Masters of the Universe: Movie Review

Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Jared Leto, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin
Director: Travis Knight

The latest attempt to adapt Mattel's 1980s toy line and slightly campy animated TV series about Prince Adam of Eternia arrives on the big screen.

Starring The Sheep Detectives' Galitzine as Prince Adam, who's been trying to retrieve the sword of Power for the last 15 years after being trapped on Earth when Skeletor's forces invaded his homeland of Eternia.

Working as a HR representative in a dull company, Adam spends his days online, searching for the one thing he was asked to look after. When one day he's contacted by someone who's found the sword, he heads to collect it - only to run headlong into his past and future.

A little bloated in places perhaps, director Travis Knight and his team clearly have a lot of reverence for both the source material and the idea of tone in the film. 

Whether it's getting a cameo from Dolph Lundgren, setting up the return of another character in the credits, inserting the 4 Non Blondes song which became a He-Man meme or playing on the fact most of the episodes of the 80s animated show ended with the characters laughing, there's enough here to satiate fans of the source material.

It's not entirely a nostalgia-fest though, with Knight doing much to try and shoehorn in the kind of goofy humour Guardians of the Galaxy made the sci-fi genre more accessible for. It has to be said it's not all entirely perfect, and occasionally the tone seems at odds with the seriousness of what's on screen and some of the CGI effects don't land as they should.

But it holds aces in Galitzine's wonderfully game performance as the himbo and also Leto's maniacal Skeletor (who occasionally sounds like Stewie from Family Guy for some reason). Their performances hold together the proceedings which do sag a little in the middle and which in truth could have benefited from an expeditious edit.

Whether it's enough to warrant a sequel is debatable, but for an unapologetic popcorn blockbuster in the middle of the season, it's broad enough to be better than it ever hoped to be.