'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe' Lands at Columbia

After Warner Bros. abandoned the in-development He-Man and the Masters of the Universe film, everyone was waiting for where it might wind up. It looks like Columbia Pictures has picked it up, where the entire project will be rebuilt from scratch.

Ever since 2007, when this was first picked up as a live-action feature film, I've been trying to imagine what kind of movie we'd be looking at. Will the subject matter be taken pretty seriously, like they tried to do with the last live-action disaster, or will there be a tongue-in-cheek element to it. You have to admit, the subject matter is pretty ridiculous.

It would be interesting if they expanded on the concept. It's made quite clear that Eternia is a planet in the cartoon, and yet it always came down to the castle, He-Man's magic sword and Skeletor's inept henchmen. What did we expect -- after all, it was based on a toy line. But there's more that could be done with that concept, if they stretched their imaginations.

Maybe the story takes place in the vast future, and Eternia is a lost settlement of human travelers from Earth. Skeletor and his henchmen are either the results of genetic mutation or experimentation. Or is it better to leave well enough alone? I think some story grander and more ambitious than Skeletor trying to take Castle Grayskull to steal He-Man's powers is necessary here.