Yeah, the movie actually has very little to do with the familiar He-Man lore. Practically nothing; for example, "Prince Adam" isn't even a concept in this movie. It was developed completely separately from the cartoons, so a lot of things people expect from something with the "He-Man" label simply aren't there. Which is a little disappointing, but it actually was put into development before the cartoon existed - despite coming out after it was over - so there were always going to be huge differences. The original comics that came with the toys in 1982 had their own unique lore as well, which was mostly abandoned when the cartoons came out. So there's a few parallel He-Man mythologies out there. The movie is completely its own, but it borrows a lot of the most familiar bits and pieces, enough to be at least recognizable.
Nobody's costume is correct, though, which is weird. But if you can ignore that, you're halfway there. It differs greatly from the cartoons but it explains itself pretty well. If you're not overly familiar or in love with the cartoons, you may actually enjoy it more. Most people really couldn't get around how different it was from the cartoon.
Since they're pretty different and unique mythologies, all anyone would really NEED to know before watching the movie is:
- Whoever controls Castle Grayskull, controls the Universe.
- The Sorceress of Grayskull chose He-Man to defend Grayskull and all of Eternia from the evil forces of the dark wizard Skeletor.
- He-Man's Power Sword channels some of Grayskull's power - which is Infinite - into himself, which is why he's such a badass.
- Skeletor's origins are vague - he's had several, all conflicting - but ultimately, he's evil, he's Frank Langella, and he's a WAY better movie villain than Darth Vader. At the least, he's the most QUOTABLE movie villain ever.
"I am NOT in a giving vein this day...!" Even people who HATE this movie, still love Skeletor.
- Skeletor wants to take Grayskull's power for himself, so he can conquer the universe and become a God. He-Man, obviously, is not thrilled with this idea.
- The bald guy from "Back to the Future" actually appeared in at least ONE other movie.
- Courtney Cox was really hot when she weighed more than 98 pounds.
- He-Man's catchphrase is, "I Have The Power!" In the cartoons, he says it constantly. In the movie, he says it exactly once, and when it finally happens, it's totally perfect.
- Stay through the credits. You didn't know it, but every single movie since like 1999 has been ripping this one off. But none of them do it as well.
It gets a lot of sh*t, but I love it. Like, it shamelessly rips off Star Wars, but it does it really, really well. It's a better "Star Wars" movie than like half of the Star Wars movies have been. And it's earnest as hell. Unlike a lot of "toy movies", it doesn't feel like it has to make fun of the material; it's got that veneer of 80s cheese, but it takes itself TOTALLY seriously, and the film is better for it. I genuinely rank it as one of the best sci-fi/fantasy films of the 1980s.
It's amazing it turned out as well as it did, because they actually ran completely out of money before it was finished, and had to shoot most of the final fight scene literally in the dark. But it actually creates a nice atmosphere, as its creatively shot and it's easy to get caught up in what's happening to the point where you stop noticing that anything's amiss.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. I love this movie unironically.
