Why Minecraft movie does not look good as a live-action adaptation

Mojang Studios and Warner Bros. recently released Minecraft's official movie trailer. It showcased how four characters, two of them played by popular actors like Jason Momoa and Jack Black, stumble into the blocky world and go on an adventure. While the trailer was fast-paced and had funny moments, it did not garner praise from the audience.

It is safe to say that the trailer did not excite Minecraft's vast fan base, partially because the film was live-action. There are a few reasons as to why a live-action Minecraft film would have hardly worked.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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Reasons why Minecraft movie looks unimpressive as a life-action film

Minecraft's overall look is vastly different from real-life

Minecraft is one of the few games that is vastly different from real life. Most popular games are designed to look as realistic as possible, with high-fidelity textures, reflections, lighting, models, and more. The characters in these games also look similar to people in real life. Hence, live-action adaptations of these games mostly work.

On the other hand, the sandbox game is entirely made up of blocks and low-quality textures. The face of a block only has 16x16 pixels of color. Furthermore, the characters and the mobs are far from what they actually look like in real life. Even realistic mobs like sheep, pigs, and cows seldom look lifelike.

Hence, when the Minecraft movie showcased five actual people entering the blocky world, they seemed like absolute misfits in the environment. Even with their unique get-ups, they looked weird and out of place rather than interesting.

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Jack Black's portrayal of Steve

At the end of the trailer, Jack Black's character is revealed. However, even he looked out of place. Black will play Steve, Minecraft's first playable character skin ever. While Black wore a blue top to match Steve's clothing, his overall appearance did not do justice to the iconic character.

While Jack Black himself is famous for his long hair and beard, it did not look great as he played Steve, who has a trimmed hairstyle and short beard in the game itself.

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Great animation bits prove that the Minecraft film could have been entirely animated

Apart from the live-action bits, the rest of the shots in the trailer that showcased Piglins, other animated mobs, and places looked quite interesting. It is safe to say that the entire film could have been completely animated rather than live-action.

Though the Piglins, Sheep, Llamas, Ghasts, and more looked slightly different from what they were in-game, they still resonated with many viewers.

An argument can be made about how the characters played by actors could have also been animated. The entire film could have actually looked like the Minecraft animations that many VFX artists create on YouTube. These often feature completely animated in-game characters.

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Check out other Minecraft movie-related articles:

• How to make Minecraft look like the live-action movie
• Is A Minecraft Movie for kids?
• Fans lash out as A Minecraft Movie drops first trailer