When I was a kid, I remember my dad buying me a DVD boxset of one of his favorite childhood cartoons from the 80s, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Watching the prince of the planet Eternia seek refuge in Castle Greyskull, become He-Man with the Sword of Power, and defend Eternia from Skeletor and the forces of evil became a Saturday morning routine for me. I admittedly was not initially aware of the original live-action adaptation released in 1987, so when I found out a new live-action reimagining of this cartoon was in the works, let’s just say the anticipation was real. Honestly, this adaptation was mostly everything I hoped it would be. The narrative and the tone was very similar to the Thor films, as it followed Prince Adam aka He-Man returning to Eternia to defeat Skeletor after spending fifteen years on Earth. (Prince Adam’s time on Earth made for a very entertaining fish out of water story.) Almost every character from the Master of the Universe lore made an appearance and played a role in this film, from Teela and Man-at-Arms to even Fisto and Mekaneck. (I’m not making any of these names up, I promise. Everybody’s live-action adaptations compared to their animated counterparts were quite impressive as well.) You could defenitely tell that the cast was having a blast playing these roles, especially Jared Leto as the villainous but comedic Skeletor, who stole the show multiple times throughout the film. Speaking of comedic, in-between the vibrant visuals of the planet Eternia and the awesome action sequences, this film was surprisingly pretty funny. Despite the serious tone of the narrative itself, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously and really leans into the cheesiness of the original cartoon without over or underdoing it, which is a very fine line to walk. Granted, if you don’t already have some kind of connection with the source material or you’re not going to the theater looking for a light-hearted, action-packed time, I can’t imagine you’d be the fondest of this film. I personally, though, felt like a kid a again watching this and was smiling ear-to-ear watching every cheesy one-liner and pulse pounding action set piece. This world translates quite well to live-action when executed correctly, and with the tease of a potential sequel at the end, I’m looking forward to seeing this universe expand. Score: 8/10
