The first trailer for “A Minecraft Movie” was released in early September to overall poor reception and extreme criticism from the internet for its poor aesthetic and similarity in premise to Jumanji.

Beyond just looking visually unappealing and boring, I believe the trailer is insulting as a result of a fundamental lack of understanding of “Minecraft” and its audience. 

Taking a look at the CGI, it is clear from the misaligned eyes and crooked teeth given to the animals that the design is intended to be slightly repulsive for comedic effect. This seems to be a misguided attempt to exaggerate the already strange cubic design of Minecraft creatures. 

Frankly, to me, it makes a mockery of the game.

“Minecraft” has always been an outlet for artistic creation. Since the game’s initial release, building has been an important aspect of gameplay for many players. While builds can be mere square boxes, cozy homes and fortress-like bases, there are endless examples of more complex and creative  builds; some notable monumental builds include a one-to-one model of the Starship Enterprise from “Star Trek” and a complete recreation of the world of “Harry Potter.” 

Furthermore, “Minecraft” players have created thousands of texture packs and shaders to elevate the simplistic graphics of the base game without modifying the game’s look to a point where it is unrecognizable as “Minecraft”. The use of ugliness for comedic effect undermines this great appreciation of beauty within the target audience. 

Speaking of the movie’s target audience, I assume Minecraft players must be the target audience because “Minecraft” no longer holds the same widespread popular culture presence it once did. There was a resurgence of popularity at the start of the 2020s, but even that has subsided. 

Some on social media have argued that the movie is solely intended for children. If that is the case, making  “A Minecraft Movie” only for children is a poor business decision as they are overlooking the potential of marketing to those who grew up with the franchise. 

While it is now an unfortunate trend to transform intellectual property (IP) into kids movies, using  the game’s IP will not be appealing to kids. I have a 13-year-old sister and she stopped thinking Minecraft was cool when she stopped thinking I was cool – 6 years ago. “Minecraft” is no longer “hip” with the youth. The biggest audience the movie can appeal to is its current and previous Minecraft Players.

That being said, “Minecraft” has always been a game that appeals to all ages; the average age of a “Minecraft” player in 2019 was 24 years old. A movie based on the game should aim to be equally appealing to the young and old.

Returning to the mocking nature of the trailer, the character Steve has so far been portrayed as an out of touch but highly knowledgeable mentor. However, this could not be farther from what Steve is in the game. 

Steve was the original, now one of two, default character model skins for “Minecraft” players. When someone played “Minecraft” for the first time, they likely played as him until they learned how to upload custom skins. Every ”Minecraft” player has been Steve, if not by using the default skin at least once, then in the sense that every player was once new to the game. Steve represents every player at the start of their adventure. The characterization of Steve as a crazy old mentor in the trailer shows further disregard for the Minecraft playerbase.

Finally, there is the issue of the cookie-cutter “Jumanji” rip-off plot. For a trailer that at least acknowledges the importance of creativity and imagination in “Minecraft,” what little has been revealed about the actual movie demonstrates that the plot itself will probably lack these aforementioned traits. I see this as the ultimate failure to understand the widespread appeal of Minecraft.

Part of what makes “Minecraft” great is that it inspires absurd and whimsical ideas. “Minecraft players” have collectively: killed one of the most dangerous in-game entities with an army of bees, created a working cell phone in-game with web browsing and video call, beaten the game on the hardest difficulty with a steering wheel and much more. These feats were achieved by ordinary people curious about what was possible. 

The plot of a movie inspired by the game of the same name should not have the plot of the average isekai anime or the aesthetics of “Big Mouth.”