TAKE 5!- SPOILER FREE REVIEW- Masters of the Universe (2026)

He-Man returns to the big screen! And here are two people who knew little to nothing about the franchise! We went in completely blind! We came out loving it! Tune in now to hear Daryl and Monise's take on the film, Masters of the Universe! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

All right, welcome back everyone to another episode of Real Talk with D. This is our Take Five segment. Today we're going to be doing a spoiler-free recap of the latest installment that came out probably about two weeks ago, I would say. Masters of the Universe. And I waited a little bit to do this one because I wanted to first bring her along to see this. Yep. And then I the I did see it once when it first came out opening weekend, but I was kind of zoned out due to my job a little bit, so I missed a good chunk of the movie. So I finally got to watch the movie in its entirety for this round. So let's talk about it. Um, what did you think of this movie? We both went, let's start, let me start off with this before I sorry to interrupt, but we both went into this movie kind of relatively blind because we didn't really grow up with the He-Man universe a lot. I watched a couple of episodes when I was younger, but I never really got hooked into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Never seen a single thing. No idea what it was when I walked in. It's definitely very odd. Like if you have no, like me, no context what you're walking into. You're just like, this is different. Not a bad different. It's just not really like anything you've seen before. Um, like I think you and I talked about it. Was this a cult classic? Like for those people, like was it like one of the things?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

This was a huge animated show from the 80s. That's how it kind of well, it started off as like toys, I believe. I think my dad even used to collect these toys when he was younger. Okay. And then it was an animated show from the 80s, and they actually made a movie in 87 starring Dolph London, who plays the plays He-Man, but he plays the Russian and Rocky, Rocky Four, Drago. And he played He-Man, but that became kind of a cult classic. So it really hadn't been touched again until this recent one where Nicholas Gallatine played him now.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I yeah, I think the thing is like for me, it just seems like a very odd one to pick to like put all this money into, but I did enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

I think Jared Leto did a good job as Skeletor.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

I think he was my favorite part.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

He was like, they so they did lean into the joking of it a little bit because it's so crazy. I'll say it is almost I don't mean to sign the meat because I did enjoy the movie, but it's so like over the top in some areas, it's almost laughable. And so I think they really, from what I could tell, they leaned into it. And I I think it worked. Like I thought it was funny. I thought like some of the stuff they had with Skeletor, like was funny, and the way he was intimidating and scary, but they still had him be silly in a way because he does look a little ridiculous and his henchmen look ridiculous, and a lot of it is ridiculous. So I I do think they played into that really well.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, yeah. I I agree. I think the comedy worked. There were a couple of parts that I felt didn't need the comedy. I think we could have had a very serious moment or a very epic moment. I'm not going to give too much away, but there's one particular scene that happens kind of closer to the final third act of the movie. And it's a scene that I love in all kinds of movies every time they do this kind of scene, but they ended up turning it into a joke afterwards, and I was like, oh man, you kind of took that away from it being a really awesome moment. I will again I won't I won't give too much away, but other than a few scenes, I do agree with you that I think the jokes worked in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

And I went and I I didn't watch the full episode on YouTube, but I watched like part of an episode or two on YouTube because they have like the first full season. And it seems like they did a good job paying homage to the characters and things, like when it came to the way they dressed or the way they looked or things they said and did. They paid good homage. Now the music.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

That was I that was the best. I loved the music. The score was incredible, and they even had some good songs. You know, you got the cure playing, you got the queen, you had, of course, the four non-blondes classic, what's up? And yeah. Yeah, and sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

No, I was gonna say, I think they did the music really, really well for that.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Definitely. For those of you who aren't really aware of what this movie is even about, kind of like us, essentially, this is an origin story about He-Man. And it's it's a story. And the funny thing is that we've seen this kind of story before. We've seen this this formula before where, you know, the the young chosen one or the prince of this magical land gets somehow miraculously transported to Earth. And it's funny because sometimes, you know, you get these heroes that get transported to earth from their their mystical world, and they have no memory of who they are or who their parents are or anything like that. So I found it kind of interesting that he-man or Adam in this case is his care is his name, knew who he was. He knew where he came from, he remembered his parents, and he knows about the sword and everything like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I'm surprised he wasn't put in an insane asylum growing up because he talks about it growing up in the world. So I'm surprised he made it where he did in life.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah, I no, I I'm with you. And I liked that I actually like that we spent a little bit of time on Earth with him a little bit and how much he hates his job and he hates Daryl. Again, we're not gonna dive into that, but you'll you'll understand the reference. He works in HR. Yes. Works in HR and goes to the gym. He had a nice little cameo again, not gonna spoil it too much. Nice cameo in there. That was fun. And um then uh yeah, it was no. I mean, overall, I had a great time with this movie. I've seen it twice now, and I'm glad I saw it a second time, and I would love to see it a third time. I'm gonna be honest. So a buddy of mine wants to go see it, and I'm I just might join him. I thought Nicholas Galatine did a great job as He-Man. You like Camilla Mendez? I do, I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

I appreciate that they didn't do his his hair exactly as they do in the show.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

In the original show? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

I appreciate the weather take they did on his hair.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yes. There were a couple of people when I was watching him as He-Man that I thought also could have portrayed the role. The first one that came to mind was Pearson Foday.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

And then another one that they were actually looking at before Nicholas was Kellen Letz, Emmett from Twilight.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

And I was like, okay, I could get on board with that one. He's a little older now, but yeah. Um, this isn't Nicholas's first time playing a prince. You guys might know him from the 2021 Cinderella, where he played The Prince Charming and opposite of Camille Cabello, right? Camille Cabello, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yeah. No, this is a he got really, really buff for this movie.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

So I do like how they essentially just covered him up in clothes. They didn't, you know, try to shrink his body or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

And well, they put him in baggy clothes. It almost made him look a little chunkier rather than mus muscular.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And then when he got into his He-Man look.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Oh my goodness, the fact that his name is He-Man kills me.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

What about the rest of the character names? I mean, if you guys know the show, you'll know about Ram Man, Fisto, Man at Arms, all these Well, that fits their person.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

It's just, I am He-Man.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yes. So, I mean, overall, like I said, I think my favorite character was probably Skeletor. I think Jared Leto did a wonderful job as that.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

And I like the tiger.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yes, you like cringer a lot.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Cringer.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Battle cat. And uh, if you guys do go see the movie, make sure to stick around because there is not one, but there's actually three post-credit scenes in the movie. There's one that happens literally as soon as the screen blacks out, and then there's one mid-credit, and then there's one at the very, very end. So make sure to stick around for that. But overall, how would you uh how would you rate this movie? Rank this movie, I mean, out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

I don't know, because it's not typically my cup of tea if we go down that road. I did enjoy it, but like I absolutely didn't understand anything that happened. Like, I was able to follow, but it's just one of those movies you're like, this is very interesting. Um I mean, I still enjoyed it, so I guess like a seven.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, no, I would I would agree with that. I might even jump it to an eight because I just had a really great time with this movie. I've enjoyed it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

It's not gonna go win an Oscar, it's not gonna win best this bad it, but it's good fun. Like that's like this, these people need to chill out. It's just a good fun movie.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

You know, I did want to ask you this, considering you and your dad, even too, are really big on CGI when it comes to movies. How'd you feel about the CGI in this movie? Because they did they did go big on the budget, you said.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

200 million dollars, yes. I mean, obviously, like Skeletor's complete CGI. A lot of his henchmen are part CGI. I didn't have too many issues with it. Like, I thought they did as well as they could for him.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yeah, I did too. There were a couple of scenes where you could obviously clearly tell it was CGI, but yeah, some of them look good. I thought the whole Eternia looked beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

It did.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Um, the land that he's from. I thought Skeletor looked on point. Cringer was fun, but yeah, no, overall, it was good. I liked it. I was I was just curious just because you're really big on CGI, so I am you you care so much about it. You don't you don't watch these older movies for that reason.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So it's not that I don't I do watch them. I just that's the first thing I point out, and it annoys Daryl.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

It does, you know. You just you gotta appreciate the movie for what it is and for the time that it was made.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

But what's sad, right, is you have Pirates of the Caribbean Davy Jones CGI, like beautiful, and then you do CGI now for Marvel, and it's like, what is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, it's gotten worse, actually. No, Davy Jones still looks incredible from Pirates of the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

He looks phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

I mean, if you want to go back even further, let's look at the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. I mean, hardly it's not all CGI, but you know, like they did well with it. Yeah, that that still looks real too. But, anyways, everybody, we'll go and wrap it up there for today for our little take five segment. We hope you guys do get a chance to see this movie and let us know what you think. Did you see it? Did you not see it? What did you think of it? Did you enjoy it? But we want to hear from you. We highly do recommend it. Uh, we it was a real good time. Go see it. Yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it. Like she said, it's definitely worth it for the music alone. The theme song is great for this new movie. They even hint a little bit at the original theme song as well. But anyways, you guys, make sure to keep tuning in to Real Talk with D. Follow us on Instagram. Make sure to uh tune in for, or excuse me, tune in to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever get your podcast. But until then, everybody, thank you so much for listening, and we will see you at the movies.