DIFFERENT KIND OF TOY STORY

Filmmaker Travis Knight reinvigorated the Transformers series with Bumblebee.

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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CERT 12A, IN CINEMAS NOW ✰✰✰✰

He demonstrates a similarly deft touch here with this live-action adventure based on the toys and 1980s animated series - a staple of my adolescent escapism.

A playful wink to a 1987 film version headlined by Dolph Lundgren adds fuel to a fan-service fire that burns bright in this nostalgia-speckled origin story, replete with three additional scenes in the end credits.

Fifteen years after his mother Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley) exiled him from Castle Grayskull to protect the legendary Sword of Power, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) is trapped in a thankless job in HR on Earth, desperately searching for the weapon.

He locates the mighty blade and ventures back to Eternia with childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), daughter of Idris Elba’s character Duncan/Man-at-Arms, to discover Skeletor (Jared Leto) and sorceress Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) have plunged the kingdom into darkness.

The prince’s awkward return signals a bloodthirsty final battle.

Masters Of The Universe is overlong at 141 minutes and childhood scenes could be trimmed, but there’s an innate sense of kinetic energy once the prince returns home.