s a way to translate the mechanic onto the big screen, but it looks awful acting wise to see them wildly wave their hands in vague directions against the big green screen. Plus it’s innacurate to the game.
2Minecraft Being Playable On An Arcade Machine
Minecraft’s Portable, But Not Like That
This is a very small issue, and it’s only on the screen extremely briefly, but if you’re familiar with gaming it’s something that doesn’t quite make sense. As the film starts to run toward the credits, and Jack Black does his big ‘buy the soundtrack’ song, we see Minecraft running on an arcade machine.
Now Minecraft can be run on a lot of things, including phones. But we see it running split-screen multiplayer using an arcade stick setup. Each player has one stick and a handful of buttons, how is that optimised? Minecraft requires a dual stick setup to move and look, so unless they’ve bound turning or moving to a button, this is another mistake the movie makes.
At a 2013 Minecon event a Super Mario cabinet was converted to run Minecraft. But it was singleplayer only and used both sticks.
1The Golem Of Swiftness
When You Make Up Mechanics For Your Movie
Last but not least we’ve got the biggest ‘this is not in the game’ moment in the movie, and that’s the Golem Of Swiftness. This is an Iron Golem that’s created by Henry by combining a Golem with Boots Of Swiftness. Which allows it to move at super speed and jump incredibly high.
The boots are a real thing in the game that apply a four second speed boost to the wearer, but they can’t be worn or applied to mobs like a buff. It’s a unique combination that’s only seen in the movie, and is 100 percent a mechanic that is not in the game.
The closest thing you could get to this would be throwing a Potion Of Swiftness at an Iron Golem and then hoping the splash effect applied to it.
