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Saw it this morning and, as a fan of the cartoon series, I really enjoyed it. The cast put in great performances and the story was engaging. I loved seeing some fan favourites, like Ram-Man and Fisto. I did like Idris Elba as Master of Arms (Duncan). Jared Leto was a great Skeletor.
There were some call-backs to the cartoon series and one to the previous (less than great) adaptation - a
Spoiler!
Dolph Lundgren cameo. His advice comes in handy later on in the film.
I chuckled at some of the in-jokes and the film had the touches of humour that the cartoon had. The music, written in the main by Brian May was excellent, and yes, we do get a version of the theme from the cartoon!
I will say that it was very much a film for the fans. If you were not a fan and didn't have the toys, you may not enjoy it. Nicholas Galitzine was good as Prince Adam/He-Man, as was Camila Mendes as Teela. Loved seeing Cringer/Battle Cat realised on the big screen. If you were/are a He-Man film, I would go and see it. It's a shame it hasn't been a box office success, thought despite that, a sequel is in the works. I suspect it will do better when it arrives on Prime.
IMVHO, this is the Masters of the Universe film we deserved. It had the budget to realise the world of Eternia and the characters, which the previous adaptation didn't. I would like to see the extended MOTU universe explored further.
I will share a few spoilers, read them if you dare!
Spoiler!
Orko appears in a mid-credits scene to deliver the 'moral of the story'. I used to cringe at those segments in the cartoon, but I did like it here because it made me smile and loved seeing the character.
The post-credits scene has Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) rescue Skeletor's decapitated skull, telling him that he has looked better. His laugh is heard as the screen goes black.
“Frankly, I had enjoyed the war… and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun?” - Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
Much better then I expected, and Jared Leto really nails Skelator. Unfortunately based on the box office its very unlikely a direct sequel will happen. Slim chance of a She-Ra spin off. Still, if you grew up in the 80s (best childhood decade ever) give it a shot.
I've read that it looks like there will be a sequel. Amazon doesn't seem too concerned about the cinema box-office, as they believe it will make money on streaming. In fact, the film hasn't been released in the cinema in France, so that it can have a streaming release, without having to wait a (IIRC) year.
I've been having a bit of fun over the last few days watching old episodes of He-Man and She-Ra on YT. They're still pretty good fun after all these years (other than the cringe-worthy 'moral of the story' crowbarred in as an epilogue!). I hadn't realised that there were quite a few cross-over episodes, probably because I don't think I watched She-Ra very often.
To go back to the recent film:
Spoiler!
Lauren Saliu looked spot-on as She-Ra. She is only seen from the rear in the scene, but the publicity pics I've seen looked really good. The costume looked really well realised in live action.
“Frankly, I had enjoyed the war… and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun?” - Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
I had also been watching a couple a few weeks ago.
I never had an issue with the 'moral of the story', as firstly, it was a show aimed at little boys, and patronising 5-9 year olds is not uncontroversial behaviour for the early 1980s or any period; and secondly, it was effectively an unofficial requirement given the nature of the shows as a promotion for a toy company + the nature of children's cartoons at the time. Mr. T had it, GI Joe had it, Thundercats had it, MASK had it - this suggests that it wasn't simply a choice made by Filmation, but a 'choice'.
Masters of the Universe takes all the things that made the Saturday morning cartoons of the late 70's and early 80's and turned it into a live action movie. And they did it right. It was, effectively, a 22 minute Saturday morning He-Man cartoon writ large and turned into an origin story. And they avoided the trap of trying to do all the mythos and history of the universe in one shot. They just assumed that either you'd already know, be able to figure it out, or would be just fine with not understanding it.
They kept all the most memorable bits of the show, from the casual cruelty towards kids, to the lesson learned at the end, as well as the hilariously terrible group laughter at the end of the show.
Jared Leto did a WONDERFUL version of Skelator, taking certain aspects of the cartoon Skelator and running with them.
And the little extra touches really shined through. There was a cameo by Dolph Lungren, who was the original voice of He-Man in the cartoons. He said a couple of the iconic lines that really tied in well.
All in all, while it was not, in and of itself, a magnificent movie, it was extraordinarily entertaining and well done movie. I give it all the stars I can give it.
Simon Darkshade wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:53 pm
Dolph Lundgren played He Man in the 1987 live action film; the late John Erwin was the original voice of He Man.
Bugger, you're correct. My bad. I knew that and typed it wrong anyway.
That's what I get for trying to post in between trying to push major reports out the door and while fielding multiple phone calls.
Have discovered recently that J. Michael Straczynski, of Babylon 5 fame, wrote quite a number of episodes of both He-Man and She-Ra. Explains why they’re good.
“Frankly, I had enjoyed the war… and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun?” - Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart
Apparently its doing great streaming views on Amazon, so perhaps the old rules about movie profitability need to be reassessed, at least for Amazon, which actually does seem to make money streaming. Perhaps a trilogy is forthcoming.
