The age of clunky, amped up, zoned out, overly literal movies adapted from video games lasted a long time ­- from the very first one, "Super Mario Bros.," in 1993, stretching on through such duds as ...

Jared Hess, the director of "Napoleon Dynamite," brings his indie-camp absurdist cred to this adaptation of the blockbuster sandbox video game. Over the years, though, lessons have been learned.