Movie Review: Jason Momoa shines in 'A Minecraft Movie'

The latest IP to be mined into a Hollywood blockbuster is appropriately a video game that celebrates digging: “A Minecraft Movie.”

Like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Jumanji” before it, “A Minecraft Movie” centers on four misfits who enter a mysterious portal that pulls them into a strange land, this time cubic, like Lego only on shrooms.

The Jared Hess-directed action-adventure artfully straddles the line between delighting preteen gamers and keeping their parents awake. It's an often-bananas adaptation, with bizarre digressions into turquoise blouses and tater tot pizzas. It has Jennifer Coolidge being very Jennifer Coolidge. Need we say more?

If you’ve never heard of “Minecraft” — or its denizens like Creepers, Piglins, Villagers and Endermen — you are in big trouble. Consult with the closest 10-year-old immediately. (I have one and he noticed a sweet nod to the late YouTuber Technoblade, an Easter egg of sorts.)

The movie is faithful to the world of the game, while adding some things — orbs and crystals — to aid the plot. But if you come in cold and spot pandas and folks punching through earth, you'll likely side with one human character who says: “This place makes no sense.”

Our travelers — a sweet brother and sister (Emma Myers and Sebastian Eugene Hansen), their nutty real estate agent (Danielle Brooks) and a deeply dumb, washed-up pro video game player (Jason Momoa) — are guided by Jack Black, playing an expert crafter named Steve stranded in the world.

If it does anything, “A Minecraft Movie” marks the comedic coming of age of Momoa, who has shown glimpses of his chops in the “Aquaman” and “Fast X” movies. But when he’s not on screen in this one, it leaves the movie slack, which is saying a lot when you have Black being his full-force, over-the-top Black.

“There’s no ‘i’ in ‘team’ but there are two ‘i’s in ‘winning,’” Momoa says as Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, who is fond of fingerless gloves and a Barbie-pink leather jacket with a fringe. In another scene, he notes: “Paper doesn’t grow on trees.”

The screenplay written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James and Chris Galletta is as loosey-goosey as you'd expect from five different voices, with a traditional Marvel-style battle at the end fueled by plenty of “Let's do this!” declarations but with a surprisingly goofball first half.

Like countless films before it, “A Minecraft Movie” is all about the quest to go home, which in this case means navigating zombies, skeletons shooting fire-tipped arrows and a place called The Nether, a perpetually dark hell where horrible creatures mine for gold. For some reason, the ruler there, a piglike witch, has glowing eyes and a British accent.

The writers make some “America’s Got Talent” jokes, Black has a few songs — including a bizarre “Steve’s Lava Chicken” — and we spend an inordinate of time focused on Momoa’s butt, but it all ends in a dance party. The movie has a “Dark Crystal”-meets-“Transformers” vibe, a too-subtle message about financial failure and something about friendship.

The filmmakers do have characters throw eggs — at these prices, is that smart? — but they don't lean enough into the celebration of creativity this movie seemed to promise when it started.

Hollywood’s embrace of gaming has been yielding hits such as HBO’s “The Last of Us” and Amazon Prime Video’s series adaptation of the Microsoft-owned “Fallout.” More adaptations are on the horizon this year: “Until Dawn,” “Mortal Kombat 2” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.”

As for “A Minecraft Movie,” the advice is this: Come for the Piglins, stay for Momoa, whom you will see spectacularly failing at being bilingual and jujutsu-ing opponents dressed like a member of Skid Row. It's everything you ever needed.

“A Minecraft Movie,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release that's in theaters Friday, is rated PG for “violence/action, language, suggestive/rude humor and some scary images.” Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Jason Momoa, right and Adria Arjona pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jason Momoa pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jason Momoa, right, hugs Jack Black as they pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Danielle Brooks, from left, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Jack Black and Jason Momoa pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — The basketball season is over, but St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor is still heeding coach Rick Pitino’s advice.

The 6-foot-9 Ejiofor, who earned first-team All-Big East honors last month after helping the Johnnies to their first outright regular-season conference title in 40 years, threw out the first pitch at Citi Field on Wednesday before the series finale between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins.

“He gave me a little advice,” Ejiofor said of Pitino, who threw out the first pitch before a Mets-Yankees game in 2023. “He said not to bounce it.”

Despite saying he had “zero” experience in baseball, Ejiofor threw a pitch from the top of the mound that landed right in the glove of John Franco, the St. John’s alum and former Mets closer who stood at the plate in front of eight of Ejiofor’s teammates.

“If Zuby takes care of business and doesn’t hurt our superstar alumnus here, it’ll be a good start for the Mets, the hottest team in baseball,” Pitino said before New York lost 5-0, snapping its six-game winning streak.

Pitino — wearing a personalized No. 41 jersey, the same number retired by the Mets in Tom Seaver’s honor — appeared with Ejiofor, Franco and Red Storm center Vince Iwuchukwu at a pregame news conference. Franco was presented with a St. John’s No. 45 uniform — the same number he wore in his final six-plus seasons with the Mets.

The 72-year-old Pitino, raised in New York City and Long Island, recalled going to Yankees games as a child with his sisters but also said he cheered for the Mets.

“I used to go watch Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, reserves like Héctor López, Johnny Blanchard, (Tony) Kubek, (Bobby) Richardson,” Pitino said. “But I was also a Mets fan of (Jerry) Koosman, Seaver and going back to Tommie Agee. I’m one of the few people that rooted for both teams. Anything with ‘NY’ on it, I’m 100% behind it.”

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he enjoyed watching as St. John’s became the biggest winter sports story in New York by going 31-5 and winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000. The Red Storm matched a school record for wins and took home their first Big East Tournament title in 25 years before their season ended with a 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAAs.

“When you get a team that is doing something special like they did — we saw it last year with us, it was our story where nobody knew if we were able to do anything,” said Mendoza, who led the Mets to the 2024 National League Championship Series after a 24-35 start. “It’s a pretty cool feeling. It’s a privilege, it’s an honor, when you have the ability to represent and do something special the way they did.”

Pitino said he’s looking forward to getting back to work with the Red Storm, who have added former Providence star Bryce Hopkins and ex-Arizona State guard Joson Sanon via the transfer portal. Red Storm star RJ Luis Jr., the Big East Player of the Year and a second-team All-American, decided to declare for the NBA draft while retaining his eligibility and entering the portal.

Pitino acknowledged St. John’s needs to improve offensively in order to become a national title contender. The Red Storm finished second in the nation in defensive efficiency but 68th in offensive efficiency, per KenPom.com. Each of the teams that made the Final Four — NCAA champion Florida along with Houston, Duke and Auburn — finished in the top 10 in offensive efficiency.

“We need shooting as much as anything,” Pitino said of the Red Storm, who shot 44.5% from the field and ranked among the nation’s bottom 20 teams in 3-point shooting at 30.1%. “It’s the offensive teams that really go far in the tournament. You have to have a great offense. And we were not a great offensive basketball team this season.”

This story has been corrected with the proper spelling of Tommie Agee’s first name and Héctor López's last name. A previous version was corrected to show that Pitino was referring to Bobby Richardson, not Clint Richardson.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino speaks at a press conference before a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, center left, speaks at a press conference alongside forward Zuby Ejiofor, left, John Franco, center right, and center Vince Iwuchukwu, right, before a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

St. John's men's basketball player Zuby Ejiofor gets set to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)