Nicholas Galitzine in Masters of the Universe

Emboldened by the runaway success of Barbie, Mattel moved on to turning another beloved toy into a summer blockbuster. This time it’s He-Man, the deeply homoerotic 1980s action figure with the blonde bob, who becomes the protagonist of hopeful summer blockbuster Masters of the Universe. The film boasts four credited writers (Chris Butler and Aaron Nee & Adam Nee & David Callaham) and is directed by Travis Knight, who previously struck gold with the surprisingly good Transformers spin-off Bumblebee. Once again, Travis Knight reaches into the IP well and makes a movie that is way better than it has any right to be.

That’s right, Masters of the Universe doesn’t suck. It’s actually pretty fun. Travis Knight, with his background in stop-motion animation, has a meticulous sense of space and rhythm which means his fight scenes are fun and visually interesting, but also weighted in space and something that resembles real physics. Like of course a magically powered man punching with lightning isn’t REAL, but Knight and his team, including cinematographer Fabian Wagner and stunt coordinator Lian Yang, choreograph and film the fight scenes with clear geography and visual language. The action is discernable, not CG gloop. The fight scenes are actually kind of spectacular.

The visuals overall ARE spectacular. Honoring He-Man’s 1980s roots, Knight blends prosthetics, makeup, and rubber suits seamlessly with computer effects to render a fantasy world that looks big and beautiful and colorful—and blatantly borrowing from the MCU’s cosmic corner—and has a sort of ticky-tacky puppet charm at times that adds to the overall whimsy of the film. No one is taking He-Man too seriously as a concept, but in craft, Travis Knight and his team take it VERY seriously, and it shows in the excellent visuals. Also in Daniel Pemberton’s truly stellar original score, which turns the He-Man theme into an electric-orchestral opus.

And then there’s the acting, which again, is just better than it had to be. Nicholas Galitzine leads the cast as Adam Glenn, a hapless himbo so pure of heart, broad of chest, and dumb of ass you cannot help but like him. He’s banished from his home realm of Eternia as a child, and he’s floundering on Earth because he won’t stop talking about swords and his weird childhood home. Galitzine’s performance is perfectly calibrated; he’s the exact right amount of goofy and sincere. He’s genuinely funny and genuinely believable as a hero who doesn’t always want to fight.

The rest of the cast is equally good, with Alison Brie giving a particularly fun performance as villainess Evil-Lyn. Also, and I regret to inform you, but Jared Leto is good, even delightful, as Skeletor. Yes, his face is obscured and his voice distorted, but there is no question who gives that performance. There are moments when you can, even though you’re looking at a skull face, just SEE Leto at work under the costume. Every choice he makes is right, it’s so f-cking irritating. Everyone knows exactly what film they’re in, and again, it’s credit to Travis Knight that he got everybody on board with this wacky vision and had them all delivering performances that perfectly fit his “let’s take the craft seriously but not the material” direction.

Which is not to say that MOTU is a grand slam. It’s not. There is a hint of Barbie-esque deconstruction throughout the film, but MOTU never fully commits to that angle. The film chooses a sweet, sincere tone to match the colorful, whimsical visual design, and it is so earnest it’s impossible to be too curmudgeonly about such a well-meaning film, but because the humor never really picks a lane, the tone is often all over the place, even undercutting the film’s own sweetness. It’s also not fully committed to being for kids, or for adults with nostalgia for He-Man, which contributes to the tonal clash. MOTU is at its best when reinventing He-Man for a new generation of children, the moments aimed at grown-ups are often distracting, nostalgia hammers where the rest of the film chooses childhood cotton candy.

But given that this is a movie about f-cking HE-MAN, Masters of the Universe is pretty good. Nicholas Galitzine is truly outstanding as a hunky dork who means well, and the visuals are so good, I would not mind a live-action She-Ra movie set in this universe (imagine the flying horses…). It falls short of the Barbie mark, but it’s certainly better than, say, The Mandalorian and Grogu. I was, at least, not bored in MOTU. Although a two hour and twenty-minute runtime for a He-Man movie is absolutely inexcusable, on principle. Still, Masters of the Universe is a fun watch, and mostly harmless.

Here are Nicholas and Camila doing press rounds yesterday in New York.

Masters of the Universe will play exclusively in theaters from June 5, 2026.