He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Beginning (2002)

Animated pilot movie comprising the first three episodes of the 2002 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reboot. First shown on TV on 16th August that year, before being broken down into individual episodes beginning on 30th August. This version runs at just over an hour.

The animation is a big step-up from the 1980s original. Character movements are far more fluid, and there's hardly any reused/stock footage. Artwork is good; many backdrops are quality paintings in their own right (Snake Mountain is beautiful), whilst the character designs are updated - yet wholly recognisable - versions of their 1980s selves (and for the first time there's a noticeable difference between Prince Adam and He-Man!). Colours are strong, whilst not being distractingly over-bright, and the whole look is pretty cinematic. The only downer for me visually is that the fights have a definite Anime feel to them, with a lot of jump-flying that feels shoehorned in. I enjoy Anime - but that style of combat seems out of place here. Some of the fight choreography is also a little confusing at times.

Voice work is fine, and whilst it's strange hearing different actors' voices coming from He-Man, Man-At-Arms, etc, the performances are a good fit (have to say though that Brian Dobson's Skeletor is very close to Alan Oppenheimer's original). Storytelling is good, with a real sense of world-building even at this early stage. And we get full origins for both He-Man and Skeletor - something not done on the original show.

Looking online it seems that fans of the original show on the whole embraced this version (both currently rate at 7.5 on IMDb). For me it doesn't quite have the charm of the original, but it's certainly fun. 7/10