Sometimes,
when the years pass after a film's debut, you wonder why there wasn't
a sequel. With "Masters of the Universe" however, the
answer to that is clear, as it was a critical and commercial
disaster. Having said that, I remembered it somewhat fondly and after
seeing it again, I'll admit I wanted a bit more. The question for me
then quickly became, where did it go wrong?
Classic
Movie Trailers - Masters of the Universe (1987)
Perhaps
the problems start, with the seeming lack of effort put into the
story. This is a "paint by the numbers" movie, with some
set up and some conflict, but little to no surprises before the end.
I like to think of it as being a "popcorn flick"; it's
simple enough that you can enjoy it without thinking very much. For
me, that kind of entertainment is nice sometimes, but if you aren't
looking for that at the start, you might just leave it bored.
It
is interesting to note however, that there is some disparity between
the critics and the general audience. Over at rottentomatoes.com, the
movie has a 17% approval rating with reviewers. When you compare that
to the 41% that it scored with moviegoers, that's quite a difference.
Admittedly though, if over half of the customers leave unhappy, you
probably don't have a very good product.
It's
possible, that they went into production doomed from the start. What
is good and what is bad in entertainment is always subjective, but
you have to also consider what is expected. "Return of the Jedi"
debuted in 1983. "Back to Future" was out in '85 and
"Masters" arrived two years later. I suppose by that time,
people wanted more than what it could give.
Episode
VI had a budget of about
forty-three million, according to Wikipedia. The same source claims
that "Masters" had about half of that. If we consider, that
most of the scenes in the latter film are on location, it's easy to
see why they might have went in that direction. Designing and
producing otherworldly sets is expensive, so if the Eternians travel
to Earth, they save the producers a lot of money.
That
would also mean, that He-Man needs to run around Chicago in his cape
and underpants; so I can sort-of see why people didn't dig it. To be
honest though, I don't think Courteney Cox and her boyfriend did much
to help. I couldn't have cared less about them and their problems and
it's hard to imagine who they would have served. That is to say, that
I think they had the attendees pegged wrong.
Let's
put this in perspective here; "He-Man and The Masters of the
Universe" was a cartoon. It was created to promote a toy line
and it debuted with it, in 1983. Four years later, we got this movie
and it looks like it was going for a much older audience. The romance
in "Star Wars" was light and sparse by
comparison."Masters", on the other hand, is heavy on the
icky-kissy-cootie stuff and the kind of drama that kids don't want to
see.
There's
no "Johnny B. Goode" scene and no fun along those
lines, so I'm sure the parents were also not thrilled with it. I am
of course, speculating here as always, but maybe there was more
action and fantasy in the original script. It's possible that Dolph
Lundgren signed on, with a much better blueprint than what they wound
up using. Investment capital often dries up for a lot of different
projects and film is no exception.
Watching
the movie now, I think it was a gamble. They did the best they could
at the time, hoping that they could make more with less. If they were
lucky, they could have been a hit with teens and the young adults in
the crowd. We would have seen the Eternia that they couldn't show
initially, if they made enough money to justify a return.
Reportedly
however, they didn't even break even. Upon reflection, I think they
should have seen that coming. Money is a big problem and if Frank
Langella's Skeletor can't conjure up enough, no other movie magic is
going to make up the difference. When people want Narnia or
Middle-Earth, you can't give them "Shakespeare in the Park"
and expect it to go over well.
-------------------------
@ChannelSeals
See"Masters
Of The Universe" on Netflix!
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