Synopsis: Reunited after 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia where he discovers his home under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies and embrace his true destiny as He-Man.
What We Thought:
Masters of the Universe was a box office dud and I’m bummed about that because it means it probably won’t continue and I shockingly liked it. I wasn’t expecting to like it. I thought the trailers looked bad and that it looked like it was made for today’s audience. After watching it I was shocked to see it was actually geared towards old school MOTU/He-Man fans like myself. I should have known it was for me because director Travis Knight made it and he made the only watchable live-action Transformers movie, Bumblebee.
It’s far from perfect and runs a bit too long, but for a movie I expected to want to shut off, it’s a pleasant surprise. It’s actually one of the few surprises of 2026. What I like most about it is that it feels like a movie made by someone who also grew up on the characters and all the jokes/memes that have come about since the cartoon first aired and toys hit the shelves. There are a ton of characters that old school MOTU fans will recognize. There’s a scene where 4 Non Blondes song “What’s Up?” is played and that became a He-Man meme years ago. The movie even makes reference to the idea of people not putting together that Prince Adam and He-Man are the same person. As a kid you thought that was believable and as an adult we laughed at our younger selves for thinking that was believable.
Why I also enjoyed it is that it leans into the campiness of the original cartoon. Most movies go dark and edgy when revamping 80s IPs, but Knight stuck to the lightheartedness and campy feeling of the 80s. It’s a space opera like Flash Gordon or The Guardians of the Galaxy. It has a killer soundtrack that Flash Gordon would be proud of. The soundtrack and score mixed with the visual effects and jokes are all one great, big combo that worked for me. The 4K looks utterly fantastic and the score sounds perfect. A movie like this is why we have 4K nowadays.
Masters of the Universe was advertised the wrong way. It’s too adult oriented for the under ten crowd yet it was kind of sold as a kid friendly flick. It should have been marketed directly at late GenX kids to bask in its nostalgia. I hope it connects with people on home media because it deserves to be seen. It genuinely might make my top 10 for the year because I had so much fun with it.
