Jared Hess' new film "A Minecraft Movie" is an odd duck. It's based on "Minecraft," the single best-selling video game of all time (and one can surmise why a film studio would want to adapt such a valuable I.P.), but the game is an open-ended sandbox that allows players to mine and craft at their own pace. There are no quests or levels or mythology to the game, and there's no plot to follow. Making a movie out of "Minecraft" seemed like a foolhardy affair, and the idea was roundly mocked online prior to the film's release. Hess' only recourse in adapting the material was to put real people into the "Minecraft" universe and make his movie into a slapstick comedy. It was enough to earn "A Minecraft Movie" $163 million in its opening weekend. 

The look of "A Minecraft Movie" is also a little odd. "Minecraft" was made to look deliberately low-fi,...