I really should have gone with my instincts on this one, but I was feeling antsy and decided to check it out anyway.
First off, I have no nostalgia for He Man or Masters of the Universe. I know there have been different cartoons over the years, and I’ve seen the original Dolph Lundgren movie, but it’s just never been a franchise I’ve connected with.
One thing I don’t understand is why these live action movies insist on bringing Prince Adam and He Man to Earth. Why not just let the story take place on Eternia?
This movie just wasn’t for me. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be funny, and a lot of the humor felt forced. I don’t mind comedy in action movies when it’s done well, but here it just didn’t work. I actually like the actor playing Adam, and I thought Jared Leto did a decent job as Skeletor when the movie let him be serious, but whenever it leaned into comedy, it completely lost me.
I was giving it the benefit of the doubt because it was directed by Travis Knight. I like his work, especially Bumblebee and the stuff he’s done with Laika, but this just didn’t click with me at all.
In fact, I ended up walking out. That’s only the second time I’ve walked out of a movie in the past year. The first was Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
Maybe fans of the franchise will get more out of it, but for me, this was a miss.
