"This is a real screenshot? Good god...": Fans creeped out by how pillagers look in A Minecraft Movie

A Minecraft Movie is right around the corner, set to release on April 5, 2025. Right now, there is a wave of mixed emotions among the fans of the game. Some players like how the movie looks while others are completely disliking everything about it, from the cast to the plot. The look of the mobs is perhaps the most controversial element, and it seems that a new screenshot from the movie is about to make things even more heated.

A Minecraft player who goes by the name u/REZ_Lev shared an image on the subreddit of the game showing a scene from the movie featuring a chicken and a lot of pillagers in the background. It is difficult to know what exactly is wrong with their faces, but there is something off. A mix of realism and animation pushes the designs into the uncanny valley. The original poster asked the community’s thoughts on the designs.

Thoughts on the pillagers in A Minecraft Movie? byu/REZ_Lev inMinecraft

Reacting to the post, u/Every_Quality89 commented:

"This is a real screenshot? Good god..."

Comment byu/REZ_Lev from discussion inMinecraft

u/Black-Rabbit02 said that the appearance of Vindicators is already like the malformed Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants. However, the issue is how small the axe looks compared to the bulky frame of the mob. The OP replied to the comment saying that there are some issues with the proportions of the characters.

Comment byu/REZ_Lev from discussion inMinecraft

u/supreme_hammy wrote a lengthy comment explaining the reason behind this bizarre look of the mobs in the movie. The user said that there have been conflicting takes about the looks of A Minecraft Movie. Some mentioned that it looks like old Minecraft animation movies, while others calling it AI-generated.

Redditors give reasons for the bizarre look of the movie (Image via Reddit)

They added that the reason why this disparity exists is because everything in Minecraft is pixelated. Since the movie shows pixelated tools and items, smooth villagers and mobs with realistic animation but blocky shapes, and real humans, these three different looks are what create the issue.

u/djilatyn replied to the comment, saying that this could be the right answer as they noticed that everything looks mixed up here and there.

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The problems with the upcoming A Minecraft Movie

The villagers look bizarre in the upcoming Minecraft movie (Image via Warner Bros/Mojang Studios)

Minecraft fans have been eagerly waiting for a movie based on the game for years. Everyone wondered that if Mojang Studios were to make a game on it, it would be animated because it makes sense. However, when the teaser of A Minecraft Movie was released, it left fans disappointed for multiple reasons.

The live-action aspect was one reason. Fans could not understand why Mojang Studios would choose this over fully animated. While the makers have mentioned that they wanted to do something different and that’s why they went with the live-action route, many players still think that things would have been much better if it was fully animated.

Apart from that, fans are also not liking how everything looks in the movie. The realistic skin texture of the villagers, the shape and proportions of the pillagers, and the uncanny appearance of the animal mobs are all hard to ignore.