During the vacations back in my school days, we had plenty of time to watch television. Some of the programmes included Popeye, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, among many others. But one particular animated series remained close to my heart: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
So, when I caught wind of the live-action Masters of the Universe trailer earlier this year, I wasn’t particularly excited. Still, the visuals looked impressive. Based on the trailer alone, it seemed the movie would remain fairly true to the original lore.
He-Man looked like He-Man. His costume was strikingly similar to the animated version, and even the Sword of Power looked faithful to the series.
However, I didn’t think the film was worth watching in a theatre, so I skipped it. Honestly, since the COVID pandemic, I haven’t been to a theatre or multiplex, although my Mom and wife have. Luckily, the movie eventually arrived on Amazon’s Prime Video. Much to my delight!
After finishing Project Hail Mary, I decided to give it a shot. And then the movie started. There was no grand appearance. No epic music. The camera angle didn’t seem to do much besides…record. Something felt off almost immediately.
[Spoiler Alert!]
The story follows a fairly clichéd formula: evil invades, a boy who happens to be the saviour escapes with the Sword of Power, loses it during transit, and eventually rediscovers it.
Isn’t that obvious?
The basic premise isn’t necessarily a problem. He-Man itself has always been a relatively straightforward good-versus-evil story. The problem is how the movie presents it.
There are moments where the film seems to be trying to establish a serious fantasy adventure, followed by comedy, followed by another attempt at seriousness. It never quite settles on what it wants to be.
And that becomes more obvious when we look at Adam.
Nicholas Galitzine does a good job with the comic timing of Adam. This is the first movie I have watched featuring him, and I thought he handled the character reasonably well.
In the animated series, Adam is intentionally unserious. He spends much of his time avoiding responsibility and finding somewhere to hide so he can transform into He-Man.
That contrast works because Adam is not He-Man.
Once he raises the sword and transforms, the unseriousness is supposed to disappear. He-Man is confident, powerful and capable. He isn’t simply Adam with bigger muscles. Unfortunately, the movie carries too much of Adam’s personality into He-Man.
And that didn’t work for me.
I simply cannot digest a He-Man who is naive, childlike, immature and incompetent. Harsh words, perhaps, but once Adam becomes He-Man, that version of unseriousness should have stayed behind. Because of that, the movie loses some of the action-packed entertainment that made the animated series so much fun.
The other characters are, for the most part, a visual treat.
Seeing live-action versions of Ram-Man, Fisto, Man-At-Arms and Teela was genuinely enjoyable. The filmmakers clearly understood the visual identity of many of these characters. Skeletor and his minions were also represented surprisingly well. Seeing Trap Jaw, Beast Man and Cyclops was a treat, even if some of them received very little screen time. Evil-Lyn was another character I wanted to see more of. Morena Baccarin does a good job with the role, but the character simply isn’t given enough room to develop.
The same applies to several of the other characters. The casting wasn’t necessarily the problem.
The problem was what the film chose to do with them.
There are too many memorable characters competing for limited screen time, and some of them end up feeling like they were included because the filmmakers knew fans would recognise them.
Jared Leto as Skeletor was a real treat. He is a talented actor, and he clearly makes an effort to fit the character’s appearance and personality into the live-action format. The change in voice also surprised me. The original Skeletor had a distinctive, almost high-pitched and sinister voice. The live-action version takes a much more baritone approach. I didn’t mind the change. In fact, it made Skeletor sound more menacing.
So, despite the differences, the voice worked for me.
The movie tries very hard to be funny. Unfortunately, most of the jokes aren’t funny enough to even make you chuckle. Then there are the scenes that seem completely unnecessary.
Take the prison sequence, for example.
Adam is captured without his sword and gives the prisoners a pep talk to encourage them to escape. Why? More importantly, why are all these incredibly dangerous characters being kept together in one cell? Fisto has his fist. Ram-Man… well, he rams!
Did someone forget to remove his ramming armour before throwing him into the dungeon?
Oh, well.
Scenes like this make the film feel as though it is trying to create moments rather than allowing the story to naturally produce them.
This is probably my biggest question.
Who exactly is the movie targeting?
Is director Travis Knight trying to introduce He-Man to a new generation?
Or is he trying to appeal to the adults who grew up watching the animated series?
Because the movie seems to send mixed signals. It retains many of the visual elements and characters that older fans will immediately recognise, but changes enough of the mythology and characterisation to make the older version feel strangely distant. That leaves the film caught somewhere between a continuation and a reboot. If you want to stay lore-accurate, then stay lore-accurate.
If you want to reinvent He-Man for a new generation, then reinvent it properly. But this film seems to want to do both.
And I’m not sure that works.
This is where the movie really lost me as a long-time fan. In the animated series, Adam’s transformation into He-Man was iconic.
He raises the sword and declares:“By the Power of Grayskull!” Then comes the legendary: “I have the power!” The live-action movie keeps the basic idea but changes the presentation. Adam casually says, “By the power of Grayskull,” raises the Sword of Power and then declares that he has the power.
Something about it just didn’t feel right.
This isn’t merely a matter of wording. The transformation should feel like a moment. This is He-Man becoming He-Man. It should feel powerful. Instead, it felt almost routine.Then there is Adam’s secret identity. In the animated series, Adam’s identity as He-Man is a secret known only to a select few. The Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and Orko know the truth, while most of Eternia doesn’t.
In the movie, the secret is essentially out in the open. Again, that changes a fundamental part of Adam’s character. And then there is Battle Cat. Where was Battle Cat?
If you’re going to introduce Cringer, you better give us Battle Cat as well!
I was genuinely waiting for that transformation.
It never came.
For an old-school He-Man fan, that felt like a missed opportunity of enormous proportions.
This one bothered me even more.
The He-Man I grew up watching doesn’t kill. Period. He beats his enemies, defeats them, throws them around and occasionally sends them flying halfway across Eternia, but he doesn’t kill them. Skeletor and Evil-Lyn always manage to escape. That’s part of the charm of the series.
Skeletor comes up with another ridiculous plan, He-Man defeats him, Skeletor escapes, and we do it all over again next time. The live-action movie takes a much darker approach.
Skeletor is killed.
And by killing the primary villain, the movie creates a problem for itself. Perhaps Evil-Lyn has a trick up her sleeve.
Perhaps Skeletor eventually escaped.
Perhaps he can be resurrected.
I actually hope the filmmakers leave that door open. Because if there is going to be a sequel, Skeletor needs to return.
There is another important difference in how Skeletor is presented.
In the original animated series, Skeletor’s primary obsession is the secrets and power of Castle Grayskull. Eternia itself is part of the larger conflict, but Castle Grayskull is central to his ambitions.
The Sorceress is incredibly powerful while she remains within the castle, and Skeletor is nowhere near as unstoppable as the movie sometimes makes him appear.
These details matter because they establish the rules of the universe. When those rules change, the story needs to explain why.
Otherwise, long-time fans are left wondering what happened to the version of the world they remember.
There was also the death of King Randor.
He-Man’s transformation happening in front of everyone was already strange enough, but Randor’s death as a consequence of He-Man’s own actions should have carried much more emotional weight.
Instead, the characters don’t seem to have enough chemistry for the moment to land properly. That is another consequence of trying to fit too many characters and too much mythology into a single film.We are expected to care about these people, but the movie doesn’t always give us enough time to build that connection.
And then the Sword of Power breaks.
Wait.
What?
Skeletor’s sorcery is powerful enough to break the Sword of Power? The same Sword of Power that is supposed to be one of the most powerful artefacts in this universe?
What dark magic was this?
Maybe there is an explanation. Maybe there isn’t. But by the time the movie ended, I had accumulated enough questions to fill another movie.
What I really wanted was a proper live-action translation of the animated series. I wanted to see Adam transform into He-Man.
I wanted to see Cringer transform into Battle Cat. I wanted to see Castle Grayskull.
I wanted to see Skeletor plotting against He-Man while Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, Beast Man and the rest of the gang created their own problems.
Most importantly, I wanted He-Man to feel like He-Man. Not a comedic version of Adam who happens to become muscular.
The animated series was never complicated. It didn’t need to be. It had good guys, bad guys, magic, technology, colourful characters and a hero who always stood between Eternia and destruction.
Sometimes simple is enough.
Despite its half-baked approach to the lore, Masters of the Universe is still a decent one-time watch. I wouldn’t say it was a complete disappointment.
The casting is mostly good. The characters look impressive. Skeletor is entertaining. There are plenty of visual references for long-time fans to appreciate. But the movie never quite manages to capture the spirit of the animated series.
The problem wasn’t necessarily the decision to make a live-action He-Man movie. The problem was the uncertainty about what kind of He-Man movie it wanted to be.
It tries to remain faithful while changing fundamental aspects of the mythology. It tries to be serious while constantly inserting comedy. It introduces beloved characters but doesn’t give many of them enough time to matter. And for me, that ultimately makes the film feel incomplete.
The first live-action He-Man movie wasn’t a disappointment, but it wasn’t exactly the entertainment I had hoped for either.
The second movie was, for me, only half the disappointment. Every time another questionable scene appeared, I found myself asking, Why are they showing this?
Adam giving a pep talk.
Adam revealing his identity.
The transformation.
The Sword of Power breaking.
Skeletor’s apparently overwhelming sorcery.
The absence of Battle Cat.
The death of Skeletor.
One question after another.
And perhaps that’s the most appropriate way to end this review. By the time the movie ended, it had left me with more questions than answers.
Most of those questions aren’t even in this review! They’re still sitting in my head.
Perhaps that’s temporary. Maybe I’ll eventually get over this version of He-Man after posting this blog.
But for now, as a long-time fan who grew up watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, I can only say this:
I wanted more He-Man. And unfortunately, the movie didn’t quite give me enough of him.