The most disappointing aspect of A Minecraft Movie, directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), isnt that its born out of an existing IP. We live in a world of low-effort reboots, unnecessary remakes and movies operating as extensions of corporate brands. Another one of these gluttonous projects is hardly surprising. What makes A Minecraft Movie so dispiriting is how it fails to spark the imagination, betraying a core tenet of the game on which its based.

Minecraft was released in 2011 by Swedish developer Markus Persson, who wanted to create a game that prioritized world-building. He was inspired by games that let players toil within a digital landscape and choose their own adventures. Minecraft has an unfussy design and its pixelated aesthetic and simple color scheme give the game a Lego-like texture. A players labor and quests are typically soundtracked by ambient music created by the German composer and Minecraft sound designer C418. All elements of the game foster imaginative thinking and experimental play. A Minecraft Movie struggles to maintain this ethos because it lacks a clear sense of its own stakes and intended audience. The film, written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James and Chris Galletta (from a story by Allison Schroeder, Bowman and Palmer), swings between appeasing the existing fanbase and courting a more general audience.

These goals arent mutually exclusive Dungeons Dragons: Honor Among Thieves accomplished both two years ago but A Minecraft Movie struggles to find the sweet spot between those camps or land the right tone. The ironic bits and poignant moments rarely gel and a focus on redundant innuendos takes precedence over character development and a meaningful storyline. These weaknesses make it hard to appreciate the zany set pieces or invest in the ragtag characters at the heart of the story.

Our protagonists deserve better because their creative spirits power this whole enterprise. A Minecraft Movie opens with a mouthful of a prologue that quickly establishes Steve (Jack Black) and his universe. We learn that the sandbox game helped the doorknob salesman combat the drudgery of adulthood by reconnecting with his creativity. It also introduced him to his best friend, a wolf he tames and christens Dennis.

Steves world hums along infused with glee until he stumbles upon a hell-like dimension called the Nether. Malgosha (an entertainingly evil Rachel House), a greedy Piglin who hates joy and creativity, rules over this world. She kidnaps Steve and plans to take over his universe by extracting all of its resources. But our clever crafter has Dennis hide the orb of dominance in the human world, thereby delaying Malgoshas plans for multidimensional conquest.

Many months or maybe years later, Garrett (Jason Momoa), a former championship gamer, small business owner and frequent auction sale bidder, buys Steves possessions from the crafters abandoned storage unit. Garrett is under the impression that a valuable game lies among Steves belongings and the money from that sale could help save his failing arcade store. But the game doesnt exist and all Garrett finds is the orb, whose value he doesnt yet understand.

Across town on the same day, Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and his older sister Natalie (Emma Myers) move into Steves former home. When we happen upon them, their realtor Dawn (Danielle Brooks, in a thankless role) is showing them around. Shes also telling them about her multiple side hustles its tough to make a living with just one job in this economy.

In the throes of grief, Natalie and Henry have moved to the fictional town of Chuglass, Idaho to fulfill their deceased mothers wishes. Natalie gets a job as a social media manager for the potato chip factory and Henry must suffer through the humiliating rituals of a new school.

After a group of kids and his art teacher (Hiram Garcia) mock his creativity, Henry tries to save his reputation by building a jetpack from everyday materials. The plan fails and his invention damages the potato chip factory, landing Henry in Vice Principal Marlenes office. But all the school administrator, played by the reliably funny Jennifer Coolidge, can talk about is her recent divorce and her worries about finding love again.

The setup is plenty packed and more than a little contrived, but it gets us where we need to be. Henry eventually happens on Garretts store and the two bond quickly. They also decide to follow the orb and end up in an abandoned mine shaft that leads to Steves universe. Natalie and Dawn are right behind them as the frantic big sister searches for her spacey younger brother.

The adventure begins and Henry, whose creativity has him ostracized in the human world (its the 80s after all), becomes empowered over the Minecraft universe. He has an intuitive sense of how things work, and its fun to see him figure out the lay of the land.

For Minecraft novices like this critic, A Minecraft Movie succeeds when showing off the games potential and championing the value of maintaining a childlike wonder in a bleak world. The production design (by Grant Major) and effects (supervised by Dan Lemmon) reinforce this sentiment on a visual level. Steves world, populated by Villagers during the day and haunted by untamed wolves and zombies at night, is sleekly and beautifully rendered.

Eventually, this unlikely crew runs into Steve himself, whos secretly made a deal with Malgosha to retrieve the orb in exchange for Dennis life. Steve doesnt want to turn his world over to, ahem, a capitalist pig, but he also cant lose his best friend. The stakes of this exchange should be higher considering all Steve has to lose, but A Minecraft Movie never strays beyond the surface.

Blacks performance leans on a lot of what made movies like School of Rock entertaining and the actor even indulges in a song or two here. His high-octane style and brash physical comedy complement Momoas take on Garrett, a bumbling championship gamer living in the shadow of his glory days.

Their friendship initially competitive and then endearing takes center stage. But although entertaining, it also highlights how underdeveloped everyone else is. While Hansen gets a few moments in the spotlight, Myers and Brooks are completely wasted in their roles. Coolidges storyline, involving a Villager who wanders into the real world, is genuinely funny but also similarly thin.

Weve come to expect so little of corporate IP projects that the fact A Minecraft Movie is uninspired wont matter to many people (whether Minecraft loyalists or uninitiated crafters), but it should. A certain kind of creativity and imaginative thinking is atrophying with the advent of artificial intelligence. Two years ago when I reviewed Barbie, I lamented about a future where all our humanist lessons come from corporate toymakers. That feels truer now than ever.