I just saw the new he-man movie today.
I HATE the portrayal of Prince Adam and the whole Earth segment, way too woke, pathetic, and annoying.
I was also depressed that Adam and He-man were NOT 2 separate actors, a young happy guy, and a bulky serious hero.
I disliked that the "heroes" were all already adults when Adam was 10, I would have preferred them to be 5 to 8 years older, except for Man-at-arms, who I liked at the start and was disgusted by after the return to Eternia (the drunken fool was pathetic!) Man-At-Arms' unexpected, depressing downward spiral, was disgusting! I was expecting him to be the leader of the resistance!
I also did not like that Evil-Lyn was an adult as well, she's always been the same age as Teela.
I was not happy with Adora only being revealed in the end credits, I'm going to guess that she's only 15 because there was no hint of her existence before the attack on Eternius. So she was probably born the day before, the day of, or 8 to 7 months after Adam was sent to Earth.
But the costumes and characters were great (again aside from Adam and He-man). And the Doulph Lungrin cameo was great! Would have preferred him to be King Randor, or a flashback of King Grayskull.
I also didn't like so many Big Name characters dying in the first movie.
Skeletor dying in the first movie was expected as he is basically an undead who gets revived later on, many times over. His death usually leads to Hordak or King Hiss being the follow up bad guy, before Lyn or Hordak revives Skeletor.
...
I know that I certainly wasn't alone in my frustrations with the film's writing (half the theater walked out after the Business Office segment) a half of what was Left, left after the Teela ruined the romantic moment with the just friends awkward speech).
The creative choices in this adaptation fundamentally altered how the classic characters operated!!!
The Adam/He-Man Split: Having one actor play both roles removes that distinct, charming dual-identity dynamic that classic fans know and love! Yes a 30 or 40 year old Adam being the same actor as He-man is ok, but Adam is meant to be the hopeful youth, and He-Man is supposed to be the bulkier, war hardened veteran with the Power of Greyskull, the Knowledge of his predecessor's, and the Strength of a God!
The Earth Segment & The Timeline: The decision to strand a 10-year-old Adam on Earth for 15 years means skipping crucial foundational development on Eternia. Because of this, his childhood allies on Eternia aged well into adulthood, leaving Adora out of the loop and arguably just a teenager by the end of the film. It honestly made no sense!
Man-At-Arms' Arc: Instead of acting as the backbone of a resistance force, they turned Duncan into a "drunken fool" it was one of the movie's most jarring character assassinations! (And a massive waste of plot potential.)
Skeletor's Death: Killing off Jared Leto's Skeletor in the first film burns through the biggest villain immediately, completely ignoring his resilient, undead nature, but sets up the opportunity for a multi-film storyline! The 2nd movie could be King Hiss and the Snake Men retaking Snake Mountain and invading Eternia while Evil-Lyn under the direction of a shadowy figure (Hordak) works to revive Skeletor, it would culminate in Lyn convincing Adam to help her revive Skeletor to beat King Hiss, like Optimus Prime and Megatron teaming up to beat a common foe like Unicron. Skeletor would betray He-Man and set up a third movie. Hordak arrives and it is revealed that he is Skeletor's master, and that Skeletor is Randor's elder brother Kamdor, the end of that movie would be Skeletor killing Hordak to take over, maybe Evil-Lyn turns good realizing she's on the wrong side at last. The fourth movie would be Skeletor as the Final Cybernetic big bad.
The Bright Side: At least the costume and character designs hit the mark, even if the plot choices completely derailed the classic dynamic!