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If you had to make a movie based on the ham-fisted He-Man toy line and you had no choice but to cast Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) in the lead, you could do far worse than first-time director Gary Goddard did with Masters of the Universe. Goddard and screenwriter David Odell (The Dark Crystal) give the film a world-colliding Wizard of Oz quality by transplanting most of the action from He-Man’s home world of Eternia to our own planet Earth. I’m sure this was a cost-cutting measure more than anything else, but seeing these larger-than-life characters as fish out of water is one of the more charming aspects of this relatively low-budget sci-fi flick.

Future Friends star Courteney Cox and Robert Duncan McNeill play teenagers who get caught up in the adventure. They help He-Man and his friends search for a vital ‘cosmic key’, a device that can open portals to other dimensions in time and space — He-Man’s only way to get back to Eternia before the evil Skeletor (Frank Langella) assumes the throne there. But Skeletor also wants the key, sending some nasty henchmen and his devious right-hand woman, Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster), to find it before He-Man does.

Odell’s script delivers the prerequisite action, but it more importantly, it delivers character and heart — enough to make Masters of the Universe feel like more than a studio cash grab. Despite having their names further down on the billing, it’s Cox and McNeill who really carry this movie. Fortunately, they’re likable and engaging enough to do so. This is a good thing since the Swedish-born Dolph Lundgren can barely speak English at all convincingly. Odell and Goddard manage Lundgren’s limitations admirably, surrounding him with several talented actors who help lift him up when he needs it. Physically, of course, Lundgren certainly looks the part. He’s pecs-out in a cape and diaper the whole movie, and he looks fantastic.

Frank Langella steals the show as Skeletor. He thoroughly commits to the juicy, villainous role, unrecognizable behind Michael Westmore’s striking makeup. He’s over-the-top in the best way possible, waxing philosophically about the nature of good and evil one minute, doling out spur-of-the-moment executions the next. His contribution helps elevate the rest of the film perhaps more than anyone else’s. Other valuable members of the cast include diminutive Billy Barty (Willow) as the alien Gwildor, who provides a lot of the film’s comic relief, and James Tolkan (Back to the Future) as an incredulous police officer who starts the story as an additional antagonist for our heroes, but ends up being one of their allies.

While the visual effects aren’t always state-of-the-art, the film features its fair share of chases and shoot-outs, creatively choreographed and captured in far more angles than films of similar budgets. Film editor Anne V. Coates, an Oscar-winner for her work on Lawrence of Arabia, is an unheralded savior for the movie — one widely reported to have been a troubled, disorganized production constantly on the verge of being shut down by the studio, Cannon Films, which was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Despite its troubled history, the film contains top-notch work from production designer William Stout and costume designer Julie Weiss (with input from renowned conceptual artist Moebius). Bill Conti (Rocky) delivers a huge, rip-roaring score, one almost on par with Star Wars, complete with memorable, romantic themes and propulsive marches.

Masters of the Universe never fully escapes its budget and production limitations, and the story takes some pretty corny turns. But if you suspend your disbelief early enough, you might find it far more creative and entertaining than it has any right to be. I enjoy it more every time I see it.

With Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, Anthony DeLongis, and Christina Pickles.