Claudio Carvalho On the planet Eternia, Skeletor (Frank Langella) and his dark army overthrow the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull (Christina Pickles) expecting to acquire her power. He-Man (Dolph Lundgren), his old friend Duncan "Man-at-Arms" (Jon Cypher) and his daughter Teela (Chelsea Field) are attacked by Skeletor's soldiers and they defeat them. They also rescue their prisoner, the inventor and locksmith Gwildor (Billy Barty). He explains that he was lured by Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster) that used his invention Cosmic Key to open the gates and seize the Castle Grayskull. He-Man and his friends retrieve the prototype of the Cosmic Key trying to release the Sorcereress but they are defeated by Skeletor and his army and Gwildor uses his key to open and portal for them to flee. They come to Earth but lose the key. Meanwhile Julie Winston (Courteney Cox), who grieves the loss of her parents in a plane crash, and her boyfriend Kevin Corrigan (Robert Duncan McNeill) find and activate the key, believing it is a foreign musical instrument. On Eternia, Evil-Lyn locates the Cosmic Key and Skeletor sends her with a group of mercenaries and soldiers to vanquish He-man and his friends and bring the key back. Will they succeed?"Masters of the Universe" is a silly but entertaining fantasy adventure film. The movie is a ripoff Star Wars, with the introductory credits rolling on the screen, the score and Skeletor's army, and Conan, with the strong Dolph Lundgren. The plot has silly moments, like Julie delivering the Key to her deceased mother or the comic attitudes of Detective Lubic. But "Masters of the Universe" is cult and entertaining for the fans. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Mestres do Universo – O Filme" ("Masters of the Universe – The Movie")

utgard14 Cannon movie based on the popular toy line and cartoon series from my childhood. I should say loosely based, as it rips off everything from Star Wars to Flash Gordon, all the while borrowing precious little of worth from the He-Man mythos and purportedly being a tribute of sorts to Jack Kirby's New Gods. You could look at all those connections and say "well this just sounds like a pile of awesome" but you would be wrong.I hated this movie with a passion when I was a kid, mainly because it felt nothing like the He-Man I knew and more like some generic sci-fi action movie that had the Masters of the Universe name attached. But over the years I've grown to appreciate a lot of movies I didn't like when they were first released. And I do appreciate this more than I did then, but I'm still not ready to say it's a good film. Its value is in its badness, particularly Frank Langella's delightfully campy performance as Skeletor. Unfortunately he's not in the entire movie. The bulk of the film takes place on Earth with He-Man and friends running around with Courteney Cox and trying not to be killed by the goons Skeletor has sent after them. Most of this is just boring.Other than Langella, the cast is either adequate (Meg Foster, Courteney Cox, Jon Cypher, James Tolkan) or terrible (Billy Barty). Dolph Lundgren is wooden to the point that it makes his previous performance as Drago in Rocky IV seem like Hamlet. The budget is obviously very low and the costumes and special effects are cheesy. It's worth a look for fans of Cannon and He-Man. See it for the campiness and fast-forward to the Skeletor scenes.

zetes I remember hating this when I was a kid, I'm guessing because they changed so much stuff from my beloved cartoon. Of course, the cartoon was garbage in the first place, I realize now, only existing to sell toys. The toys were pretty cool. Revisiting the film almost 30 years later, and knowing that it came from the Canon Film Group, I was hoping for a dumpster fire of a film, something my friend and I could laugh at. Unfortunately, it's borderline competent, which is quite a bit worse. It's more or less a rip-off of Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. The script is awful, but the production design and costumes are very good. Cheaper than Star Wars, obviously, but still not bad at all. Frank Langella plays the villain, Skeletor, fairly well, and Meg Foster is a good henchwoman to him. The heroes are less interesting, with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man (most annoying, he's off screen for long periods of time). The film is perhaps most famous now for co-starring a young Courtney Cox. The film as a whole is kind of a bore and pretty forgettable, which is probably how I felt as a kid, too.

eddiespn I was 5 years old when this movie came out and I can't even count how many times I've seen this movie (to this day if I see it on TV I'll still stop on it).What makes it so special? A movie adaption of a cartoon I loved that stayed true with all their characters. Seeing Skeletor and his monsters was always kinda scary and Evil-Lyn was kinda hot I suppose.They did a excellent job of casting Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and seeing a young Courtney Cox is cool in retrospect.And to this day I still have that beat from THAT cosmic keytar stuck in my head.There are a lot scenes in this film that will stick to your head really. There is some type of awesomeness to these old school sci-fi films that were low on special effects and makeup but that made it seem even more real to a little kid.The movie is what it is, a cartoon adaption, but for a movie made in 1987, they almost got it perfectly right.