Masters of the Universe 2026
This is not a movie I needed to see, but a friend of mine wanted to watch it and the reviews weren't horrible, saying it had a lot of fun with the premise. When the cartoon version of He-Man came out, I was a little too old for it, so I knew very little about it except for the basics. Some of the cast is surprisingly strong, but I am not familiar with the actor who plays He-Man and he's not great, having to be really muscular for parts of it, but then they just have him being kind of chubby when he isn't He-Man, and he looks a little swollen honestly. He plays a prince from another planet who is evacuated to Earth for his own safety after the evil Skeletor takes over and to safeguard a very powerful sword, which he loses right away (he is only like ten years old). He ends up working in HR and says he is good at listening and conflict resolution, but it all seems like lip service. He tells people about his backstory and they think he is crazy. Eventually he gets the sword and instantly becomes competent after being hopeless his whole life. I didn't buy that transition and I don't really buy what they are trying to say about his HR skills giving him valuable skills because it isn't borne out in any way. I feel like they could have written that to be a little more meaningful, but instead they emphasized his incompetence and a lot of jokes. It isn't easy taking a very silly action cartoon for young boys and turning it into anything serious. Keeping a good sense of humor about itself works well here, but I wasn't crazy about the characters and they are all pretty flat, though Idris Elba makes a pretty good Man at Arms, even if it isn't his best work. The movie is lightweight and generally fun, but also very forgettable, though there will probably be sequels.
Written: 09 Jun 2026