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Thread: MOTU 1987 Movie

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    Default MOTU 1987 Movie

    Quote Originally Posted by SGB View Post
    Out of curiosity, what'd you think of the live-action MOTU movie?
    Ooh... It has been many, many years since I've last watched that film , I think I'll track down a copy, pretty sure my mate has it, and give it a good viewing and I'll get back to you, the only thing I remember is Dolf Lungdren's make-up not looking very Skeletor-ish.

    Ah, that's one of the replica cels from one of the Rhino TF DVD sets.
    Ah, so as I suspected - it is tainted in that it's not an original production cel, a shame really.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
    the only thing I remember is Dolf Lungdren's make-up not looking very Skeletor-ish.
    Of course Dolph's make-up didn't look Skeletor-ish ... he didn't play skull-face, he played He-Man.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SGB View Post
    Of course Dolph's make-up didn't look Skeletor-ish ... he didn't play skull-face, he played He-Man.
    Well...
    That certainly explains things... Excuse me for a sec...

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    Quote Originally Posted by SGB View Post
    Out of curiosity, what'd you think of the live-action MOTU movie?
    Well...
    I've just finished watching the movie and without derailing or purely posting a rant I'll just say this - I'm very disappointed but am not surprised.
    For me, this will go into the very dark hidden area where the 'Rule of 3' movies reside.
    (My memory of it was sketchy at best, but now? - I still don't think I've seen a Live Action He-Man movie. )

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
    Well...
    I've just finished watching the movie and without derailing or purely posting a rant I'll just say this - I'm very disappointed but am not surprised.
    For me, this will go into the very dark hidden area where the 'Rule of 3' movies reside.
    (My memory of it was sketchy at best, but now? - I still don't think I've seen a Live Action He-Man movie. )
    This movie was my first major disappointment when it comes to Hollywood adaptations. I must have been like 7 years old when I saw it at the cinema and I remember coming out thinking 'WTF was that? That's a lot different from the He-Man I know'. I was trying to work out who Gwildor is while wondering where Orko was and why Teela looked so different. At this point I wasn't broken into the different continuities concept so it left me confused and most of the bad guys were movie only characters so that made it worse.

    Although I came out of the cinema annoyed as a little kid; as an adult I have grown to appreciate the movie more. Yeah it is still corny in an 80s way and I don't like it when MOTU mixes in with Earth (I hated this in the cartoon 'specials' and more so in the movie) but having said that, as far as Hollywood adaptations go it is one of the more faithful to source movies. Now that I understand that it's in an isolated continuity, I have grown to like the movie more despite my dislike for it as a kid.

    Something that I realized only very recently is that the guy who plays Tom Paris in Voyager was the main earth guy in the film.

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    I loved the movie! Firstly, i'm a big Dolph fan period, and I thought Skeletor was done well; suitably evil instead of the bumbling fool style. The costumes were also excellent, plus the music by Bill Conti (even though the intro's very similar to Superman). It's a bit of a Star Wars rip-off in parts, but that's about my only real fault.

    My favourite part when i was a kid, right up until now, is when He-Man takes the sword out of the chamber and does his famous line! As a kid i remember many an embarrassing moment with a rolled up newspaper emulating that scene Sends shivers down my spine!

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    Quote Originally Posted by kup View Post
    I was trying to work out who Gwildor is while wondering where Orko was
    That and other cost cutting decisions are explained in the DVD commentary (I don't think the DVD was released in this country yet). I think they did an excellent job with the restrictions placed on them, and is one of my favourite movies. Frank Langella plays Skelator really well for someone who had to wear a mask for the role.

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    Whilst there were some positives, they were very few in number:

    - The story did stay pretty darn close to the source material, which was a positive step but then they took 1 trillion steps backward by setting 3 quarters of the movie on earth - Earth Should Not of Been in The Film!

    - I like Dolf, he and his character should've had better writing and some worthwhile screen time - He-Man felt like a cameo character.

    - Langella did quite a good job and his part was written well, the costume was excellent but the facepaint/mask was just pathetic.

    - I'm pretty sure Wildor's last name is Binks.

    - Cruising around in a Pink Cadillac!?! = LAME

    - Man-At-Arms was quite close to being spot-on IMO, as was Evil-Lyn.

    - The movie-only bad guy's genuinely suck, the only decent one was Beast Man and he didn't even get a speaking role!?!

    - Teela, being the daughter of Man-At-Arms and the head of the Eternian Army, seems to completely forget her military training when it comes to eating KO-KFC "You mean it's an Animal?" = Fail

    - The best part of the film? The actress playing Teela and what she was wearing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kurdt_the_goat View Post
    I loved the movie!
    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    one of my favourite movies
    +2

    I really have A LOT of time for this film. Sure it's got some short-comings, but it's still very entertaining.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
    - The story did stay pretty darn close to the source material, which was a positive step but then they took 1 trillion steps backward by setting 3 quarters of the movie on earth - Earth Should Not of Been in The Film!
    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    That and other cost cutting decisions are explained in the DVD commentary (I don't think the DVD was released in this country yet). I think they did an excellent job with the restrictions placed on them
    Exactly! in 1987 there was no way they could do Orko, so they created a new character instead. There is a DVD available in Aus, but I don't think it has the commentary on it!

    The movie's budget was actually not that big (by comparison), which is why they chose to have He-man and Co come to earth... a lot cheaper than building Eternian sets. Having said that, my favourite parts of the film are the bookends (on Eternia)!

    Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
    I like Dolf, he and his character should've had better writing and some worthwhile screen time - He-Man felt like a cameo character.
    I agree with this one... although I think it was probably a decision reflected by Dolph Lundgren's... um... acting abilities! At least he looked like He-Man But I do agree, I think He-Man was treated the same way Optimus Prime has been treated by Michael Bay... he's the necessary, iconic character but is NOT treated like the main character in the film(s). In neither MOTU, TF1 or ROTF do we follow He-Man/Prime's story as the central story plotline. They are, of course, the heroes who rock up to save the day at the end in all 3 films, but we mainly follow the young kids and their adventures/story.

    I would love to see He-Man get the Batman Begins/Iron Man treatment - make him the central character!

    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    Frank Langella plays Skelator really well for someone who had to wear a mask for the role.
    Absolutely - his performance is near flawless. One of, if not the, best Skeletors ever!

    I love that the film starts with Skeletor finally achieving his goal of conquering Castle Grayskull. I also love how there's NO Prince Adam! Uggghhh... I really dislike Adam and consider it one of the worst contributions Filmation made. The "barbarian" He-man in the original comics was way more interesting than the Clark Kent in pink tights version!

    And this film is also the turning point for another character... Evil-Lyn. Finally, they made her interesting - a badass witch! The 200X Evil-Lyn owes so much to her portrayal in this film! It's great!

    And for those of you who may be a fan of Jack Kirby and/or his New Gods (when he wrote for DC comics), you might find this interesting.The film definitely deliberately pays homage to a classic comic series... and I love it! Skeletor as a god - bring it on!

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    The MOTU movie is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. I really like the movie a lot despite it's flaws. Lundgren was physically perfect as He-Man; Langella was superb as Skeletor, making him one of my favourite film villains of all time; the cinematography, aside from what was shot during the first 1-2 weeks of filming, is great (Goddard discusses the cinematography on the DVD commentary); the action sequences are entertaining; and Bill Conti's score is terrific.

    Speaking of the score, I have the La-La Land Records release of the soundtrack, and it bears Conti's signature on it. 'Tis one of my prized possessions.


    Quote Originally Posted by Robzy View Post
    There is a DVD available in Aus, but I don't think it has the commentary on it!
    It has the commentary. The Aussie DVD, released by Shock DVD, is a direct port of the U.S. release, so it has the same transfer, menus and extras. The only difference between the two is that the U.S. disc is Region 1 whereas the Aussie disc is Region 0.


    and most of the bad guys were movie only characters so that made it worse
    Part of the reason for most of the villains being movie-only characters is so the film makers could kill off villains if needed. Mattel didn't want the film makers killing off existing characters, hence the creation of new villains for the movie.


    My favourite part when i was a kid, right up until now, is when He-Man takes the sword out of the chamber and does his famous line!
    That's my favourite scene too. The music during that sequence is absolutely superb and my favourite piece of music from the film.


    I think they did an excellent job with the restrictions placed on them
    Agreed.


    He-Man felt like a cameo character
    Doesn't feel like that to me at all.


    but the facepaint/mask was just pathetic
    I'd have to disagree. I thought the prosthetics make-up was well done.

    There was actually another, arguably better prosthetic made that made Skeletor look a bit more evil, but it wasn't used as Langella found it too uncomfortable.


    A cool little Lundgren story:

    Last year, Dolph was a guest at a comic/sci-fi convention somewhere, and at the end of his appearance he signed items that con attendees had brought with them for him to autograph.

    One attendee brought a replica of movie He-Man's sword, which Dolph happily signed. The cool part of this was that Dolph -- without being asked or prompted to -- also signed on the sword: "I have the power!"

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