Review By J1 Reporter Hannah Taylor

In April of 2025, videos of audiences clapping, cheering, partying and causing some property damage went viral. No, this wasn’t in response to their favorite soccer team winning or a frat party, this was when a baby zombie hopped onto the back of a chicken and Jack Black delivered the line, “chicken jockey!” This trending and now nauseating phrase came from the highly successful movie: The Minecraft Movie.

The Minecraft Movie was released April 4, and had an opening weekend of more than $500 million. This was due to its play on the popular, and now considerably nostalgic game called Minecraft. Minecraft is a sandbox style game where you can play in creative or survival mode; and build, explore, mine, and- of course- craft. The Minecraft Movie follows the same premise, with a man named Steve (the protagonist of the base game) entering the blocky world of Minecraft, when he is trapped by the evil pig Helga. More humans from the over world discover what Steve was hiding, the orb of dominance, and enter the Minecraft world. Now, they have to figure out how to escape Helga, her evil piglins, and the Minecraft world. 

The movie has an all star cast with Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks and even a subplot with a villager and Jennifer Coolidge. This cast brings together a hilarious team of characters that play off of each other in funny, insightful and sometimes emotional ways. Despite this movie being geared at children, it holds an engaging plot, charismatic characters, and Minecraft references and Easter eggs in every frame, making it a good watch for everyone. Especially for those who grew up watching and playing the game- watching the Minecraft Movie was like a trip down memory lane, with tons of old YouTubers, game play mechanics and one-liners. 

Speaking of one-liners, that is the main reason for this movie’s colossal success. Jack Black’s innate ability to make any line iconic has resulted in phrases like, “the nether”- a fictional other universe in game-, “flint and steel”, “I am Steve”, and most notably “chicken jockey” taking the internet by storm. These phrases entered the slang cycle for a few weeks, and resulted in many people going to watch the movie to hear the lines. However, the brightly colored, fast-paced, and action-packed 101 minutes kept people in their seats. 

I watched the movie partly for the phrases, but mostly for the nostalgia and references. I found the movie engaging and not too childish (despite the rating being PG). The experience was an easy, almost mind numbing time that wasn’t deeply impactful or complex, but a good time. Overall, I say if you want a fun and easy to watch film, the Minecraft Movie, still in theaters and soon to be available online, can be a good time… as long as you watch out for the chicken jockey. 

Rating: 8/10

Photo of Chicken Jockey from the Minecraft Movie, Source: NYC Times.