Zanobard Reviews

Mark Mothersbaugh’s A Minecraft Movie is enjoyably reminiscent of C418’s recognisably tranquil music for the iconic game at times, but these thematic & stylistic reprisals are sadly sporadic in favour of what is for the most part a rather anonymous orchestral action score.

A gentle, wistful piano opens the score for A Minecraft Movie, reprising C418’s recognisable theme for the iconic game as it echoes tranquilly along, and on doing so also immediately re-immersing the listener in that iconic blocky world they started fourteen years ago when most of us first got into Minecraft – myself included. As the track continues though, a sudden choral burst then overtakes the piano with the vocals loudly and emphatically singing those simple yet brilliantly memorable C418 notes before the forty second track then fades to a close. A short but pretty damned effective opener for the album, that’s for certain. The subsequent “Mintage” then delves into quiet, peaceful orchestral territory with relaxing strings, vocals and further piano notes, with happy woodwinds and brass also arriving from the thirty second mark. All the aforementioned instruments then leap and swirl together in gentle harmony for much of the rest of this three and a half minute track before a sudden burst of heroism crescendos it out, introducing a brand new theme as it does so. “Midport Village” then picks up where it leaves off, with the same gently tranquil instrumentation playing and continuing the establishment of this new theme, which we’ll call the Minecraft Movie theme for ease, overall a rather versatile if not slightly anonymous motif that swells with hope throughout this subsequent track.

Darkness literally starts to fall in “Day To Night”, with the orchestral instrumentation following suit as eerie, low-pitched vocals, bursts of worrisome brass and murmuring strings echo tensely before a sudden surge of drums shoves the score into action mode from the minute mark. Frenetic strings, vocals and continual bursts of brass alternating between fear and heroism then overtake for much of the rest of the track. “Steve In The Nether” carries on where this leaves off, with marching percussion and chanting vocals continuing the frantic action pace. Tensions rise higher and higher as this four minute thunderous setpiece continues, with the instruments building in both volume and intensity until one final deafening crescendo closes out the track. “Chicken Fight Club” then opens in a similar frantic orchestral vein, though this then switches up a bit later with the introduction of an electric guitar and another brand new motif, which judging from its heroism and sheer grandiosity perhaps belongs to Steve himself. Videogame-esque electronics then open “I Need A Win, Man” alongside wary strings, with the mood then descending into quiet pensivity for much of the cue’s remaining runtime with echoes of Steve’s motif playing solemnly.

“I’m Coming With/Minecraft” then leans back into the more peaceful orchestra of earlier cues, with hints toward the new Minecraft Movie theme playing before a brief interspersal of the infamous C418 piano piece. The Movie theme then recurs in the subsequent “Nitwit Crosses And Steve Finds/Minecraft” in a playful and upbeat manner on strings before some decidedly spaghetti western whistling and rattling instrumentation then overtakes. This switches up into thunderous orchestral action for the next minute or so until the music suddenly settles back down, and the C418 piano returns before then building vocally back up in a stylistic manner much akin to that of the album’s opening track. Ah… I get it. Whenever a track has ‘/Minecraft’ at the end of it, the C418 Minecraft theme plays. Gotcha. Hey, at least it’s clear. “Woodland Mansion Planning” then leans back into the land of hopeful orchestra, with some videogame-esque electronics also playing alongside vocals and an electric guitar in the back half with echoes of the Movie theme. Action setpiece “Steve Vs. Malgosha” then dials up the drama with bursts of brass, soaring vocals and incredibly rapid strings with the occasional anxious reprisal of the Movie theme.

So far, I have to say – this score is a little… anonymous. The use of orchestration is good and fun and overall it sounds very much like an ’80s-esque action adventure movie which is nice, but it’s like… any ’80s-esque action adventure movie. It’s that same kind of dramatically upbeat orchestra you’d find in any one of them, and so there’s a bit of a lack of musical identity here. We have that nice C418 piano playing every so often yes but otherwise it’s just samey tranquil or thunderous orchestra, and even with that recurring new Movie theme that pops up every so often you could still play this score in front of any upbeat action movie and it’d fit right in. It’s a shame really, as Minecraft‘s music is fairly recognisable (again, see C418’s theme) but this sadly… isn’t really, at least so far. And next track “Piglins Attack” does little to dissuade the argument, with bursts of tense brass and chanting vocals occupying most of this frenetically action-centric four minute cue. And with the album also fast approaching its end, “Heroic Henry/Minecraft” delves into dramatic heroism with surging brass and electic guitars reprising the “Chicken Fight Club” motif alongside frantically grandiose strings before a dash of C418 closes it out, with “Let’s Go Fight Some Pigs” and “Run From The Great Hog” briefly returning to wary freneticism before final track “Back In The Nether” then closes out the action with one last burst of upbeat vocals and brass.

Overall, Mark Mothersbaugh’s score for A Minecraft Movie is just a bit… bland, honestly. It’s surprising to say for me, given how I usually tend to love a loudly orchestral film soundtrack like this – especially one that sounds fresh out of an ’80s action adventure flick – but this one just doesn’t do anything for me. The orchestra while grand and hopeful with its thunderous brass and frenetic strings is, save for a couple of rather anonymous themes, lacking in identity, and what I mean by this is that you could kind of play Mothersbaugh’s music here in front of any adventure movie and it’d fit right in. Other than the occasional brief reference to C418’s music for the renowned blocky game, you wouldn’t really know this was a Minecraft score – some more of that vibrant style is needed here, I think. That said, there are some things to like here; Mothersbaugh’s new themes are kind of enjoyable at times – see “Chicken Fight Club” and “Heroic Henry/Minecraft” for some orchestral fun there – and the C418 references are nice when they happen, but I don’t know. I guess I was just hoping for more, especially when it comes to musically adapting such an iconic game. But then again, the film itself doesn’t look particularly great either, so maybe its score fits like a charm.

Oh well. They are doing a Legend Of Zelda movie in 2027 now. I wonder how that score’ll go.

Score: 6/10

Standout Cues: Minecraft, Heroic Henry/Minecraft

Follow me on Twitter for the latest soundtrack and review-based news!