Remember when movies with silly premises and sketchy acting had no less chance to be blockbusters? If people wanted to have fun with He-Man, it wouldn't matter if the movie were good or bad; they'd buy tickets to fun.
Do I have bones to pick with MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE? Yes, and I will for your information, but ultimately if you want to enjoy a movie, you can; if you want to dislike a movie, you can.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE retells a story even casual fans of He-Man know well, but with a number of tones that don't harmonize well. The Sorceress of Grayskull sends ten-year-old Prince Adam and the Sword of Power to Queen Marlena's home planet Earth to safeguard them from Skeletor. Adam and the sword are separated on the way. Fifteen years later, Adam is working in human resources when he finds the sword, inadvertently instantly alerting Skeletor and Teela to his and its whereabouts.
On Earth, Beast Man is a growling, non-speaking monster and I wondered if the movie would reduce him to that as the TRANSFORMERS live-action movie originally muted Bumblebee. However, returning to Eternia, Beast Man has full power of speech, as if the script were rewritten to make that change.
Most important, Adam/He-Man's characterization felt off. In the classic 1983 Filmation cartoon, Adam only plays at being soft and uninterested in his royal responsibilities. As He-Man, he's physically more powerful, but basically the savvy person Adam is. In the movie, Adam is a timid boy and his change to He-Man feels rushed. He's more powerful as He-Man, but not particularly courageous. Cartoon Adam was courageous.
There are enough emotional beats, but a lot of the building blocks of Adam's character feel glossed over, given too little time to be as meaningful as they could be.
As I wrote at the top, none of this would stop you fron having fun with the movie if you wanted. Sequels would be fine. Starting over from scratch would also be fine.
