Masters of the Universe is an intriguing conundrum. It was a box-office failure upon release, as it seems few people wanted to venture out for a reboot of a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon that was created to primarily sell toys for Mattel. It was an expensive flop, and then upon its arrival to Amazon Prime and wide availability, the movie has since become one of the most streamed movies in Amazon history. I think I can explain this. The fan base for this franchise is dwindling with aging Millennials and few felt a big-budget remake was a necessary theater appointment, but in the privacy of your own home, and thinking back on the bad headlines and buzz, you might find yourself just like me, remarking, “I am actually digging this. Why were people so harsh?” It’s a candy-colored meta-fantasy adventure that rips Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) into the real world for some fish-out-of-water comedy, then reunites him back as an adult into his home world, Eternia, under the sway of the dark lord, Skeletor (Jared Leto). The tone is clearly inspired by Taika Watiti’s Thor: Ragnarok, keeping things breezy while side-stepping the more ridiculous elements with an eyebrow-raise. I actually enjoyed the explanation that the very simplistic names for the characters, such as Fisto and Ram-Man, were because Adam was a kid when he was deported and that’s what a kid would recall. The joke does run up to the line of excess, and it’s not alone, but I think overall the tone is so unabashedly fun that I could forgive missteps or annoyances. Under direction by Travis Knight, a man from the world of stop-motion animation, the big screen visuals are crisp, dynamic, and consistently making excellent use of the space of the frame, something I find that directors with animation experience really utilize better. There are nice character moments I appreciated (“Your dad’s gonna turn around any second and see… any second now…”), entertaining fights and locations, and maybe my favorite Leto performance in… years? He’s actually quite enjoyable as the contemptuous baddie. I never cared in the slightest for He-Man and the cartoon growing up, so I have no built-in nostalgia for this franchise, but even I found myself enjoying the characters, their comradery, and the confrontations. It’s hard not to be cheesy or goofy given the subject matter, but I think Masters of the Universe threads the needle as well as could be between reverence and irreverence. It may not be masterful but it’s plenty entertaining and fun and, certainly with lowered expectations, a perfectly fine way to unwind over two hours at home.

Nate’s Grade: B