A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom. (from IMDb)

The latest 80's relic to get the big screen treatment is 1983's animated series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. As a child of the 80's myself, you can bet that I was a diehard fan of the cartoon series and toys as a young boy. Although I treasured my He-Man, Battle Cat and various other figures, and especially the epic Castle Grayskull playset -- all of them ended up finding new homes from garage sale tables before the decade's end. While I've reconnected with many of my beloved childhood franchises through the years, He-Man was one that stayed in the decade it originated in, having been laid to rest somewhere on a folding table in a New Jersey driveway.

I do recall how weird and disappointing the 1987 attempt at a live action Masters of the Universe film was -- and I don't think I've seen it again since. (It feels like it's one of those forgettable big screen adaptations that made really poor decisions, like the live action Super Mario Bros. movie did.) But, in 2026, it seems like filmmaking is ready to properly attempt a new Masters of the Universe movie. And thanks to quirky films like the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, adopting a similar approach is what gives Masters of the Universe a chance to actually work.

While I wouldn't dare say 2026's Masters of the Universe is anywhere near as good as 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, it feels like the kind of movie that is able to exist because of it. There are similar tones present, and director Travis Knight does a great job balancing the silly with the serious. Like Guardians, Masters does not take itself too seriously, but like director James Gunn, Knight is able to find a place for heart in his film (even though Gunn has a greater tendency to ruin a heartfelt moment with a joke in his movies). But Knight, who also directed the pretty solid 2018 Transformers live action spin-off, Bumblebee, leans fully into the 80's feel for Masters of the Universe. From 80's hair metal rock tracks to Daniel Pemberton's 80's rock guitar-heavy score that would've made Freddie Mercury smile, and the saturated visual color palette of the film - Masters of the Universe is an absolute love letter to the decade.

Nicholas Galitzine steps into the boots and loincloth of He-Man for this update of the series, spending most of the film playing his normal alter-ego, Adam. The film opens with his home world, Eternia, being attacked by the evil Skeletor fifteen years earlier when he was a little boy, and his mom sending him to her home world of Earth, along with the Sword of Power, to keep him safe. But in the process, he's separated from the sword, and when we meet him as an adult, he's still in search of the mighty weapon. Adam has spent the past decade-and-a-half of his life trying to make it on his own (we don't hear who raised him, how he went to school, etc - those details are left to the imagination), and we learn quickly that he is working in a mundane office job while daydreaming about living a greater and more fulfilling life elsewhere. (Does this sound familiar to anyone else who wishes the same for their life?) But when he's finally reunited with the sword, he returns to Eternia and is reunited with friends, where he's given the chance to become who he's meant to be. Galitzine isn't exactly who I'd imagine for a role like He-Man, but he plays the fish-out-of-water Adam especially well. And since we spend so much time getting to know what kind of man he is before he gets the powers, it makes his transformation to He-Man so much more powerful. I'd even venture to say he has more in common with Captain America and Superman in personality than most heroes. His humility and heart make him an endearing character for sure.

But I'd be tempted to say that Jared Leto actually kind of steals the show as the film's central villain, Skeletor. I wouldn't normally peg Leto for a role like this either, but he's absolutely unrecognizable in the blue muscle suit, and hidden behind a digital skull for a face. He also gives his voice a deep and almost Shakespearean accent that adds to the character. Skeletor is a sucker for theatrics, and the film takes great advantage of that.

Now, while the film is kind of a blast, it's hardly perfect. It's pretty corny and a little cheesy at times - even though it knows it and is constantly winking at the audience because of it. Furthermore, it tends to feel a little long with its 2-hour-and-20-minute runtime. The movie also relies brutally on CG, and it doesn't always look right. For example, there's a scene where we see papers swirling around a room, and they then land in a way that feels like a bad AI rendering. Then there are moments where it's painfully obvious that characters are standing in front of a green screen (especially the final scenes). Even Adam's first transformation into He-Man is a little shoddy. Still, many scenes still look pretty good - especially Eternia itself - and Skeletor looks pretty amazing (even though his teeth sometimes bend like lips, whether that's intentional or just poor CG rendering). But all of these are pretty minor gripes. Some of the profanity and crude jokes also felt really unnecessary and out of place, which is unfortunate, and hindered the movie a bit.

It definitely was fun seeing a lot of the characters - and toys - in live action form on screen. While I'd forgotten almost everything about the cartoon series, since last seeing it as a kid, I recognized right away which character Idris Elba was playing - Duncan, AKA "Man-At-Arms." In fact, as corny as it may have been, it made great sense for none of these characters to really go by their original cartoon and toy names, till Adam revealed his own assigned nicknames for them from his youth. Names like "Fisto" and "Ram Man" certainly don't translate super well in 2026, and the movie isn't hesitant to make jokes about them. For the most part, each character translates pretty well to the big screen - my favorite maybe being Trap Jaw, who is also suprisingly creepy in live action form (I remember loving that figure!). He made a great foe for Man-At-Arms especially.

After watching the film, I found the original cartoon series is on Amazon Prime, so I revisited the first couple episodes. Oh, it's super dated and cheesy, but there's a definite charm to it. And it made me realize (and appreciate) how faithful the film is to the cartoon series. The movie has Teela addressing Duncan as her father, which may seem confusing considering the obvious visual differences between the characters, but the cartoon show explains this in the first couple episodes. Right off the bat, they establish that Teela is the adopted daughter of Man-At-Arms... something that isn't explained in the film.

The content of Masters of the Universe is quite PG-13. Some of the humor is crude or suggestive, and there's a smattering of profanity spread across the film, but it isn't pervasive either. Duncan seems to almost say the "F" word to Roboto before she cuts him off, while there are at least 2 clear uses of the "S" word, a bunch of "h*ll," several of "*ss," a couple of "a-hole," and a single use of "g*dd*mn." (Teela also calls the cowardly cat Cringer a "p*ssy," to which Adam corrects her to say he's a "pussy cat.") There's no explicit sexual content, but when Adam first transforms into He-Man, he's briefly completely naked with shadows hiding his full frontal nudity. There is a great deal of action violence, but most of it isn't gory or gruesome. Skeletor does reduce a character to a pile of goo, which may be gross to some viewers, and Adam / He-Man sustains some cuts and bruises to his face during the action. One character is impaled with a broken blade, and we see some blood on their clothes, but this is downplayed with careful editing to keep it from being too gruesome or bloody. A mechanical character has part of its arm ripped off, and later their mechanical jaw, but it isn't particularly gory or gross. And another character that is buried under rocks is briefly seen with some blood on their head before they die. Lastly, some violence shows miscellaneous characters or monsters getting stabbed or impaled, but it isn't bloody in the way it's done (like a character being impaled by a sword and pinned to the wall). One moment shows He-Man ripping the horn off a creature's head and stabbing it with it. There are also some slow-motion fight shots that show the impact of a strong punch landing to a face, showing the distortion caused by it. It's not necessarily gross, but it does amplify the violence in the moment.

Masters of the Universe is not the best summer movie you'll see this year, but it's a great deal of fun, and one I'd recommend to fans of the original cartoon series. My teenage son and my wife, who have never seen the show before, really enjoyed the film, too - especially Skeletor - and both walked out with interest in the original series. It's a little too edgy to be a family film, but it's probably on par with most Marvel and DC movies these days. Hopefully, we'll see more from this world in the near future.

Side note: There are three bonus scenes at the end of the film. The first is one immediately after the film ends and serves as a nod to the way the episodes of the original cartoon series would end. The second happens mid-credits, setting up a possible sequel or spin-off, and the third scene lands right at the end of the credits, teasing the fate of a certain character.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 6/6/26)