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brightknightie) wrote2026-06-06 08:10 am
brightknightie) wrote2026-06-06 08:10 am
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Masters of the Universe (2026) no-spoiler reaction (TLDR: It's fun!)
I saw Masters of the Universe (2006) at the theater light night. I had a lot of fun! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I did not expect what they made, which is a joyous campy subtly-clever romp that got me smiling soon, and smiling more and more the longer it continued. Children and adults who never knew this IP can have a fun time fully as much as those of us '80s children who somehow still know, say, Queen Marlena's origin, or who Teela's mother is, or the name of every action figure in our brothers' and cousins' and neighbors' toyboxes.
Never has watching a movie felt so much like playing with action figures.
The folks who wrote and directed this movie clearly watched the cartoon, loved it, and somehow made something based on it that is stand-on-its-own-feet separate while also resonantly truer to the half-hour-toy-commercial show than reverently solemnly recreating it could have done. They don't mock the original; they don't justify the original; they open its toybox and play. (Thank you, Greta Gerwig, Margo Robbie, and the rest of the superlative Barbie team for making this lesser-but-also-worthy movie possible.)
And of course the story has a moral and they make it really hard to miss. Just as they should!
Stay for all the post-credit scenes. If you watched the cartoons, they all pay off big. If you are a rare remember-er of the 1987 Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella movie, the final one has an extra spark.
Never has watching a movie felt so much like playing with action figures.
The folks who wrote and directed this movie clearly watched the cartoon, loved it, and somehow made something based on it that is stand-on-its-own-feet separate while also resonantly truer to the half-hour-toy-commercial show than reverently solemnly recreating it could have done. They don't mock the original; they don't justify the original; they open its toybox and play. (Thank you, Greta Gerwig, Margo Robbie, and the rest of the superlative Barbie team for making this lesser-but-also-worthy movie possible.)
And of course the story has a moral and they make it really hard to miss. Just as they should!
Stay for all the post-credit scenes. If you watched the cartoons, they all pay off big. If you are a rare remember-er of the 1987 Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella movie, the final one has an extra spark.
Thoughts
That's what the trailer looked like to me, especially when Adam was gleefully calling out names during a fight -- exactly like any boy would do when recognizing action figures come to life. <3
>> they open its toybox and play. <<
\o/
>> If you are a rare remember-er of the 1987 Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella movie, the final one has an extra spark.<<
I loved that movie. "Only one of you ... only one of anybody."