Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Being a kid of the 80's I was a huge fan of He-Man. This documentary brought a lot of rose tinted 80's clad memories flooding back.

From the inception of the Toy line through to the sad demise and disappearance of the character his documentary really does take you back

Fascinating looks at the toys the series , the movie and that god awful reimagining the new adventures of he man

Also Interesting insight into the making of the movie with interviews with dolph lundgren and frank langella and the problems that plagued the production and led to the flop of what should have been a home run

Nostalgia trip

Enjoy.

If you're a fan of the 80's and of toys in general this is a must watch documentary. Just over 90 minutes long this documentary goes through the history of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise, from the conception of a new and popular toy line for MATTEL to worldwide phenomenon, spanning the 80's and to modern times. Fans of He-Man and Masters of the Universe will enjoy the tidbits and behind the scenes stories behind the toy line and franchise. I would say that in terms of how the franchise came to be this documentary could also be a learning experience for business students.

A very interesting documentary with only a few shortcomings in my opinion. I felt the documentary spent too much time on the 1987 movie although I will say the interviews with both Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella were absolute gems. Touched upon briefly there wasn't enough material, unfortunately, on why the franchise collapsed the way it did. Although a lot of that was already covered in the Netflix Toys That Made Us docu-series, it would have been nice to get a different perspective in this movie as well. Finally, I feel there was not enough focus on the 2000 reboot, no mention of any new developments within the franchise itself or where it could go in the future. I would have expected that personally.

All in all, this documentary was absolutely worth the wait. Hats off to the team for finally coming through with a great nostalgic and learning experience.

Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2017)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Highly entertaining documentary that covers the creation of Mattel's action figure, which would eventually take off like no one expected.

Directors Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum do a marvelous job with the subject and really deliver an entertaining film that fans of the toys are going to love. What I enjoyed the most about this documentary is how fast-paced it was as it goes through one piece of history to the next and I just really loved the way this was constructed and how the story was told.

I honestly didn't know too much about this story going into the film so I found it to be extremely interesting how the toy idea came out, how it developed and the various changes that had to be made to sell it. The most interesting thing was just seeing the various stages of production and how much work and time it actually takes to get something off the ground only to run into one problem after another. The attention to details were wonderful and I really loved how everything played out.

Some of the greatest stuff comes from the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE film, which as we now know was a major bomb when it was released. We get some terrific stories about the pre-production and the various issues that Mattel had with the script. Best of all is that we get new interviews with Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella who talk in great detail about their roles and the production. Langella insists that his character in the film remains one of his favorites.

At just 95-minutes there aren't any wasted material here as the documentary is right on the mark and discusses everything that you hoped it would.

This was a comprehensive documentary going over the creation of the He-Man/Masters of the Universe toy line as well the subsequent spin-offs, the comics, the cartoons, including She-Ra, and the live-action movie.

A well-packaged film. Power of Grayskull does a surprisingly good job of keeping you invested in the history of a children's franchise. The interviews consist of various creators and producers from all aspects of He-Man. They are all infectiously proud of the work they've done. It's especially entertaining to see esteemed actor Frank Langella waxing nostalgic far more than you thought he would about playing Skeletor. You learn about the atmosphere of the eighties toy industry and how the restrictions of times affected the creators of the toys and other media and how some choices were matters of convenience.

The only nitpick I have is that I would've liked them to talk about The New Adventures of He-Man show more. This one gets surprisingly short shrift compared to how much they discuss the original, She-Ra, and the 2000s reboot.

If you have absolutely no interest in He-Man, this won't be for you. Still, if you're even slightly curious, you may find this very informative.

Movies with businesses as heroes, trying valiantly to sell you things you will look at in ten years and mouth "What the fu...?" not the easiest thing in the world. Movies about making a super hokey but widely loved film, which everyone involved seemed to think that they were making Citizen Kane pt. 2? Easy, intriguing & bedding for longer than the 10 minute glossing over it gets here. When Dolph Lundgren is the voice of reason - more can only be better.

Some of the history is interesting, no doubt more so to die hard fans (who doubtless will know all of this information anyway), nothing ever grabs or emotionally involves the viewer (beyond Frank Langella's sincere pride in and love of the movie).

Well worth a watch on a Sunday evening, even if it's just for the "wait, that'd captain Kirk's mum?" moment, but not worth digging through the bargain bin for.