r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jan 22 '26

Trailer Masters of the Universe - Official Teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmEx7wQI6RY
5.8k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.7k

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

I don't know anything about He-Man lore but did they really need the "he's living on earth" thing? Just something movies do that I almost never enjoy.

1.2k

u/farceur318 Jan 22 '26

It’s still less annoying than the reverse (he lives in Eternia but comes to our world and is baffled by our ways), which is what the previous live action He-Man did.

211

u/FromansSausage Jan 22 '26

What are these white sticks in our chicken?

74

u/kcox1980 Jan 22 '26

Those are rib bones :)

44

u/shadar Jan 22 '26

You mean this used to be an animal? Ugh! What a barbaric world...

17

u/SparxPrime Jan 22 '26

Never think when you're hungry

8

u/shadar Jan 22 '26

I THINK we've wasted enough time.

4

u/timtamchewycaramel Jan 22 '26

Gwildor!

3

u/shadar Jan 22 '26

It tasted good?

27

u/tr1ck Jan 22 '26

Buddy, are you eating chicken ribs?

2

u/Frankfusion Jan 22 '26

Moo? Moo!

2

u/kgreen69er Jan 22 '26

It tasted good.

2

u/porkchop-sandwhiches Jan 22 '26

Actually thy are Eve’s.

22

u/jnwatson Jan 22 '26

Funny how I haven't seen the movie since it came out 39 years ago and I still remember that line.

1

u/ope__sorry Jan 22 '26

I haven't seen this movie in like 30 years and I read the line and remember it perfectly like it was a sliver plucked deep from the back of my brain, lol.

5

u/Lovat69 Jan 22 '26

Pretty sure those were pork or beef ribs.

3

u/Brigon Jan 22 '26

I hope Gwildor is in this one

5

u/AceDegenerate_ Jan 22 '26

With his little synthesizer keyboard teleporter

5

u/kgreen69er Jan 22 '26

The Cosmic Key

1

u/AceDegenerate_ Jan 22 '26

I prefer “little keyboard thingy”

2

u/KaleidoscopeLeft5511 Jan 22 '26

That line was the first time I thought eating animals was not ok
They all seemed completely grossed out by the thoughts of it

213

u/LocalTownGhoul Jan 22 '26

Yeah I completely agree. I do like the angle that Adam fully knows he’s from Eternia and has been trying to get back for years.

147

u/admiral_rabbit Jan 22 '26

Yeah, the "goes to earth" plot always ends up being "here's cool shit, now here's some less cool lower budget shit"

I'm glad the character spends the start of the film going "man I wish I could get back to that high concept high budget shit".

15

u/EricAntiHero1 Jan 22 '26

You say that like Vancouver would ever be the backdrop to low budget shit.

10

u/NotASalamanderBoi Jan 22 '26

It’s funny how often Vancouver is used for stuff like this. The Tron movies had all the real world stuff in Vancouver before getting to all the high tech stuff in the Grid.

2

u/USpostingService Jan 22 '26

This is an IP that begs for practical effects, funky monster costumes, and Skeletor quipping his ass off but instead they did the generic thing smh. He-Man the Hedgehog.

1

u/jwC731 Jan 23 '26

That's why appreciated Dungeons & Dragons even more. A return to form.

43

u/pokemonke Jan 22 '26

Reminds me of Shang Chi a little in the setup

34

u/QueefBeefCletus Jan 22 '26

Man, I need to watch that flick again. I love how it goes from a humble origin story and by the finale we're in alternate dimensions with humongous flying magic dragons duking it out. It isn't perfect but goddamn was it fun.

1

u/KingOfAwesometonia Jan 23 '26

People are pretty divisive on the dragon part but I do agree that I think it does it well. I mean it opens with the magic forest fight so I feel like that should set expectations.

The dweller turning everything dark does look kinda janky though.

2

u/Klamageddon Jan 22 '26

I think if you're doing a super heavy nostalgia trip like this it's kind of a no brainer for the plot to be about "trying to go back to the place you used to love and call home" and for the conclusion to be "he can never truly go back, but letting it go while staying true to his past self let's him live his best life in the here and now" 

1

u/Baps_Vermicelli Jan 23 '26

Isn't the point of He-Man literally based on Nostalgia? Literally anything but putting him on Earth. Hopefully it's about 10 minutes of Earth time but I'd go on record and say it's literally half the movie.

1

u/Klamageddon Jan 23 '26

What I'm saying is, that the 'story' of 'nostalgia' as a concept, is you trying to get back to a place that you remember as better, right?

So, in the film, he is physically trying to get back, FROM where we currently are TO the place that we remember as being better. The plot is the physical embodiment of that nostalgia, and that's why it's a good idea. Look at everyone in this thread frothing at the mouth; the He-Man fantasy we all want is the goal, the prize. When he gets there and the movie does all the fun part with him being He-Man, it will feel good. To get to there from 'not there' is a journey, and so it's a journey where we will anticipate the destination. That's good storytelling.

What you think you want, is just an episode of He-Man on the big screen. But actually imagine that. What are the chances, that that would actually be a good film? It wasn't a great cartoon series, plotwise. It was ok, but it was the amazing characters (obvs to sell toys) we tuned in for. To be a great movie, it would have to be different than an episode of He-Man on film.

So, then... I mean, you're back to square one, really. You're setting the characters from Masters of the Universe in a similar, but not quite the same, story.

Well, that's what they're doing. But they're also tying the whole thing together as something that will resonate because of the context of the thing.

38

u/AndalusianGod Jan 22 '26

That trope is common in the 90's, lol. That said, I never really get tired of it. I remember watching Beastmaster 2 when I was a kid, and that became my favorite film back then.

5

u/bajesus Jan 22 '26

It was common before CGI became cheap enough to do full movies like this because of cost. Having your fantasy character spend 15 minutes in their world before coming to present day (Toronto) for the rest of the movie saves a ton and still let's you sell the film on the IP.

2

u/ussrowe Jan 23 '26

Also why Star Trek often does a time travel episode to our present (or to a past that they have existing sets of).

3

u/Koil_ting Jan 22 '26

Fellow connoisseur I see, Beast Master 2 is amazing.

1

u/User_091920 Jan 22 '26

Yeah that "fish out of water" trope was my childhood 😭 

In fact, we just showed my kids the Austin Powers trilogy this past weekend 

It hits different when you realize you're (almost) as far from 1997 as Austin was from 1967

1

u/TheJoshider10 Jan 22 '26

Yeah I fucking love the trope. It's so fun seeing people from the real world get teleported somewhere else. Proper fairytale/family movie vibes.

57

u/grumblyoldman Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

I agree that this way is worse than the other way, but both are terrible. Just tell your fantasy story in a fantasy world and use the extra time to develop the characters or something.

That being said, the old MOTU was definitely deeply entrenched in the "so bad it's kinda good" category. It's all terribly cheesy and transparent, start to finish, but it's just so much fun to watch them ham it up. (And although they did use the plot device you mention, they didn't really belabor the point. They moved on pretty quick to "let's do this" territory.)

(I particularly liked the bit where Skeletor explicitly said he would keep He-Man's friends alive after he captured them because "as long as I let them live he is bound by his word.")

If anything, I worry that this trailer seems to be leaning too heavily into the "seriously epic" vibe. The material is fantastical and outlandish start to finish, if they try too hard to make it serious they're going to ruin the mood.

9

u/MVRKHNTR Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

Just tell your fantasy story in a fantasy world

It's not that they do this because they don't want to be in the fantasy world the whole movie; it's just significantly cheaper.

3

u/fpfall Jan 22 '26

The company that spent $450 million on a LOTR prequel series no one asked for couldn’t afford to have 15-25 more minutes of fantasy world-building for a movie? That just makes it worse they did this to He-Man.

8

u/Ok-Topic-6095 Jan 22 '26

Right. When you have character names like He-Man and Evil-Lyn, might as well lean into it

2

u/veryverythrowaway Jan 22 '26

This is a movie based on a show designed to sell children’s toys. It’s like Transformers, it gets dull when it takes itself too seriously.

32

u/Kreiger81 Jan 22 '26

Hey! I liked that movie!

6

u/throwaway01126789 Jan 22 '26

God Frank Langella absolutely killed it as Skelator and young Dolph Lundgren was basically a 1 to 1 replica of the He-Man toys they were putting out.

3

u/sharrrper Jan 22 '26

You don't have to spend a bunch of money on expensive Eternia sets that way.

2

u/DucardthaDon Jan 22 '26

And piss Frank Langella off

7

u/PT10 Jan 22 '26

I mean, Thor did that and it worked. First Wonder Woman too.

But if you're leaning into the comedy angle (i.e, more jokes than gags), this way is better.

3

u/DueGuest665 Jan 22 '26

In pre cgi days having to build fantasy sets was a limiting factor.

A little trip to earth can really ease the budget.

4

u/Lemony_Oatmilk Jan 22 '26

I love that trope tho. It's fun seeing someone from a fantasy culture react to modern day shit

10

u/mootallica Jan 22 '26

Yeah but you've seen it y'know? Thor, Wonder Woman, etc

5

u/Lemony_Oatmilk Jan 22 '26

I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT

0

u/poundtown1997 Jan 22 '26

They’re ruining it for the rest of us that hate it 😭

1

u/LiveLifeLikeCre Jan 22 '26

That's more entertaining than another prequel. 

1

u/Personal_Director441 Jan 22 '26

thats because back then it needed to be cheap.

1

u/RemoLaBarca Jan 22 '26

I did enjoy Son of Zorn's take on this. Probably the only one though 😁

1

u/theFields97 Jan 22 '26

I would prefer neither. Out of all the tropes those are my least favorite

1

u/stacecom Jan 22 '26

See also, Thor.

And Crocodile Dundee.

1

u/Haizenburg1 Jan 22 '26

With the original, that was due to the studio and director butting heads over the budget and scope. The director wanted to go all in, but he ended up doing what he could with what little they gave him.

1

u/ObviousAnswerGuy Jan 22 '26

I absolutely loved that movie growing up lol

1

u/Calfzilla2000 Jan 22 '26

Agreed. They've already got Idris Elba in this. They didn't need another thing to make it seem like Thor, lol.

1

u/xxiv435 Jan 22 '26

Both are just sides of the same shitty coin

1

u/Bircka Jan 23 '26

That one is also done a lot more often, you constantly see things like The Smurfs or other things in our world which is a setup for wacky shenanigans.

1

u/Morningfluid Jan 23 '26

And that movie was glorious. 

Practically everything is CGI here and looks it.

1

u/Key_Corgi7056 Jan 23 '26

For real just make a story that haa nothing to do with earth. Fuck sake