At this point I’m going to Ladbrokes and betting against everything Kotaku promotes. They are like Jim Cramer of the gaming industry.
Of course not.
I have taste.
Great article, because it applies to anyone who reads it.
Or anyone apparently.
It looks to be an acceptable movie in the same vein as minions to me. I really hope the plot won’t be as formulaic as it definitely is, because I’ll be compelled to watch it at some point.
I’m sure it’s going to be “we got isekai’d into a Minecraft world and now we need to defeat [antagonist] before they ruin everything!”
It’s such a shame because I feel like theres a lot of potential. There are so many faces of Minecraft and ways to play the game (even within the relatively narrow area of vanilla survival multiplayer). Perhaps a better plot would revolve around the friction between these different playstyles.
Yeah, it’s not like Minecraft itself is marketed to the hardcore gamer demographic. It’s essentially a kids’ movie. I suspect it might still suck at that though.
I feel like kids moves should be higher quality. Teach them about good films from a young age. One can’t keep giving them mindless content at a time were they are supposed to be developing their minds.
IMDb indicates that the screenplay was written by a pair of writers exclusively versed in the 6-10 age demographic, with touchups by rob mcelhenney. Directed by the couple behind napoleon dynamite. I expect morbius.
with touchups by rob mcelhenney.
But… why?
Are you guys surprised and angry that this generic movie for children isn’t for you, or am I missing some context here?
Do kids movies have to be stupid and vapid? This looks completely soulless.
What does one have to do with the other? Snow white is also a story for children and yet adults can still be disappointed about the upcoming remake. Are you suggesting we can’t criticise content for kids? If yes then why?
Criticise whatever you want, but your post is just a screenshot of a headline presented without context so I’m not even sure why you’re upset
The idea that children don’t deserve good media is kind of wild to me.
A good movie for kids can be boring for adults sometimes.
There are plenty of “kids” movies and TV that are excellent for adults, too.
Listing a few:
- Bluey
- Most of Pixar
- Adventure Time (after Season 1)
- Star Wars Rebels/Clone Wars (again, after Season 1)
- Shrek
- Star Trek: Prodigy
This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the point.
Yes, I know that. And I knew it before, too…
I guess people hopped on the downvote train before they got to the word “sometimes” in my comment, lol
No, I disagree with the “sometimes”.
I don’t follow. You’re disagreeing with the possibility than an adult would find a good children’s movie to be boring? Lol
Yes.
Sure (also I can’t think of any examples) - but than again the question becomes more complex and subjective: what is a good kids movie. But really often kids movie is used as an excuse for bad execution, art, storytelling, acting etc. - while I think kids deserve at least the same quality as adults maybe even better - since media has much more influence on children than on adults.
while I think kids deserve at least the same quality as adults maybe even better
When we start buying that kids’ media enough that it’ll bring in as much money as other demographics’ media, and we choose to buy it based on its artistic merit and quality, then we’ll see more of that change.
But I think there’s always going to be a demand for “kids’ stuff” that’s lower quality, and I think that’s okay. Adults don’t need to enjoy every piece of kids’ media that exists.
And I just disagree that kids stuff means that it should be lower quality. I think it’s just lazy. And while I understand why people are producing bad content - I don’t have to like it or applaud them for it.
Sure but it doesn’t have to be like that. Shrek is prime example that you can make a movie both groups enjoy
I didn’t say that it does, lol
I said in another comment that there’ll always be demand for lower quality kids’ media, and that’s okay. Adults don’t need to enjoy every piece of children’s media.
There’s always demand for heroin too. Demand doesn’t mean it’s good.
This is like comparing paintings to the Mona Lisa. Shrek is the crowning achievement of our civilization.
Agreed, Shrek is phenomenal but there’s a lot of great films proving adults and children can enjoy the same story even if for different reasons.
The Goonies
Princes Bride
Kubo And The Two Strings
Song of the Sea
The Breadwinner
That’s just from the top of my head. There’s plenty.
Why can’t the movie be for everyone like the game is? Why make it purposefully empty and soulless so only small children with a short attention span can enjoy it? Take some notes from the Lego movie. It’s not that hard.
For one, it is definitely easier/cheaper/faster to make that instead of a good, enjoyable movie.
The mario movie was also good in my opinion. I enjoyed it and it did not feel like a cringefest at all (which I wish I could say about Minecraft’s trailer)
Why even bother making good movies, when children also watch elsa getting spiderman pregnant?
Trust me that’s way better than what kids are watching nowadays on yt shorts. That content should seriously be investigated for permanent/temporary brain damage.
Who is out here downvoting in defense of yt shorts?
The fact that capital-G Gamers are still hell-bent on the GamerGate-era war against Kotaku is deeply amusing to me.
Gaming journos bad, something something.
Sir, this is a good Pastafarian server, pls censor that filth. The childrens eyes can’t handle the raw sewage that is the word g*mer.
It really bugs me how every scandal co-ops the -gate from the Watergate scandal to try to give it more legitimacy.
The Hotel was the Watergate Hotel. There is no gate in Kotaku or Gamer. Just another fundamental ignorance of reality the media has come to.
I’ve been scrolling through the comments to see the reaction to this trailer and this is the only comment that made me legit cringe.
G*mers should have been bullied more.
This is exactly what someone who works at or has friends that work at Kotaku would say.
Sorry but Kotaku has always been 100% garbage, either bad writing, way behind the news, or both at the same time.
Except if its labor related, they immediately remember how to write.
2024 is the year of a lot of gaming and gaming-tangential products being made with a ridiculous price tag but not a clear audience of people who ever asked for it. 🤔
The most frustrating thing about this article is that it completely ignores that good movies targeted at kids still have to be good. Personal complaints aside, the new Mario movie was reasonably good for adults and great for kids. Pixar keeps churning out things that are fantastic on many levels. Bluey is an amazing show that can resonate with kids and parents. I don’t for a minute buy the elitist bullshit of “well you’re not a kid so you can’t comment.” Muppet Treasure Island holds the fuck up as an adult so this writer can fuck right off.
“The Writer” is most likely chatgpt. Pretty sure most of these low effort shit gaming/movie articles are AI written at this point.
Personal complaints aside, the new Mario movie was reasonably good for adults and great for kids.
It was mid, until Jack Black’s Bowser hit the screen, and then it was top notch. He absolutely carried that film.
What’s also weird is Minecraft is 15 years old at this point. That means you’ve basically got a huge age range (kids to adults) within the target audience. Why isn’t it targeted at the entire fanbase?
Why isn’t it targeted at the entire fanbase?
Is that a serious question? Because the answer is obvious…
Ok, let me start out by saying I have an 8 year old, and he fucking loves Minecraft. And hey, I played the game a bunch back when it was in beta and I was like 25. But I did not love the game the way that he loves the game… He’s obsessive about Minecraft, some days it’s all he talks about. How many adults do you know like that?
And here’s the real question, when’s the last time you bought Minecraft merch for yourself? Because my kid has a Minecraft lunchbox, a Minecraft hoody, a Minecraft Lego set, some Minecraft figurines, and of course the Minecraft sheets and PJs.
Hahaha fair point
Adults were fans of Minecraft when it came out since there was really no other sandbox game like it at the time. There were precious few sandbox games at the time period.
Oh yeah, I don’t disagree it has had a large following since it released. I was just highlighting that even if a majority of the player base was 5-15 on release, they’d be 20-30 now. So why target just kids.
Sorry, we were in agreement. I’m saying there was always an adult market so you’re right.
Hear hear. Soul was a great movie because it was fun for kids but spoke to adults. Pixar does that a lot. A good kids movie is just a good movie that’s appropriate for children. Sure you can feed kids entertainment slop and it might even make bank but if you’re trying to make a film and not just a vehicle for the line to go up then slop is not it.
I never watched any of those shows, but I remember watching SpongeBob and seeing how it was full of many types of humor, some of it adult but also presented in a way that kids just wouldn’t understand. So there was “something for everyone” and part of why it was so popular/successful.
Yes a thousand percent. You can entertain young children by showing a dancing clown on a colorful flashing screen for 3 hours straight. Kids will love it. But that doesn’t make it a good movie.
A good kids movie is not a movie that appeals to kids. It’s a good movie that also appeals to kids.
Reminder: Jack Black broke up Tenacious D to try to save this thing
and…
“Oh, no see, you’re mad, but you see this version of the franchise isn’t for you. It’s for a new crowd that was alienated by the previous version and you need to be nice and let them have their…”
Shut the fuck up, if it’s a version of a thing made for people who are defined by not liking the thing, it’s not going to get the other crowd to like the thing, it’s just going to piss off the people who do like it…
This is the second time I’ve seen someone say this. Tenacious D is not broken up. Where are you getting this information?
Fuck kotaku. It’s biased journalism and garbage takes just for the sake of being garbage takes. Seriously the most useless reporting in the industry. And also, fuck Jack. He is a coward and should’ve had Kyle’s back. It wasn’t even that bad of a joke.
OK, so it’s going to be a shitty movie and no one is going to watch it, other than YouTubers, so they can dunk on the movie.
This is a second shitty movie with Black Jack in it. Lets hope he’s not a trend setter.
He got a lot of money to be Bowser in a movie that made a lot of money, desperate film makers wanting to get in on the “Video Game Movie” trend thinking it’s the next “Super Hero Movie!” trend hire Jack Black thinking he’s the sole reason for Mario’s successful movie and not just a component of it.
…and Jack Black’s just taking the check and not correcting them.
Don’t blame him, he’s just grabbing that bag.
I’ve read the article. It is based on the author’s personal experience, which, news flash, does not represent reality as a whole. Also, even then he is wrong, kids movies can appeal to anyone: The Lego Movie, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog films.
Also, he called Minecraft Story Mode a “Netflix cartoon”.
Plenty of children movies appeal to both demographics. LTT’s most recent stream passed some good ideas around about what would have made a better movie.
I mean tbf we got 40 year old on here salty about this movie, while my kids can’t wait to see it.
It reminds me of adults bitching about minions being dumb and childish, that’s the point
u ok buddy?
So sometimes the most profitable quarterly isn’t the best thing to do?
Minions were made TO BE DUMB, Minecraft is the most popular game in the world MADE DUMB FOR PROFIT - there’s a massive difference and blaming the people mad not the problem is pretty stupid
Why are you pretending like Minecraft is a masterpiece of storytelling and mature gaming? The game is stupid and fun and kids love it. Why does everyone want every game movie to be dark and broody?
To be fair Minions is a childrens film and the people complaining about Minecraft are fans who for right reason hate the real characters thing. It would’ve been better to be animated…we all know the film is gonna flop.
I wouldn’t watch it even if the trailer was really good but…I’m gonna shit on it for looking awful, not being targeted towards adults. That opening green screen shot looks AWFUL. I said in another thread it reminds me of those old car commercial edits with the Mark guy. The perspectives of the camera vs the background don’t seem to fit
All they would probably need to do is replace the main cast with digital game characters, or at least something that’s rendered so they at least blend in a lot better.
It almost seems like the Sonic movie thing, where they first released a trailer that was so awful they had to change Sonic to look much better. I’m still not sure if it was a very expensive marketing move or not.
Based on the quality of the rest of it, I’m leaning it’s not a marketing move lol
It completely looks like those fake College Humor or SNL trailers. You know, like this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UiIRlg4Xr5w
It seemed like it would be a cheesey movie with some dry humor and I was okay with it up until the girl character called Jack Black “a massive toolbag.” Thats not what I expect from a movie oriented to children, and that made me immediately drop any interest I had left. Then the rest of the trailer somehow got worse with the llama scene, whatever that was.
They should have made the movie animated in the same style as all their commercials, with the characters in a Minecraft style skin based on their real world appearance. Have them start and end in real life, whatever. But boy is this not going to be good.
This looks like the 90s Mario movie all over again. Or the Sonic movie – before they fixed Sonic. Like, even the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider movies are probably better than this and those movies were generally very inaccurate to their source material, and not well receieved.
Don’t remember who (and I’m not about to watch it again) but doesn’t someone also say “what the hell” at some point?
Yes they do.
So? Bitch I grew up in the Uwe Boll era of video game adaptations. No movie based on a video game is for me.
I almost had a panic attack when I liked the Fallout show. Piss off.
But we got live action Mortal Kombat…oh
i would personally love a Portal movie going into all the lore, since there isn’t too much of that in the games. IDK, call it Portal 3? lol
