10 Terrible Movies Everybody Loves
9. Masters Of The Universe
When adapting other mediums into film, 9 times out of 10 you wind up with a stinker. Masters of the Universe, the story of He-Man, Skeletor and Castle Greyskull is no exception... right?
By bringing the fantasy characters to Earth, the movie makes some pretty big jumps away from the cartoon but, in its defence, it was never meant to be an adaptation of the show and instead was designed with the toy line in mind. So, whilst a lacking CGI budget meant no Orko, it did mean new characters to make figures out of. Coincidentally, the film couldn’t save the Masters of the Universe toy line from Mattel’s financial troubles.
Financial troubles which impacted the film, in the sense that Mattel were late in ponying up their half of the budget. This, and actually running out of money, heavily affected the movie’s look and feel but at the centre is a weird ball of energy. At times, Masters of the Universe is nothing more than a cynical cry for cash but in other lights it’s an open-hearted, goofy comedy action flick which embraces the campness of the franchise.
Frank Legalla’s Skeletor is a particular highlight, a role the actor took for the sake of his kids and it’s hard to not enjoy his pantomimic scenery-chewing villainous turn. Dolph Lundgren actually makes his first leading performance here as He-Man and, unsurprisingly, he calls it his least favourite.