181 - Masters of the Universe

    He-Man and other heroes from Eternia wind up on Earth, and need to get back to Eternia to retake Castle Greyskull from Skeletor and his forces.
    I think I was the target demographic when this movie came out.  I think I would have been 7 years old, depending on what time of year it was released.  I was really, really accepting of movies.  I think I liked every movie I saw.  And yet, I never saw this.  I know I had heard some disappointed grumbling, but that was about it.
    I liked a lot of the He-Man toys, but I never felt like there was a fantastic mythology behind them.  This movie actually establishes most of that mythology!  This movie could have been the start of something big!
    It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong with the movie, since it seems like there’s something wrong with nearly everything, but that isn’t entirely fair.  There are aspects to everything that are great, but then the movie gets bogged down by things that distract.
    The Eternia sets are pretty good.  They’re dated by modern standards, but for the time, they’re good.  They reflect a comic-book atmosphere well, and they’re engaging.  Then the movie abandons them for about 3/4 of the running time.
    Many of the characters are created for the movie, and few of the characters are actually He-Man characters.  This instills a sense of disappointment.  We kind of wish we could see Orko… instead we get a weird inventor character.  The henchmen villains we get ar Evil-Lyn and Beast Man… then we get three new henchmen, Saurod, Blade, and Karg.  Who cares about these?  I would love to get to see Mer-Man, Trap Jaw… Tri-Klops… Clawful… just about any of them would be more interesting.
    Character design is the same.  Skeletor is the most entertaining design, and Man-At-Arms is pretty decent, but then Teela and Evil-Lyn seem kind of dull.  He-Man’s design is mostly accurate, but is surprisingly uninspiring.
    The story is weird.  It’s hard to feel like the plot aspects that take place on Earth are actually relevant.  The vast majority of the plot is dedicated to the heroes running away and being chased, so it’s a little hard to view them as heroes.
    I kept thinking that this movie could have been really good… with enough of a budget, and with less interference from production.  But that isn’t the only problem.  The script aims so firmly at kids without knowing what they want, that I can imagine kids watching it, and periodically getting bored, only to be excited by the few moments of inspiration that hit the screen.