KAB_SanAntonioBay

The critics say this film is terrible and, objectively, they are largely correct. The story is paper thin, plot points come and go as quickly as the NPCs, the gags are mostly dad-joke calibre and the pacing is odd for a kids movie. The film fails to give real heart to the story despite the excellent efforts of the two youngest leads and largely wastes to make the best use of the creativity that underpins Minecraft's success and which the film claims is at its heart.

Compared to Pixar's best (in fact anything from Pixar), other than for the visual flair, this looks like a straight to video release.

And yet my family and I had a great time seeing it... Of course having a Minecraft-obsessed 8 year old with a sidekick 6 year old brother helps. My eldest loved it, either giggling or gasping as his favourite game came to life on the big screen.

And there is plenty to enjoy. The visuals are stunning, the larger than life characters entertaining (if largely unloveable although Jennifer Coolidge is gold as always) and the set pieces are superb.

Leave your critical brain at the door and embrace the experience for what it is, family fun.

As a trip to the cinema, this was one of the most enjoyable in a long time, helped by being absolutely packed and everyone joining in. Glad we made the effort!

You really do need to suspend your disbelief for this car crash of a movie. This isn't just jumping the shark, this is jumping a sharknado whilst deflecting bullets with a hard stare.

Main characters have almost endless stamina, suffer minimal to no damage and recover in seconds when they do. Watching John Wick fall four stories onto a parked camper van and walk away was just insulting.

I've seen Marvel superheroes with less capability than John Wick.

And then there are the endless red shirts - just watch the background characters writhing in slow motion until the fight coordinator yells "your turn" and you can watch them magically fumble for a gun while John shoots/stabs/punches/nunchucks them to death... I can almost hear the director shouting "next" after each kill.

And it goes on and on and on for 3 hours.

Yes, there are some brilliantly choreographed fights (if you can ignore the stupidly and convenience of the endless red shirts) but it becomes numbing after 30 mins. At best.

At least the original was far better at building suspense and using its action carefully to ensure a well balanced and entertaining film. Instead, this watches like the extended plot of an over excited teenager after watching his first kung-fu movie.

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