[Note: I do not consider myself a movie critic. What follows is just one fanboy’s opinion based off of a single double viewing of the film. Oh, and there are SPOILERS ahead for this movie, so take heed.]
Full disclosure, Masters of the Universe was never my favorite toy property (that accolade goes to Transformers), but it does have a special place in my heart. The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon was not actually a Saturday morning cartoon. It aired in the afternoons (at least in Texas), just as I was getting out of school, but that only made me love it more. Instead of getting one episode per week, we got five. Even today, there’s just something about hearing that strange bone-chime/xylophone sound that announces a Filmation cartoon to take me back.
Unfortunately, the box office for this year’s Masters of the Universe isn’t looking so hot, which is a real shame. While there are hits and misses in this movie (as we’ll discuss), genuine effort was put into it, and it has a level of heart that I rarely see in movies these days. I’ve heard rumors that there will be another installment of this franchise regardless of the box office, and I definitely hope that’s true. Here’s hoping it does well enough when it goes to streaming to get Amazon to loosen the purse strings again.
First Impressions
While the Dolph Lungren movie from 1987 has been panned, and even credited with the death of the MOTU franchise, I loved it when it came out. But even then, I knew it wasn’t quite like the cartoon. The characters, the sets, the costumes were all very different from what I had seen on the small screen.
When I first saw the trailers for the 2026 movie, it was abundantly clear that great pains had been made to make all those elements look like a direct live-action translation from the cartoon to the screen. I was intrigued by this, but of course, I’ve been burned by almost every other attempt to bring the various beloved ‘80s franchises to life for a new generation, Transformers and G.I. Joe being chief among them.
So, I set my expectations to mid, especially when I heard that Jared Leto was going to play Skeletor. Even with some trepidation on my part, I knew I was still going to go see it at least once. I wound up seeing it twice, and I hope to catch it one more time before it leaves theatres. Let’s get started and make it official.
BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL, I HAVE THE POWER!
What I liked
THE MOVIE SCORE: Wow, the opening moments really demonstrate the rock opera qualities of what we’re in for with this movie. It struck me immediately at how much it sounded like the Flash Gordon soundtrack from 1980. Little did I realize that this was because Brian May of Queen had lent his soaring guitar talents to the movie score, and it is sonic poetry. The composer for the score is Daniel Pemberton, who had previously created the Into the Spiderverse score, which was excellent. As soon as the movie was over, I knew this was a score I was going to download immediately. It’s one of the best I’ve heard in recent memory. Hearing the old MOTU theme in “A Job for He-Man” done with modern orchestration legitimately warms my heart.
The Director: I was not aware that Travis Knight was the director of the movie until I watched the credits. He was the one who directed Bumblebee, the only installment of the Bayverse that I actually liked. In the opening minutes of that movie, he gave us a frankly stunning look at the Battle for Cybertron. (Honestly, I wish we had a whole movie of just that.) So, it does not surprise me at all that Travis Knight was able to translate the world of Masters of the Universe to the screen. And that brings me to my next point.
The Atmosphere: As I said above, great pains were taken to make things look like the cartoon brought to life. The color palette is vibrant and beautiful. There are some definite psychedelic colors going on in the vein of Thor: Ragnarok, but that’s a good thing. That movie had more than its share of throwbacks to Flash Gordon as well. The world of MOTU was build on the artwork of Frank Frazetta, with nods to Alex Raymond and Jack Kirby, and it was brilliantly brought to life here.
The Character Designs: For the most part, when a character shows up on screen, I knew immediately who they were. The characters just looked right for the most part. There were a handful I didn’t recognize at first, but eventually I was able to figure out who they were. If I had one complaint, it was that some characters were done with practical effects (and done pretty well), while others were clearly CGI or CGI assisted. While the CGI is generally good, Beast Man looks entirely CGI, where Goat Man looks real due to the use of actual prosthetics. Also, shoutout to the return of Pig Boy and Karg from the 1987 movie.
Skeletor: Let me just say it: I don’t like Jared Leto as an actor. Normally his involvement in a project means I’m not interested. (I still haven’t forgiven him for the worst screen-version of the Joker we’ve ever seen.) He completely disappears into his role as Skeletor, and it’s a really good performance. The CGI to give Skeletor’s skeletal face emotion helped with this quite a bit. There were some lines that seemed to get lost, but my second viewing of the movie (shoutout to the Rangra Theater in Alpine, Texas) helped with that. While Skeletor is probably the biggest departure from the cartoon, particularly when it comes to his vocal stylings, it still works. He looks awesome, he’s terrifying, and seems like a genuine threat to He-Man and his allies.
All the Little Nods: There are so many nods to the toys and the cartoon that they really are too many to count. One of my favorites, however, was when Roboto reveals her more toy-accurate remodel, saying that it’s ‘a little revealing.’ In that moment, all the characters have their hands on their hips and tilt their heads back in a big belly laugh, just like in the cartoon. Brilliant.
Shadow Casting: When I first saw Camila Mendes in the role as Teela, I thought she was cool, but a bit far removed from the fair-skinned, bright red-headed version of Teela from the cartoon. Here’s the thing, though. Teela is secretly the Sorceress’s daughter. And who does Camila Mendes look like, especially when out of her Teela persona? Answer: Morena Baccarin, who plays the Sorceress! Nice one there, casting director.
The Fight Scenes: When it comes to throwing down, He-Man delivers. The fight choreography is pretty sharp. Some of the major action set pieces can overstay their welcome at times, but when the action scenes arrive, they don’t disappoint. My favorites are probably He-Man soloing all of Skeletor’s henchmen and the fight sequence where Ram Man and Fisto fight in the courtyard of Eternos.
The Heart: This movie has heart, and I think a good message, even if the latter gets a little muddled at times. The whole struggle comes down to who gets the wield the Power of Grayskull. Ultimately, it’s Adam—a good person who has empathy for those around him— who becomes the vessel for the Power of Grayskull. In our real world, we’re constantly seeing power applied with a lack, or complete absence, of empathy. Seeing a story where good triumphs over evil through the just application of force, but reserved for when diplomacy fails, is something we could stand to have a lot more of in today’s cinema.
What I DIDN’T like
The Runtime: The movie clocks in at two hours and thirteen minutes (though AMC puts it at two hours and twenty minutes). As a fan of The Lord of the Rings films, I don’t mind a long movie…provided that the content we’re seeing is good. This movie honestly could have used a tighter edit. There are some scenes that go on and on, and I think a more streamlined cut of the film would have done wonders for it. Keep the heart and soul, but trim the fat. I think the movie succeeds despite this, but I think it should have been around ninety minutes, give or take.
Telling, Not Showing: I think the movie missed a step with the sequences on Earth. We’re told by Adam’s boss that people like him, that he’s thoughtful, and understanding, but we don’t see it. Adam says that he’s really good at his job, but again, we don’t see that in action. Instead of him about to lose his job for obsessing over finding the sword, I would have much rather had a scene where, as a member of Human Resources, someone is having a real problem at work and Adam helps them through it with some well-placed words of wisdom.
Or show him resolve a dispute between conflicting parties by establishing trust and helping them find common ground. I think that would have made the scene where the Sorceress tells him why she chose him to be the recipient of the Power that much more impactful. Most of the time it feels like stories have a lot of setup with no payoff. This movie seems to have payoff without actually setting up that key part of Adam’s character, and that’s unfortunate.
Undercutting Dramatic Scenes with Humor: Here we go again. This has been my complaint on so many movies the last couple of years. There are only a few writers/directors who can really pull that off, and even they will play that card a little too often. (James Gunn in last year’s Superman, anyone?) This has really been a problem since Thor: Ragnarok, and this movie falls for it as well. There are several serious moments that would have been so much stronger if they had just been able to breathe. But no, we have to throw a joke in there. Most of them don’t land, and just manage to sabotage the whole works. Please, by all that is good, movie directors…please stop doing this!
The Sword Dilemma: Adam jumps through a portal to Earth and loses the sword en route. Later, when he finds the sword again, it immediately sends a signal to Eternia. Within hours, Teela and Beast Man are on Earth and able to track him down. Isn’t it a lucky break that Adam lost the sword that early? If he had held onto it, wouldn’t Skeletor’s forces have been able to track him immediately?
In that case, he would have been on his own and still a kid, and certainly no match for Beast Man. Losing the sword worked out pretty well, then. It gave the resistance a few years to regroup and relocate, and it gave Adam time to grow up to be able to face his enemies as an adult. Now, having said all that, it is possible the signal to Eternia might have only been triggered when Adam tried to activate the sword’s powers for the first time. The only issue is that Adam didn’t say the right words in the comic shop. So, it’s not clear what triggered the signal. We might have to file this under “so the movie can happen.”
Folding Space Out In the Open: When Teela brings Adam back to Eternia, she translocates right over the ruins of Eternos. I know this is so that Adam can see the destruction of the city that was once his home with his own eyes. Teela even mentions that being out in the open is dangerous. Sure enough, Tri-Klops is waiting for them, and tracks them back to their hidden base. Was there some reason that Teela needed to fold space to that specific area? Could she have not appeared back at the open cavern where the resistance is hiding out? Again, I think this is a “so the movie can happen” issue.
The Lack of Early Warning Systems: Twice in the movie, the heroes are caught completely unaware by the arrival of enemy fighter craft. They sound the alarm only after there are ships overhead firing away. For a world where technology exists, do they not have long-range sensors or radar? Do they need to just rely on visual confirmation that an attack is imminent?
King Randor: I normally love James Purefoy as an actor, but making King Randor a huge jerk was not a creative choice that I loved. I know they wanted Duncan/Man-At-Arms to be the one to give Adam the inspirational speech, but I would have loved to see an inkling of the empathy in Adam reflected in Randor, especially since Purefoy is amazing at giving that kind of inspirational performance ever since A Knight’s Tale.
I understand that Randor in this movie was trying to make Adam strong in a world that needs strength, but I don’t think that worked. There was one blink-and-you-miss-it scene in Snake Mountain when Randor sees Adam fighting as He-Man, and Randor is near tears at seeing his son become the man he had always hoped Adam would be. Now that little moment I actually liked.
Skeletor Admitting to Being a Villain: In their final confrontation, He-Man tries to talk Skeletor down. The attempt fails, and Skeletor admits that he’s evil and a villain. I’ve talked about this in previous blog posts, but the best villains don’t necessarily believe or realize that they are the villains. That’s what makes them so scary. If you were to look at some other ‘80s cartoon villains, I’m pretty sure they would think they are the heroes of their own story. Cobra Commander and Mumm-Ra for sure. I don’t believe Megatron would consider himself a villain. A leader and conqueror, certainly, but not a villain.
Now, if there was an ‘80s villain who absolutely knew what he was, you could make a case for Skeletor being him. Plus, the movie variously refers to him as a fiend, a devil, and a demon. So, maybe he revels in his own evilness.
If we were going to draw a contrast between Skeletor and He-Man, however, I would have much preferred that it be along moral lines. He-Man believes in using the Power as morally as possible and only as a last resort; Skeletor believes that the Power is an end unto itself and thinks morality is for the soft and the weak. I think that would have been a stronger take than what we were served in this scene.
Unanswered Questions
For me, the biggest question here is: now what? Do we get more of this MOTU continuity, or is it going to be yet another failed attempt at capturing the magic of a 40-year-old franchise. I hope it’s the former, because I think this take on the material, and this cast and crew, really came through, all things considered.
While it’s a relatively minor thing, why did He-Man and his allies suddenly start choking and throwing up just after they broke out of prison? Was this just to undercut the cool walking in slow motion scene, or was there a Stinkor cameo that was cut? I’m not sure what that was all about.
I suppose the She-Ra cameo in the stinger is another question mark. Will the studio green light a She-Ra movie to make good on that brief glimpse into Etheria? Will she already be She-Ra or will she need to discover her powers the way Adam did? Will Adam and Adora ever get to team up the way they did in the cartoon?
I suppose only time will tell.
Conclusions
When I walked out of my first viewing, I knew I liked this movie, but didn’t love it as much as I had hoped I would. I’m not sure why, but my second viewing made me love it even more. There were little touches that I noticed here and there, and just some of the performances landed better for me. A lot of the jokes still didn’t work, but I didn’t find them nearly as distracting or annoying as on the first time. Like I said, I hope to see it a third time and see if I can get another boost toward the positive.
Masters of the Universe is really a movie about how Adam becomes He-Man. He’s the prodigal son returning home and finding the strength within himself to fight for his people. While I wish that some of the elements underpinning his journey had been a bit stronger, the message is one I can get behind. It really comes down to Spider-Man’s old axiom, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
And if you are, however unintentionally, channeling Stan Lee on a project, you know you’ve tapped into something. It is my sincere wish that we get to see these actors in these roles again. This is the closest thing we’re ever likely to get to a return to the golden age of He-Man, and it did my heart good to watch it all up there on the big screen.
And that’s the way this fanboy sees it.
In today’s blog post, we saw an adult fanboy attempting to use his decades-old knowledge of our stories to make sense of a new telling of events in the modern day.
Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, reminding us of those things in the past we love that are close to our hearts, and that can be fun. Just be careful not to get too wrapped up in your own memories of long ago. You don’t want to enjoy the past at the expense of the present.
Until later…
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