He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Film Review

80s Nostalgia mixed with Modern Day Superhero storytelling gives us a bright, feel-good time at the Movies

Like most people born in the ’80s, I cherish watching the He-Man cartoon. Back in the day in India, it felt like the only cartoon available, or probably the only thing on TV at all. We used to go to a neighbor’s house just to watch it on a small, black-and-white CRT television. It was just this era of Spider-Man and He-Man. A few years later, Ramayan started and a lot of history and mythology-based epic serials took over like Mahabharata, Chandrakanta, but coming back to He-Man, it was pure fun. No matter how many decades have passed, we still carry those rosy impressions from childhood (the themes of the shows still being minty fresh in the mind).

Then the toy craze started. In India, every Western trend comes a little late for obvious reasons, so those toys probably arrived around the mid-to-late ’80s or early ’90s. There used to be a mini-comic accompanying each toy and that would give us the storyline to play our toys with. The funny thing was that the main He-Man figure was a little expensive. I couldn’t get him, so I had Beast Man, someone else would have Skeletor, and we’d play with them together (and make fun of Barbie toys if seen in the vicinity). GI Joe toys came around too, and both lines were an absolute rage back then.

I explore more on this in my comic book channel video.

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There was a live-action film in the ’80s that I never saw mostly like everyone else (I am re/watching it on TV as I write this). I wasn’t a hardcore fan of the characters as such apart from the childhood memory of the cartoon, as we got caught up with Indian comics characters starting late 80s/early 90s. But I did try to get some He-Man comics when I restarted reading comics big time come mid-age crisis somewhere in 2010s. I guess Dark Horse was mostly doing them with some crossover stuff on DC. I often wanted to check out those crossover comics later on, but I didn’t really like them. Then around 2010, Dark Horse came out with a massive compilation. I didn’t use to buy many comics back then, but I had to get this one out of pure nostalgia.

It often happens that the things we revere as kids don’t hit the same way when we grow up — whether it’s comics, games, or movies — but it still gives you that soft, fuzzy feeling in your heart.

I still go back to He-Man comics from time to time. When the Kevin Smith Netflix series came out, I watched the first set/season of the episodes just for the nostalgia, but I didn’t like it. I already started hating Kevin Smith because he tries to inject himself way too much into established properties. I figured, why torture myself with this? I’ll just watch the ’80s cartoon instead, which is easily available on YouTube, so I watched a lot of that.

When this new film was announced, I was really excited. I saw the trailer and knew I liked the main lead, the cast looked right, everything was falling into place. I hardly look forward to superhero properties of late, but this was something I eagerly anticipated. I expected a goofy, campy, grand film by a major production, and that is exactly what it was. And some more.

Made by Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel, the film celebrates that whole nostalgia and pays tribute to the ’80s cartoon, but it also infuses the modern-day sensibility of superhero filmmaking.

The movie spends a lot of time in the buildup. Even the pacing of the scenes felt very ’80s in their weirdness. In ’80s films, you always have these middle phases where certain scenes just stretch way too long and you’re sitting there wondering what is happening, or not, depending on how old you are. I feel the same way watching old science fiction or fantasy movies like Flash Gordon, Krull, or Weird Science, and that’s kind of a similar feeling I got with this one. I don’t know if it was a conscious effort by the directors or not, but even the awkward chemistry between He-Man and Teela (played by Camila Mendes) felt quite cool and retro.

The villains were amazing:

• Skeletor (Jared Leto) & Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie): It was like seeing that classic Lex Luthor dynamic with Mercy Graves. It had that very goofy, very ’80s brand of humor. Leto was obviously great at this, and his performance is one of the main reasons the film comes out so well.
• Man-at-Arms / Duncan (Idris Elba): They gave him a little extra attention and backstory, which is completely fine by me because (Sir Idris) Elba is a great actor.

To complete the modern superhero storytelling dynamic, they added a robot character from the cartoon/comics (Roboto voiced by Kristen Wiig) — which gives off a heavy Bumblebee connection. Cringer, the cat who becomes Battle Cat later on, doesn’t get a huge role to play, though it has a nice moment towards the end.

I liked the way they tracked the story on Earth and Eternia. They handle the classic fish-out-of-water trope well, showing Prince Adam as an Adam on Earth where he’s lost and suffering. When he wanders into a toy and comic book shop, it makes for a great Revenge of the Nerds type scene, from there it leads into a typical peak hour traffic flyover scene of an alien monster attacking, which I thought was really well done. The ships/aircrafts from the franchise, like the Talon Fighter and the Attak Trak, looked great. And from what I remember from the 1987 movie, this Earth part (which was most of the movie) was done real shabby, and in this aspect the new movie was an upgrade to say the least.

If Sonic can have 4 live-action films (!) He-Man can surely do too!

The movie plays a lot of homage to films like the ’80s Flash Gordon (especially with the Queen-style music), Highlander, and Transformers. You’ll notice a lot of things that will remind you of Thor: Ragnarok and Shang-Chi, but overall, they managed to make a fun blockbuster experience. MCU films are just no fun any longer, so seeing a different property pull this off is refreshing.

The ending gives a teaser for She-Ra. If this film is a success, there are so many other storylines to explore, like Hordok, some more of magic/fantasy quest stuff, more character interactions, more times on a happy Eternia where the problems are not world-changing.

Like many other fans of the franchise I’m quite upset about the way it’s doing at the box office. If it fails (which it probably has by the time I write this), I’m worried studios will stop bringing these properties to the big screen. We saw it happen with the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves film, it was highly praised by everyone, but it didn’t do well at the box office. I want to see more of these ’80s properties get big-screen adaptations, like Thundercats, SilverHawks, Conan, Zelda, or Red Sonja. Sit down, Barbarella.

Overall, it was a great time at the movies. Go out there and enjoy it while it’s in theaters. Next up, I’m definitely looking forward to the Street Fighter movie coming in October.