By Gene Ching

Masters of the Universe is a big screen in-your-face summer blockbuster that is surprisingly entertaining for a movie based on a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s a rollicking roller coaster ride, full of bombast, sword fights, and nostalgic Easter eggs that will be lost on the uninitiated. But don't think too hard about it. It falls apart as soon as you think it over. Honestly, if you're thinking so hard about a movie based on a Saturday morning cartoon, this isn’t a film for you. It’s only fun if you’re looking for pure escapist entertainment, not profound depth.

But before I go on, I must make a confession. I go way back with the Masters of the Universe, and this might bias my review. To understand why, let’s dial the wayback machine to the eighties when Masters of the Universe franchise, often abbreviated as MOTU, all started.

Return to Eternia

Like the Transformers and G.I. Joe film franchises, Masters of the Universe began as action figures. In 1983, Mattel created a line of toys that were released in conjunction with the Saturday morning cartoon, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The series ran for 130 episodes over two years. Made by Filmation Studios, who also delivered Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974) and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1984), the Masters of the Universe franchise expanded to include the female-strong spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987). She-Ra was launched with a theatrical feature film, The Secret of the Sword (1985) which was comprised of the first five episodes.

In 1985, I was working my way through college as an usher at a third-run movie theater. Now for any millennial-or-later generation readers, back before we had home videos, we could only see movies in movie theaters. And after a movie ran its course at an opening theater, it would play at a second-run theater at a discount because this was back in the days of 35 mm films that wore out after repeated showings. I worked at a third-run theater where tickets were even cheaper, and the films were even more worn out.

However, even third-run theaters occasionally ran premieres, mostly grindhouse cinema or B- and C-grade movies. In 1985, we premiered The Secret of the Sword, and the promoters hired actors to cosplay as He-Man and She-Ra, long before cosplaying was even a word. I was tasked to escort the cosplayers around for the opening day. I had watched the show mostly because it had swords, and there weren’t that many Saturday morning cartoons with swords back then. I even had them autograph a toy MOTU sword, which inexplicably I still have in my sword collection. I guess I’ve kept it all these years just for this review.

The year She-Ra ended, the first live-action theatrical version debuted. Masters of the Universe starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, Frank Langella as Skeletor, as well as Courteney Cox, Meg Foster, and Billy Barty; it was by the Cannon Group, who produced a wide range of martial arts, action, and horror films, including Chuck Norris’ military actioners, Sho Kosugi’s Ninja movies, Charles Bronson’s Death Wish films, and JCVD’s classic, Bloodsport (1988). That third-run theater where I worked showcased almost every Cannon Group film that came through in the eighties and nineties. There were so many cheesy modern day martial arts films. Classy stuff. Working there had a major influence on my taste in film. 

Masters of the Universe (1987) was a flop. It was critically panned and is cited as one of the many nails in the Cannon Group coffin, which died a few years later after producing over 200 films. A sequel to MOTU was announced but production ran afoul with Mattel, so it was inevitably cancelled. However the costumes and sets were already made, so Cannon Group recycled them for JCVD’s Cyborg (1989). There were several rumored attempts to revive a live-action MOTU project for the big screen, including one allegedly to directed by John Woo and another by Jon M. Chu, but none came to pass until now.

The Return of He-Man and She-Ra

Meanwhile the MOTU franchise continued on the small screen. Two He-Man reboot TV series were launched in 1991 and 2002 respectively keeping the franchise alive. In 2018, Netflix delivered the groundbreaking She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a creation story for She-Ra. The animated series received was hailed by critics, especially for its LGBTQ-inclusivity and diversity. This new spin on She-Ra poached a lot from anime, specifically the Sailor Moon (launched 1991) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (launched 2005) franchises. The show was so popular that a live-action stand-alone She-Ra project was launched by Amazon in 2021. This is still in development with Heidi Schreck as the screenwriter. If this new Masters of the Universe wins the box office, a She-Ra sequel is inevitable. It’s even teased in the new movie.

Netflix followed She-Ra and the Princesses of Power with two new He-Man series: the CGI-driven He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021-2022) and Masters of the Universe Revelation / Revolution (2021-2024) which was produced by Kevin Smith and boasted a dazzlingly star-studded voice cast including the return of Meg Foster. These recent successes have the MOTU franchise poised for big screen action.

This latest live action movie went through several producers, writers, directors and cast members to get here. Nicholas Galitzine is cast as Adam (a.k.a. He-Man) and he had to significantly bulk up to become He-Man with months of weight training while consuming 4000 calories a day. The steroidal physique of He-Man is totally caricature, a prepubescent boy’s fantasy. It’s only rivalled by the exaggeratedly yoked fighters in the anime Fist of the North Star, which began contiguously to the original MOTU series in 1983, which makes me wonder what was going on in the world to amplify the male musculature so cartoonishly on both sides of the Pacific back then. Coincidentally, a new version of that franchise is now coming out which like this new Masters of the Universe, is also under the Amazon banner.

However, Camila Mendes as Teela, totally steals Galitzine’s thunder. That’s what she’s good at. In 2017, she won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Scene Stealer for her role as Veronica in The CW’s Riverdale (2017-2023). Mendes levels up Teela, tactfully dodging any cliché romance, and setting the stage for more MOTU heroines. Idris Elba plays Man-At-Arms, Teela’s adoptive father, mostly for comic relief. The supporting characters of MOTU are also rooted in prepubescent boy fantasy, which lends itself to a lot of humor, some of which lands, some not so much. The movie is very self-aware, with a warm throwback to the original live-action film in a gym, and a nod to nerd-dom with a comic book shop scene.

The Power of Wushu

The fight scenes in Masters of the Universe are outrageous physics-defying superhero melees composed under the watchful guidance of veteran stunt coordinator Liang Yang. Yang has been in the stunt business for nearly twenty years, having worked on major franchises like Star Wars, Mission Impossible and the MCU. Although he has delivered a wide variety of action and fight scenes, Yang’s root style is Wushu, which lends itself well for the cinematic flair needed for onscreen combat, especially with cold arms like the He-Man’s Sword of Power. Keen martial arts viewers will catch a few Wushu barrel rolls tucked into the fight choreography.

Coming Soon…

The summer rush of 2026 has been action packed so far. From Mortal Kombat II to The Mandalorian and Grogu to MOTU here, there’s been plenty of fun Kung Fu on the big screen. And that’s not all. Stay tuned. More to come…

Author:

Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips. His long-running martial arts movie column ‘Fast Forward to the Fight Scenes’ can be found in Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine.

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