My Spoiler Free Review of Masters Of The Universe

To begin with, a little history in regard to my level of fandom for He-Man (and the Masters Of The Universe). As a child of the 80s, I am of course very familiar with both the toyline and cartoon versions of He-Man (and the MoTU), and even the original film from 1987 (which was NOT good by the way!), so I was very much looking forward to this movie. I never really owned many of the toys as a kid, but I had a friend who had pretty much every toy, including the Castle Grayskull playset, and whenever I visited him, I always wanted to play with his He-Man toys (he always wanted to play with my Star Wars toys. Go figure.) I did love the cartoon, and would watch it whenever I could. Taking all of that into consideration, I was initially very excited when the announcement of a new Masters Of The Universe movie was in the works. So began the roller coaster ride that would be my feelings toward the film. Keep in mind the 1987 movie was a complete disaster (just watch it if you don’t believe me. Go on, I’ll wait.), and so I was optimistic about the plan to make a new movie that would be truer to the original toyline and cartoon. Then came the casting announcements…

A relatively unknown actor (to me at least) as He-Man, perfect, love it. Another actress I am not familiar with as Teela, I love when they put lesser known actors in the main roles of movies based on IPs. Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress, I know her, but I like her, so that’s cool. Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, I have actually been a fan of hers since Community, so…very cool. Jared Leto as Skeletor, the main villian of the story…No! No! No! No! No! I REALLY DO NOT LIKE JARED LETO!! He was awful as the Joker, horrendous as Morbius (or so I’m told…I actually still refuse to watch that movie,), and I do not like him at all!

So, that’s strike one.

Next up, the synopsis of the plot was released, and the synopsis mentioned that part of the film would take place on Modern day Earth. Anyone who has listened to my podcast, Keepers Of The Fringe (check it out wherever you find quality podcasts) knows that one of the mistakes that my cohost Chis and I often talk about in regards to bad movies is when someone makes a fantasy movie and brings the characters to “modern day Earth”. That is an instant recipe for disaster for a fantasy film. The 1987 MoTU brought He-Man to “modern Day Earth”, and it is one of the many things that ruined that movie. It’s ALWAYS A BAD IDEA!

So, that’s strike two.

I know what you are thinking, what is strike three? Well, as I mentioned previously, this was a roller coaster ride, not a sportsball game. I was feeling unsure about how the movie was going to turn out after strike one and strike two, and that’s when the trailer was released. The trailer did exactly as it was meant to do, and I was completely won over by it. Maybe…just maybe…this might actually be a movie worth watching after all. Maybe?

So, the movie was finally released, I finally got to watch it after such an up and down ride, and I have to say…hold on! We’re not quite there yet. First, I have to cover the Good, the Bad, and the Nitpicky. If you read my review of The Mandalorian and Grogu, you know what that means.

First, The Bad

To be honest I really don’t have anything bad to say about the movie. I know, crazy, right? But there was nothing about the movie that affected my enjoyment of it in a negative way. With that being said, I think the only bad thing I have to say about the movie is that it hasn’t been doing well at the box office, and that makes me sad…and concerned for the future of the franchise.

Now, The Nitpicky

I don’t really have a lot of nitpickies for this movie either, which is a good thing. At most, I would have to say that some of the jokes could be a bit much at times, but overall I found the sense of humor of the film to be spot on. I did find myself laughing quite a few times. The only other nitpicky I can think of, and again, it’s only a nitpicky because it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie, is that some of my favorite characters didn’t make the cut. Oh well, hopefully we can see them in the next film…hopefully. One other nitpicky I had is that when Adam finds the Sword Of Power on Earth (which he had been searching a long time for), the place he found it didn’t really make sense for a real sword (that’s all I can sayhwithout spoiling things). That is really all I can think of for nitpickies.

Finally, The Good

I really enjoyed this movie on so many levels. As a fan of the toys and cartoon from the 80s, this movie really hit the sweet spot for me, and I absolutely LOVED that! The filmakers really dove head first into the deep end of the He-Man pool, and I loved every minue of it! As a fan of fantasy films, MoTU also scratched my fantasy itch nice and hard. The part of the movie that takes place on Earth was only in the begining of the movie, and it was such a miniscule part of the movie that I didn’t even mind those parts either. If you are not a fan of He-Man at all, you might find this movie to be a bit…cartoony, but that is actually part of the charm of it. The story was cheesy but fun, the characters were handled perfectly, and the entire experience was just pure enjoyment. The kid in me loved this movie. The adult in me loved this movie. The 80s nostalgia fan in me loved this movie. I loved this movie, and if you are a fan of anything related to the Masters Of The Universe, I think you will find a lot of enjoyment in this movie.

Oh, and one more thing, as far as Jared Leto’s performance as Skeletor…I loved that too! Jared did a spectacular job as Skeletor, and I was quite impressed!

So, there you have my final thought on Masters Of The Universe, I loved it and I want to see more from this franchise! Will we get more? Only time will tell.