As a child of the 80s I was exactly the right age in 1982 when Mattel dropped a 20-megaton awesome-bomb known as the Masters of the Universe toy line. These oversized, brightly colored, impossibly muscular action figures absolutely captivated me from the get-go, and over the next four years or so I snapped up as many as I could get my hands on (I've been collecting Mattel's Retro Collection reissues over the last few years as well). For me these toys still hold an incredible fascination; along with the original Star Wars line I consider the He-Man collection strange little works of art.
All this to say, when I learned Mattel and Amazon were teaming up to present a new, more faithful Masters of the Universe movie, I was immediately on board. After the complete and total misfire that was the 1987 film, I was quite excited to see what the filmmakers could do in 2026 with adequate technology, a proper visual aesthetic, and stricter adherence to the silliness that the old Filmation cartoons brought to the table. This movie scratches that itch pretty nicely.
Directed by Travis Knight, MOTU starts out by giving us Prince Adam's backstory. As an undersized ten-year-old on the world known as Eternia, Adam struggles with combat training under the tutelage of his father's Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba). King Randor is disappointed, but Man-At-Arms' daughter Teela, a promising young warrior in her own right, takes Adam under her wing. Suddenly the evil Skeletor attacks the city and captures Randor and his wife, as The Sorceress, appointed guardian of Castle Greyskull, sends Adam through a portal to Earth with the Sword of Power (a weapon that houses the power of the castle itself), to ensure Skeletor can't obtain it.
Flash-forward fifteen years and Adam (a splendidly likable Nicholas Galitzine) is a socially awkward HR rep with a sad love life (It doesn't help that he tells his fantastical backstory to his bewildered dinner date). Having lost the sword during his trip through the portal, he spends much time on and off the clock searching for it on the internet. He eventually does recover the sword, which alerts both the good and evil Eternians, who come running to Earth. After some chasing and battling, Teela brings him home, and a war breaks out over the sword and ultimately control of Eternia.
MOTU boasts some very enjoyable, often silly, action sequences that capture the feeling of playing with the He-Man toys, never taking itself too seriously (How could it? The premise and characters are ridiculous). The script provides numerous laughs and even adds a nice touch where most of the beloved character names came from Adam himself, via years of drawing them from memory as a child. After all, who would ever self-apply goofy names like Trap Jaw, Mechaneck, Fisto, Spikor, or Ram-Man? Or He-Man, for that matter.
Galiztine finds just the right balance of gallantry and dorkiness; his Prince Adam is the Clark Kent to He-Man's Superman and he learns that being a great warrior and guardian involves more than just using brute force to solve conflicts (The script has some fun with his HR background). The script explores the theme that true masculinity is a much more complex concept than society has historically deemed it to be, though admittedly it can only go so far in a film that requires He-Man to do a lot of punching. But I admired the attempt. Masculinity doesn't have to be toxic if we just raise young boys to understand that big feelings are perfectly normal and dealing openly with them doesn't make a man any less of a man. Also being true to oneself is a good thing.
As Skeletor, Jared Leto does some fine work, finding his own balance of menace and a bit of the cowering foppishness the character was given in the cartoons. He provides many of the film's best laughs with his belabored evil posturing, without being quite so grating as his Filmation counterpart. Even his sidekick Evil-lyn (an underutilized Alison Brie) begins to lose patience and respect for him.
Idris Elba gets a nice arc as Man-At-Arms; his failure to protect the kingdom fifteen years ago weighs heavily, and it takes some tough love from Teela (a charismatic Camila Mendes) and his renewed mentoring of Adam to help him rediscover his sense of purpose.
The visuals are appropriately comic booky and colorful, over-the-top fanciful in a good way. The character designs are mostly faithful to the toys but with some adjustments to make them work as live-action characters. I was a bit saddened at the absence of favorites like Mer-Man and Man-E-Faces (They could've had a lot of fun with the latter), but very glad Beast-Man was given some good screen time (If you've read my article about the toys you know I have a soft spot for the big orange doofus).
It's a shame this movie likely won't pull in enough money to warrant a sequel, as there are so many other characters I'd love to see brought to life - a film about Hordak trying to take over Eternia and forcing He-Man and Skeletor to team up would be fun. But alas, MOTU is aimed at a very specific demographic: Gen Xers who were roughly between the ages of five and ten in 1982. Today's kids don't really know who He-Man is, and unlike Barbie, whose subject matter is still ubiquitous among generations of children, it clearly hasn't appealed to Gens Z or Alpha.
It's a pity; Masters of the Universe is two hours of dumb fun.
I give MOTU *** out of ****.
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