Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I told you I was scheduling a lot of movies! I remember when Masters of the Universe was first announced a few years ago; I immediately added it to my watchlist, only after asking, “What’s Masters of the Universe?”. I didn’t ever watch the show as a kid, but I knew who He-Man and Skeletor were in the same way that I knew a character like Johnny Bravo. The trailers all looked exciting, and Travis Knight directing gave me some hope—every Laika movie I’ve seen has been great—so even if this wasn’t a critical masterpiece, I knew I was going to at least have some fun.

One of Masters of the Universe’s most expert moves was to release in the same rough window as The Mandalorian and Grogu, because this was an absolute blast compared to the muted slog that the latter was. Knight was clearly a fan of Masters of the Universe as a kid—it showed in his impassioned direction, eye-popping locations, and true-to-the-original characters. I was especially impressed by every close-up fight scene; the way the camera moved and captured these fights, and the expert choreography in said fights, was captivating. Where Mando and Grogu was washed out and annoyingly gray and tan, Masters of the Universe was vibrant and exciting, even if the CGI went back and forth between stunning and confusingly off. Skeletor’s face, for example? Fantastic. Some of the flying and riding scenes? You could see the green screen.

Let’s talk a minute about Skeletor, because he was far and away the best part of this movie. I haven’t actually seen Jared Leto’s terrible turn as the Joker, but I’ve heard about it, and that had me nervous about him playing Skeletor. I was wrong to cast doubt, though, because he played the character perfectly. Leto brought a great balance of evil and menacing and kind of clumsy and full of himself to the character, and many of the best scenes of the movie starred him. As I mentioned, the fight scenes were stellar, but one of my favorite Skeletor moments was when he took He-Man through all of his past failures, changing fits to match the setting (while maintaining his iconic hood) and still radiating hatred and evil. The rest of the main crew was solid—I liked Galitzine and Elba most, and I’d like Camila Mendes to get to do more in the next movie—but Leto took the cake for me. I know we don’t do Oscars for fantasy characters, but come on, he was awesome!

Finally, the humor of this movie was…confusing. There were plenty of funny moments, but considering just how many jokes they tried to tell, those truly funny moments were few and far between. The script leaned just a touch too silly—on the whole, the balance between serious and silly was solid—and if I had to give the writers advice for Masters of the Universe 2, it would be to tell half as many jokes (and make sure the ones you tell really hit). Masters of the Universe was a really fun time at the movies, and in a time where Marvel and Star Wars are starting to wear their welcome for many fans, a new, unexplored fantasy IP like this could be a real hit. I just hope that, if they do make more of these movies, they keep Travis Knight in the director’s chair. You could feel the difference he made in comparison to some of the soulless studio regulars that have directed movies like this recently. Here’s to hoping that Wildwood is as good as it looks. I’ll call my shot, too: Wildwood’s going to win Best Animated Feature in 2027!