This is like the fifth time I'm seeing someone say He-man didn't take itself seriously enough. The movie asks you to just "go with it" because it's a silly premise full of silly characters. If you take it too seriously, especially in live action, it'll fall apart
I begrudgingly watched the new He-Man movie with some friends last night.
Again.
I still stand by my earlier comments. Had this film come out before Avengers: Endgame; or even before the first Iron Man; it would’ve fared a lot better, especially for box office turnout.
Whatever slop Marvel pumped out after Endgame poisoned the well for every other fictional property. Interrupting serious moments for cheap gags just doesn’t land anymore.
The second half felt especially weird and demanded the audience “just go with it.” There’s no sneaking around or tension... just characters knocking on doors and letting the plot carry itself.
The emotional reunion payoff doesn’t feel earned. If they’d spent more time on character-building in the first 15 minutes, it might have landed with real weight. A lot of that was probably cut for pacing. And speaking of pacing, that's also a noticeable issue.
Overall, what hurts the movie most is how the fights stop making sense and the logic completely falls apart in places. One moment the Power Sword is just lying wide open on the floor. The next, the henchmen are frantically trying to retrieve it. Then a few minutes later it’s back on the floor again, and they suddenly ignore it to fight He-Man instead.
The jail scene was also a head scratcher. So the bad guys imprison a robot, without checking it for weapons or shutting it off? Why bother even imprisoning a robot in the first place?
Then there’s the wildly inconsistent villain behavior: they constantly fail to take advantage of obvious opportunities and just stand around watching things happen. When it does happen, it's to move the plot forward.
Again, had this film been released a decade earlier, it would've felt entertaining and relevant for kids that grew up on the cartoon. Marvel and James Gunn sort of over played immersion breaking jokes and constant scene disruption.
As it stands, I'm giving it a 7/10, only because it's still better than most "MODERN" fictional movies and does genuinely have solid moments.
It's good, but flawed.