Minecraft First Reactions Tease Jack Black & Jason Momoa's Live-Action Movie

Jared Hess' "A Minecraft Movie" arrives in theaters this week freighted with dizzyingly high box office expectations, which, if not met, could hasten the end of co-chairs Michael DeLuca and Pamela Abdy's rocky tenure at Warner Bros. (though catastrophically inept Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav should be the one to go). That's a lot to heap on a family-friendly, mega-budget adaptation of a basically narrative-less video game, but this is where WB finds itself after suffering through a string of high-profile flops that included "Joker: Folie à Deux," "Mickey 17" and "The Alto Knights."

We won't know if "A Minecraft Movie" can provide the commercial course correction WB desperately needs until Friday at the earliest, when the first box office numbers will be reported. But, given that there were a limited number of critics screenings last week, we can check in how the film played with a number of entertainment journalists. Please note that these are just social media reactions. The review embargo doesn't lift until later this week. But as the meh-ly reviewed "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" demonstrated two years ago, these movies are essentially critic-proof. And since "Minecraft" is the best-selling video game of all time, that should be a source of great comfort for WB.

The question now is whether fans of the game are up for a zany take on the game from an offbeat director like Hess, who's best known for cult classic comedies like "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Nacho Libre." He's assembled a potentially fun cast in Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Jennifer Coolidge, but does this game translate as easily to a narrative feature as "Super Mario Bros." did? Let's dig into those social media reactions.

I know and often agree with Screen Rant's Ash Crossan (though I cannot sanction her love of Sugar Ray), so I'm encouraged to hear her say, "I really liked the weird little gem that is 'A Minecraft Movie.' Assumed I was outside the target demo, but with the Jared Hess of it all, it delivered something sharp, offbeat, and genuinely fun. A video game movie with Napoleon Dynamite DNA.'" That last bit is important because "Napoleon Dynamite" has really transcended its cult status to become a widely loved comedy (which is why it's odd Hess hasn't made "Napoleon Dynamite 2"). This means a lot of people can get on Hess' Wes Anderson-lite wavelength, which I'm sure was a major consideration for DeLuca and Abdy when they hired him to direct this movie.

YouTuber John Dotson is also a fan of the filmmaker, and he wrote, "One thing nobody will argue while watching ["A Minecraft Movie] is whether Jared Hess had complete creative control over his own movie. It's better than it has any right to be and delivers genuine laughs. It's also unapologetically stupid." Critic Zach Pope keeps the Hess love-fest going, though he's a little less enthusiastic. "["A Minecraft Movie"] is destined to be a cult classic just as 'Napoleon Dynamite' & 'Nacho Libre' have become. Jared Hess infuses his zany, weird, over the top, random, stupid, & overall dumb creativeness into 'Minecraft.' It might not be a good movie... but it's a fun movie."

This is pretty much par for the course for the positive takes on the movie. But since Hess' sensibilities can rub some people the wrong way (you can count me as a member of that contingent), it's not surprising to find a few pans mixed in with the raves.

Jessica Valentine of Dexerto came flying in off the top rope to inveigh, "A Minecraft Movie" is easily the worst movie I have seen in years. Not one iota of it is entertaining aside from Jennifer Coolidge, whose back must be breaking from having to hold up this mess. Appalling storyline and script, if you can call them that." That's pretty emphatic.

Then there's ComingSoon's Jonathan Sim, who wrote, "[A Minecraft Movie] is the most obnoxious, insufferable video game movie since 'Borderlands.' It desperately wants to be funny and entertaining, but it suffers under bland cinematography and an unfunny script." This film was shot by Enrique Chediak, who did terrific work on films as varied as "Boiler Room," "Down in the Valley" and "28 Weeks Later," so I'm surprised to hear it looks bland.

These early reactions should always be taken with a mine's worth of salt. We'll hear what our most prominent professional critics have to say later this week. But, again, even if they tear the film down, it's highly unlikely it will impact the film's opening weekend. Parents, kids and adults who grew up playing "Minecraft" know the film is coming. They either want to see a Jack Black-led adaptation of the game or they don't. All shall be known soon enough!