‘A Minecraft Movie’ seems destined to be the next ‘Borderlands’ with these trailer reactions

A Minecraft Movie may be following in the footsteps of Borderlands after its first trailer received largely negative reactions from viewers.

A Minecraft Movie is a live-action adaptation of the wildly popular Minecraft game. The film quickly tapped several big names, including Danielle Brooks, Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Kate McKinnon, and Emma Myers. However, an A-list cast doesn’t necessarily mean a movie will perform, critically or at the box office. Eli Roth’s Borderlands lineup included Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, and Ariana Greenblatt, but failed spectacularly. Borderlands debuted at a sad 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and has only risen to 10% since then. It was panned as a lifeless and dull adaptation that didn’t do justice to the source material and was bogged down by juvenile jokes and failed attempts to mimic Guardians of the Galaxy with its underdog team.

There were signs of Borderlands’ fate prior to its release, as its decision to pursue an original story and some odd casting choices raised concern among fans. Now, A Minecraft Movie is starting to follow Borderlands’ trajectory after being hit with a bevy of perplexed and concerned fan reactions over its trailer.

A Minecraft Movie‘s trailer did not impress viewers

Warner Bros. dropped the official trailer for A Minecraft Movie on September 4, and it’s … something. Given that Minecraft is a sandbox game that essentially becomes whatever players want it to be, many questioned how exactly a film adaptation would work. Based on the trailer, it appears Warner Bros.’ solution was to put a bunch of random actors in front of a green screen and call it a day.

It appears A Minecraft Movie may be borrowing a page from Jumanji, in which the characters are transported into a video game world for an adventure. However, the trailer didn’t shed much light on the plot, nor did it offer viewers anything particularly visually appealing. Minecraft quickly started trending on X as the trailer became the butt of numerous jokes and memes criticizing its visual effects, costumes, budget, and failure to do justice to the game.

One aspect that threw most viewers off was the costumes. No one is quite sure what’s going on with them. Momoa is bizarrely clad in a pink fringed leather jacket and terrible wig with bangs, while Brooks appears to be wearing some kind of colorful tracksuit. Myers and Sebastian Eugene Hansen wear everyday clothes, making Brooks and Momoa look even more out of place. Needless to say, the costumes look severely mismatched and random. As one X user put it, “Costume designer was NOT cooking here.” It also looks like Jack Black is playing himself but in a blue shirt.

Then, there’s the matter of visual effects. It’s very easy to tell that the cast is in front of a green screen, and the CGI hasn’t earned any bonus points for A Minecraft Movie. Many are comparing its rendition of the Minecraft animals to the first rendition of Sonic in the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie that was criticized so heavily that Paramount Pictures was forced to redesign him. It seems the movie is trying to make the CGI animals hyperrealistic, but it only serves to make them very unsettling, not even slightly resembling the video game.

Given the terrible costumes and visuals, many are questioning why A Minecraft Movie didn’t just go the animation route so it could accurately adapt the game instead of turning it into a Jumanji-esque movie.

One also can’t help but wonder if perhaps the budget was an issue on the movie. Could the movie not afford actual costumes and better visual effects, or to just make the characters animated, too?

To be fair, not all reactions were bad; some commented that they liked the animal and world design. Others pointed out that the movie was geared toward children, so viewers may need to lower their expectations slightly. Many also commented that they couldn’t tell if the movie would be good or absolutely terrible, but at least they’re not dismissing it right away. However, the criticism of the costumes and mismatched cast was nearly unanimous.

Ultimately, A Minecraft Movie isn’t looking too good based on the trailer reactions, but if it can convincingly explain what’s going on with the characters and costumes, it might still have a shot at success.