Title: Masters of the Universe
MPA Rating: PG-13
Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba
Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins
What It Is: Adam (Galitzine) is a man not from our Earth. In fact he is the Prince of a place called Eternia. Right now though he’s just some normal guy. You see without his sword he can’t get back to Eternia. With the help of childhood friend Teela (Mendes) he will try to get back home and deal with the entity known as Skeletor (Jared Leto) who’s taken over Eternia and left Adam’s former royal family in hiding.
What We Think: This is a fun film, even if it isn’t great. I’m really just sorta tired of Jared Leto. His Skeletor is fine but that character works even better as the meme it’s become on the internet. Travis Knight is a viciously good animation director and his skills with live action are just not the same. This is a very okay action comedy, and it being based on the toy-centric cartoon show shows. Galitzine was definitely the right pick for Prince Adam. He has the sense of humor and comedic timing to make the jokes work. Skeletor at no time feels like a big bad at all, which is roughly a result of the writing.
Our Grade: B-, There’s not much to take away from this. It’s way too freaking long. There is no reason for this to be 2 hours 20. I will say it never felt that long, which is one of its strongest attributes. It moves swiftly and is overall a rather fun experience even if it isn’t well-written or well-directed. Still, if you’re a fan of the He-Man universe this’ll do the job. I’ll be honest though, I’ve never been into it. Still, this is a fun little film that should’ve felt bigger but just didn’t. Also no more Idris Elba in these big films…he’s in like all of them.
