Following the billion-dollar success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie three years ago, it was only a matter of time when Mattel’s other big toy franchise was getting the big screen treatment, even if it’s not actually the first time. In 1987, Cannon Films produced their own live-action film based on the Masters of the Universe franchise in an attempt to have their sci-fi/fantasy blockbuster to rival the likes of Star Wars and Superman, which felt more slapdash since Cannon didn’t have the money to truly deliver the spectacle of Eternia. Over the years, that film would gain a cult status that is very much rooted in nostalgia, which you very much see in Amazon’s newest blockbuster.
As well as being a lead animator and film director for the stop-motion animation studio Laika, Travis Knight is clearly a kid of the eighties, and you can see that love of pop culture from that decade is 2018’s Bumblebee, which told a small-scale adventure story about a girl and her car that actually brought out the best of the Transformers film series. In the case of Masters of the Universe, there is a clear love for the original cartoon produced by Filmation, which is rooted in the toyetic nature of the franchise, and no doubt longtime fans will watch this film and go, “I used to have that toy!”
If you’re well-versed in Masters of the Universe through its various incarnations, it is very much a Clark Kent/Superman scenario where Prince Adam transforms He-Man that he maintains as a secret identity. However, this movie does something different by introducing Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) as a fish-out-of-water who returns to his homeworld of Eternia after being separated for fifteen years and hopes to reclaim his family legacy and save the world from the evil forces of Skeletor (Jared Leto).
Essentially an origin story, the film takes some interesting deviations with Adam’s journey into becoming He-Man, most notably his time on Earth where he speaks the truth about his childhood in Eternia, even if everybody doesn’t believe him. And yet despite being a prince of Eternia, before and after the separation, Adam is very much an outsider who would rather resolve situations through words than violence, which is a funny juxtaposition when he literally bulks up to become the most powerful man in the universe.
With the exception of the hero’s journey with Nicholas Galitzine bringing heart and humor to the lead role, there is the potential of other character arcs, but sadly the narrative is constantly rushing to the next set-piece. Unlike Barbie or even the recent Netflix animated series, there isn’t much time to subvert these characters, despite fine performances from Camila Mendes as Teela and Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms. Even Jared Leto as Skeletor and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn are straight-up cartoon villains that provide enough humor to understand what kind of movie they are in.
From its development history, the film went through multiple directors and screenwriters – and even transferring from one streaming service to another – which is why the final product is rather ramshackle with the amount of stuff from Easter eggs to jokes that could have been lifted from James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. However, there has always been a silliness to this franchise that Knight embraces here through its 80s sensibilities, not least the Flash Gordon-ish score by Daniel Pemberton and Brian May, whilst delivering the spectacular action that you could never get from Filmation’s animation.
