"At the center of the Universe,
at the border between the Light and the Dark,
stands Castle Grayskull.
For countless ages, the Sorceress of Grayskull
has kept this Universe in harmony.
But the armies of Darkness do not rest.
And the capture of Grayskull is ever most in their minds.
For to those that control Grayskull will come, the Power.
The Power to be Supreme.
The Power to be Almighty.
The Power to be Masters of the Universe."
Click here for the movie's opening.
Click here for the movie's closing.
Summary:
Skeletor has taken over Castle Grayskull, with the aid of an invention known as the Cosmic Key. He-man, along with Teela, Man-At-Arms, and a Thenurian inventor named Gwildor (who invented the Cosmic Key), tries to rescue the Sorceress from Skeletor. Realizing that Skeletor was a bit too powerful, the trio had no choice but to retreat through a portal created by the prototype Cosmic Key to Earth.
Once on Earth, He-man and his friends loose the Cosmic Key, which gets found by two Earth teenagers; Kevin and Julie. Soon He-man and Skeletor's army meets up with the two kids in search for the Cosmic Key. The teenagers are eager to help He-man and his friends to defeat Skeletor, and ensuing battles occur on both Earth and on Eternia. Skeletor then acquires the Cosmic Key, and takes He-man as a prisoner. The prototype Cosmic Key, which got damaged during a previous battle, was left with He-man's friends, as Skeletor leaves to Eternia with the other Key.
Skeletor then acquires the Powers of Grayskull, which turns him into a demigod. All seems lost for He-man, until his friends, who where able to repair the damaged Key, appeared at Castle Grayskull. He-man then breaks free of his chains and battles Skeletor. He-man is victorious after Skeletor falls down a pit. The rest of Skeletor's army retreats, and Grayskull is restored in peace. The Sorceress, once the battle is over, gives the two teenagers a magical artifact, as Gwildor returns them back to Earth. Once the credits are over, Skeletor is shown emerging from a pit stating, "I'll be back."
The Good:
The good things about this movie is that gives us a human version of what He-man and Skeletor would look like. Skeletor (Frank Langella) is portrayed very well as a sinister and power hungry warlord. His mistress, Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster) is also twisted and sinister, unlike the cartoon portrayal showing that these two were evil morons. The movie also shows their strange love for each other, in that they appreciate each other, but they both prefer power over love. Man-At-Arms (Jon Cypher), portrays an excellent view of a war seasoned veteran. Teela (Chelsea Field) gives an adequate description of what Teela would be, which is far different from the cartoon Teela. Dolph Lundgren plays a rather well He-man in that he had the muscles and the blonde hair. Also, the Sorceress (Christina Pickles) gives the audience a sense of the Sorceress's mystical and motherly personality.
The movie also gave a creation to some new characters. Gwildor (Billy Barty), a comical character, who is more intellectual than was portrayed. Karg (Robert Towers) is a hook-handed general who would rather lie to save himself than to admit defeat. Beastman, or known in the movie as "The Beast Man", who is played by Tony Carroll, gives the size and power of this hairy henchman. Saurod (Pons Marr), is a cybernetic snakeman mercenary who got killed off early in the show by Skeletor. And Blade (Anthony DeLongis) portrays a very gruff and aggressive swordsman. Also given in the movie were a group of Air Centurions, who where Skeletor's soldiers who floated around on hoverdisks.
Some other good parts to this movie is the creation of new technology that was not in the cartoon. The Cosmic Key, which was only mentioned in the mini-books and in the movie, was a device which could create gravitational portals to literary anywhere. Blade's use of a ion whip on He-man gives us another weapon that was not used in the cartoon. Other examples of the technology that was not on the cartoon was the collar (which is used for interrogation), the holosphere which acted like a 3-Dimensional telephone / projector, and the hoverbarges (which carried Skeletor and the elite members of his army).
The Bad:
Even though this was a pretty good movie, it did have some flaws in it. Some of the things that I have found to be of poor quality is some of the special effects. The portals that the key creates seems a bit cheaply made. The use of the robot soldiers reminded me of the Imperial Storm- troopers from Star Wars. These soldiers suggest that Skeletor had the robot guards instead of the Horde troopers in the cartoon. Also on the Air Centurions, one can easily tell that miniatures were used to create the effect.
The characters portrayal had some flaws in it as well. Skeletor had both eyes and fangs on the movie, in which he never had in the cartoon. He-man also had an accent which was a bit different than the cartoon's normal voice. The Sorceress was also different than what we where accustom to, in that she wore a set of crystals instead of feathers. Teela's disgust of "Robby's Ribs" either states that she is either a vegetarian, or that the food tasted like crap. Also the portrayal of the Earthlings was insulting. Their portrayal made Earthlings look like idiotic, self-centered people.
The Ugly:
Perhaps the worst flaw that I have found was that the movie, in my opinion, was too short and that it needed a higher rating. Some of the battles where descent, but could have been better. Blade, who acted like he had a personal vendetta against He-man, suggests that he had lost his eye in a previous battle with He-man. Karg, who had a hook hand, also hated He-man. Could it have been possible that he lost his hand to He-man as well? There is several questions that could have been answered a lot better if the movie was a bit longer. In the opening scenes, Skeletor has already taken over Grayskull. It would of been nice to see the battle in which Skeletor had taken it over. They could have also shown
He-man taking Blade's eye, and Karg's hand, if they were to lengthen the movie and give it at least a PG-13 rating.
Also, they could of shown a flashback of the plane crash in which Julie's (Courtney Cox) parents were killed in. The film makers could of also extended the movie to contain why Julie had to leave her town and her boyfriend, Kevin (Robert Duncan McNeill). They could also had shown this discussion at one of Kevin's concerts, since Kevin's friend Charlie commented on his performance, and that we really didn't know what happened. However, if some people are thinking that the movie should be about 3 hours long, I personally would rather sit in a theater watching a 3 hour movie about He-man, than I would sit there and watch Titanic.
The Moral:
Throughout the movie, the Eternians always said "Good Journey". At the end of the movie Man- At-Arms quotes an old Eternian proverb by stating the movie's moral.
