Masters of the Universe

Rating:
Summary: By the power of grayskull!
Review: Ok, so the movie did not stay true to the cartoon. This is still a kickin' movie. He-Man, the strongest man in the universe, and hero to all who live on the mystical planet of Eternia, comes to the big screen. He-Man comes from one of Mattel Toys biggest sellers in their history, and toy history. The line was called 'Masters of the Universe'. Mattel spun off the line into a cartoon for the small screen that was produced by animation group, Filmation. The cartoon and toys was so popular amoung youngsters and even adults, that a live action movie came about.

Now, I have read the original script for the movie. Much better than what actually made it to screen. The only fault of the movie is too much Earth. People want to see it on Eternia. But, the movie is still cool, with great effects and a nice score by Bill Conti.

The true highlight of the movie is Frank Langella as Skeletor. He was made to play the role. He is very scarey and at most very evil in the movie.

Also, Friends fans of Courtney Cox will love the movie too, she is in it as Earth girl Julie who finds the Cosmic Key and aids the Eternians on Earth.

I give the movie 5 stars because that is what it should get. I am a huge He-Man and She-Ra fan and this movie is part of He-Man's history.

By the power of grayskull.... YOU have the power!

Rating:
Summary: Not the cartoon I grew up with.
Review: I loved He-Man and the Masters of the Universe growing up. When his sister, She-Ra, arrived on the scene, my little sister got to join in the fun as well.

But that was at least seventeen years ago. I finally had the opportunity to watch the movie, and I'm giving it four stars for special effects, but that's it. "Masters of the Universe" is an excellent example of how cheesy action/adventure movies could get in the 1980's. The blasters that everyone appears to using throughout the movie, as well as Skeletor's black stormtroopers, look like they've been ripped off from the "Star Wars" movies. For that matter, Bill Conti's Main Title theme sounds like it's been ripped off from the "Superman" movies. I don't think Dolph Lundgren's performance as He-Man made my spine tingle as much as it should have, which would be partially explained by the fact that I almost expected him to act like the Punisher or Ivan Drago ("Rocky IV".)The movie is helped along, however, by the comic relief of the red-haired dwarf our heroes meet, who looks as though he was clearly intended to be Orko the wizard but circumstances may not have permitted it.

Finally, since he has longer hair, you'll have to look closely at Courtney Cox's boyfriend to recognize actor Robert Duncan McNeil, who later become known to my fellow Star Trek fans as Lt. Tom Paris on "Voyager." It was quite a surprise to see him doing something that un-Parislike for a change...well, maybe not exactly un-Parislike...the characters are both rebels.

Rating:
Summary: whats to say
Review: fist of all the special effects were bad even for the eightys second the script bit i dont know what they were thinking on that one 3you call this a kids flick ? they left out almost all the characters its been a long time saince ive seen it but as far as i remember they only left in skeletor he-man of course but thats it they didint even have all the origanal veaicles as far as i remember. first time i saw it was prabably 17 years ago anyway who ever directed it i dont mean to sound immuture but they should get thier you know what. kiked and frank langella hes a great actor superb in fact he should of just stayed away from it but he probably needed the money either way ill stay off his back.

Rating:
Summary: Not like the cartoon,but okay.
Review: I have to say that in a way this movie is half good and half bad.The actors did a great job but the story wasn,t mostly based on the popular cartoon.Movies like Ghostbusters are super spectaular.If I were to grad this movie I,d give it a C+.But it can be entertaining in a different sort of way.The ccastle greyskull looked very different and there were a lot of characters missing.So I have to give it a thumb up and thumb down.

Rating:
Summary: Its okay, but a big disappointment....
Review: As a huge fan of He-man and She-ra, I was disappointed with this movie. The big problem- the setting! It was a big mistake to go with Earth. Personally, I wanted to see how the people live on Eternia. We could have also seen interesting creatures and learned about a new world. Some might want to claim lack of technology, but there were plenty of special effects films made prior to the computer animation we know today. If Yoda could be brought to life back in the first trilogy from 1981 surely someone could have made a realistic Orko. But back on the subject of MOTU on earth, they could have also made a more interesting storyline if they insisted using Earth. He-man's mother, Queen Marlena, is FROM earth! The movie team obviously had no problem making this a more ADULT oriented film by adding more violence and drama, so they should have gone all the way and made it even more dramatic. It would have been interesting to see had Marlena been with the group how she'd react to being reunited with her old family on Earth. It would have been a nice sub-plot. Another thing I hated was the costumes. He-man with a cape? Yuck. And don't get me started on Teela's outfit. Then there's the introduction of new characters as opposed to using our favorite ones from the cartoon. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking there were leftover toys that Mattel needed to sell so they pushed for the film to use these new guys.

Anyways, as a fan, I'll watch the movie sometimes when its on cable, but it was a disappointment then and its still a disappointment as an adult. The dialogue is cheesy and not in a good 80s way. The storyline lacks imagination, and one other thing to complain about...the laser guns! The people who made this film obviously didn't pay attention to the title--MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. There are good and evil warriors with specific skills and techniques they use for combat as any MOTU fan knows and for the characters to constantly use laser guns was just a slap in the face. Get this film if you're a fan one of the actors in it like Dolph, Courteney Cox, etc...but other than that, I don't find anything rewarding out of this film.

Rating:
Summary: We wish we could rate it 0 stars
Review: What to say? We're not sure how to describe the absolute atrocity that was this film. Film? We meant tragedy. We're not even sure what made it so bad - but we want our two hours back. We did think Skeletor had a nice float in the Masters of the Universe parade, though. We guess that's worth a star.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite movies
Review: I love Master of the Universe. I'm 19 years old and worshipped the cartoon show. I did the see the movie when it premeried back in the 80's and have owned it on VHS for a long time. I was glad when I saw it on DVD two years ago and I'm so glad I own it.

Masters of the Universe tells the story of He-Man. He-Man is the champion of Grayskull and it's up to him to stop Lord Skeletor and his armies from Snake Mountain from destroying the lands of Grayskull.

Dolph Lundgren was the perfect He-Man. He wasn't the original choice as He-Man as Orion wanted the part to be played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm glad Arnold didn't get the part because Dolph was so perfect. He looked like the cartoon He-Man. He had the hair, the swagger, and the build. Dolph has always been a great action actor. This is one of the better films he has ever made.

Frank Langela is a perfect Skeletor. The make up and effects they used to make him look like Skeletor are fantastic. He has the swagger and personality that Skeletor protrayed in the cartoon and it's great to see it by a real person. It's a great sign of great acting.

I liked Courtney Cox a lot in the film. It was like love at first sight for me. It was great seeing her become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and it's awesome seeing her humbling start in a film like this. Julie is a great character for her and I can't think of anybody else I would have rather seen play the part.

I like the score from Masters of the Universe a lot. It was done by Bill Conti and it is good enough to rival a John Williams score. The brass in the score is fantastic. I'm a trumpet player and as one I dream about playing something like that medley.

The special effects in Masters of the Universe are great. They remind a lot of Star Wars. A lot of people have been critical about how much the blasters and stuff compare to Star Wars. To be a realist though why wouldn't you want to copy Star Wars one of the greatest special effect movies of all time. The ships and gateways and explosions are great in Masters of the Universe. If you like special effects it's definetly a movie for you.

I love this film. It's one of my all-time favorite films. I loved it as a child and I love it as a 19 year old young adult. It's a great film. It has action, humor, special effects and a great story. It's a must see for all He-Man fans. It's a great family film.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Movie, Not worth any money
Review: First, it is important to understand it could be and should be a children's movie. Second, if must understand you should watch any other children's movie from the 80's, this has to be on my list of 10 movies that should never be watched again. I did enjoy Skeletor's performance, and I believe Frank was the voice of Megatron in Transformers, who was the greatest villian ever. Indeed, I recommend watching Transformers the movie before this.

The plot is certainly not existant. Eternia is under attack and Castle Greyskull is taken over by Skeletor. First, He-Man has the muscles for the part, but he seems out of place with his sword and shoots more with laser guns than uses the Sword of Power, perhaps the coolest weapon ever next to the Power Ranger Gold Ranger staff. What you are allowed to see of Eternia is hardly anything, a deserted plain and a cave of a dwarf who sends them to the Masters of the Universe to Earth to escape the onslaught of Skeletor's forces. I don't want to say anymore, because already, as soon as they get on Earth, present day, it was just dumb. If they ever decide to make another Masters of the Universe movie, they should first have it on Eternia, where a world of magic and fantasy meets technology and use familiar characters. He-Man has to say a lot more and the special effects have to be amazing. All of this was lacking.

Rating:
Summary: Losers of the Universe
Review: Masters of the Universe was a much beloved film of mine when I was a kid because like most viewers of this movie, I was a fan of the cartoon and dolls. But now...my heavens, is this movie a total shambles. ... What could've been a fascinating movie, with an interesting plot and characters, turns into this circus that becomes a joke. Poor dialogue, with cliches every where, and a poor choice of setting for this fantasy movie.

OK, Lundgren is fine as He-man and I didn't mind Evil Lynn and some of the other characters recreated from the cartoon. But the problem was the movie created these other characters like Karg and this little dwarf thing with pimples that I don't ever remember on the show. They left out a lot of the more popular characters on the cartoon show and replaced them with these not so familiar things. Where's Orko? Where's He-man tiger? Where's Merman or Tri-Clops or the Evil Horde? All missing in the film yet huge aspects with the story of He-Man. This made it kinda frustrated for life long fans of the cartoon show like me.

But even with these new unheard of characters, this film could've still survived, but no they make another monsterous error. Instead of the plot taking place in Eternia, a land of intrigue they choose Earth, a planet that's had enough films about it. I guess they wanted the storyline to relate to us, but that's what made Masters of the Universe, the cartoon show, so enjoyable. It was in a different world, with different creatures, and powers and suddenly that gets wiped away because the director is an idiot.

I suppose it's humorous how the He-man characters have to interract with people on Earth, but that's not what we want to see. It made the film very awkward by doing this, rather than learning of a new world with new plots and conflicts, the director tries to take a short cut and use Earth as the battle ground of He-Man's battles. Which, as a matter of fact, involves a bunch of stupid cheesy and stereotypical teenagers in the mix.

These are symptoms of what I call "low budget movies." They stink because they don't have the budget to make a good movie. Naturally, directors of low budget films lack imagination in finding ways around a low budget. Instead, they aim for a quick buck by stealing an idea formed by a cartoon series and turn it into some macho movie, knowing it will sell because it shares the same name as a popular cartoon series, even though there is no comparison to which one does the better job.

I give the film two stars because it has a plot, just not a very good one. And it is entertaining and still worth seeing just for the hell of it. But it is so disappointing and there is so much potential with this film if it had just stuck to the cartoon series and didn't stray into the typical trap of trying to make it relate to us. Please, the setting isn't going to help us relate, the characters are the key to helping us relate. Not to mention Skeletor has moving lips and the guy is supposed to be a skull face. Skulls have no lips.

Masters of the Universe? Ha! Losers of the Universe because the movie has to come to over-used Earth for its battles with half the characters unknown to those of us who followed the cool cartoon series. Very disappointing.

Grade: C-

Rating:
Summary: Masters of the Hilarious
Review: Great casting first off. Since when was He-Man a friggin' Arian who could barely speak the English language? Masters of the Universe was a homoerotic, terrible attempt at bringing yet another cartoon character to life. The plot was something that I could have come up with when I was the age where my bowel movements weren't solidified because I was still eating Gerber's. Gwildor, comedic relief? The movie would have been a lot more entertaining if Teela brutally massacred and ate Gwildor or Man-at-Arms sexually molested Gwildor's alien, midget body. Now let's move on to Frank Langella as Skeletor. Remember the Commercials: "and Frank Langella IS Seletor." #1 Who in the hell is Frank Langella? #2 If I put a plastic bag over my head-cut holes in the eyes and put in fake dracula teeth-my Skeletor would have been more terrifying. Courtney Cox on the otherhand is worth talking about. If I sneezed into a bowl and then took a pen cap and picked a healthy ball of ear wax from my ear, whip it up into a blend and inject it into my pupil-that would provide me with more enjoyment. On the otherhand-Evil Lynn. Her performance was amazing! I have never been more moved or enthralled by a performance such as hers. Upon viewing the movie for the 30th time my wife was giving birth to our first child. She called me afterwards from the recovery room and I yelled at her for disturbing me during my viewing and told her I would call her back after MOTU was over. You know what happens next- my wife She-Ra and I named our first son - Evil Lynn. Great DVD!

- Skeletor Greyskull