While not per se a film I was super excited to see, I was nonetheless rooting for Masters of the Universe thanks to Travis Knight being the director. The guy who brought us Kubo and the Two Strings and Bumblebee is back, this time to hit us with a dose of 80s nostalgia. But is this a movie worthy of your time in 2026? Let’s find out.

Masters of the Universe follows the adventures of Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) heir to the throne of Eternia, who is whisked away to Earth as a child after his homeworld is taken over by the villainous Skeletor. For the last fifteen years, Adam has been living as an outsider on Earth, dreaming of the fantastical world he came from, where talking tigers, magic swords, and sorceresses exist. His whole life on Earth has been dictated by his desire to find the Sword of Power, which accompanied him to Earth but was lost in transit. Now, with the sword finally found, can Adam finally live up to become the hero and the man he was destined to be? With the help of his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), her father Man at Arms (Idris Elba), and a talking robot named Roboto (Kristin Wiig), they’ll do their best to save their homeland from darkness and tyranny.

Now, I’ll preface by saying I have no real loyalty or knowledge of the He-Man franchise. I saw some of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe show from the early 2000s, but I can’t say it was ever really part of my childhood, ditto with the toys. So there are likely jokes and references that absolutely flew over me that you may appreciate more than I did if you’re a fan of this franchise. This is coming from more or less an outsider point of view.

So what did I think? Overall, not bad. It has some high points and some low points that do make this movie feels a bit uneven at times. The main thing holding this back in my point of view, is the humour. There’s just way too much of it, and most of it is cringe and unfunny. Some of it lands, for sure, but there’s just so many jokes thrown at you throughout the film that many dramatic beats feel undone thanks to a cheap gag. In other words, it feels like a lower-tier Marvel movie at times. The movie also drags a bit when we’re first introduced to adult Adam. I just didn’t care about his day job and his dating life. Just, get on with it. Also, Alison Brie was sadly miscast as the villainous Evil-Lyn. She felt awkward and out of place in every scene she was in.

But despite the movie sometimes encroaching on irritating, I still had a fun enough time. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but the standout of the movie was indeed Jared Leto as Skeletor. He was great. Rolling his R’s like an over-the-top villain of old, he was menacing when he had to be, but also leaned into the cartoonyness and meme-worthy nature of the source material at just the right spots. I mentioned a lot of the humour didn’t work for me, but the gags around Skeletor actually worked really well, resulting in the most laughs earned. You can’t really tell it’s Leto, thanks to all the distortion and modulation, and you can only really tell when he’s laughing as it harkens to his Joker laugh a bit, but regardless, it’s his line delivery in the end. Another bright spot was the film’s score. Composed by Daniel Pemberton, with Queen’s Brian May supplying a lot of guitar work throughout, and it’s awesome. It’s bombastic and epic, with some key tracks worthy of adding to playlists. The action is also really good, very clear and fun, with some big hits and good choreography, and while there’s some iffy VFX, there’s also some great VFX and some great costume and practical design work as well.

One thing I was somewhat surprised to see featured in the film was how important the topic of masculinity and “the man” was in the film. The subject of when to fight, what it means to fight, and when to listen and talk are all presented as traits of a man. This topic used to be far more prevalent in cinema and pop culture in general, but it’s largely been absent, with the discourse focused on removing toxic masculinity from the conversation. I think that went so far that many creators either forgot or feared talking about manliness openly, and Masters of the Universe very much does this without making it a toxic thing. I’d be very curious to see how this will play out, specifically with the Gen-Z and Gen Alpha crowd, as this topic feels very alien in 2026. This theme, of course, is part of the journey that Adam takes through the movie. While on Earth, he’s kind of forgotten his earlier teachings and has developed into something of an insecure weirdo, incapable of being brave or taking charge. His arc, of course, is to find that power yet again. Again, not that there’s anything inherently wrong with being in shape or taking charge, the movie does a good job at making Adam more of a likable role model than a bully, just those lessons and themes feel like they came from a bygone era.

But then again, this movie doesn’t really feel like it was made for younger audiences. Despite the point by Mattel to probably bump toy sales, this feels like a movie made for those who were kids in the 80s, but also wanted their cake as well, thus making jokes that feel very juvenile and modern. There is a better Masters of the Universe movie out there, that being Thor: Ragnarok, but I can say that this movie is definitely better than Thor: Love and Thunder. But had they toned down the humour and focused more on the story and character, I think this could’ve really been a big win. For now, it’s still a fine movie, and I had fun watching it, but I wanted to like this movie more.