Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 2.0
Not Bad, But Not Great Either
There are some things to be said for this movie. The action is there and suspense is well placed at times. Some characters like Optimous Prime, Ultra Magness, Galvatron, and Unicron are well drawn and memorable. On it's own, it is a fairly good movie. But in all honesty, this is very shallow compared to several animated movies I have seen. "Scooby Doo On Zombie Island" actually had a better story line; this movie actually frightened me more; character development was stronger; the story started normal and gradually unfolded into terror; and surprise events were VERY WELL placed. The Voltron series also carried more weight. We had 5 heroes with distinct personalities; and the villains King Zarkon, Hagar the witch, and Prince Lotour carried a very frightening and chilling essence. But at times they were even likable! The animated Batman series not only tried to stay within certain boundaries of plausibility, but they also worked greatly on character development. And often, we could be in two minds as to whether we should oppose the villains or feel sorry for them. I did like the Transformers at one time. But they lack either the charm and organization of the Scooby Doo Movies, the creepy charm of the Voltron (Lion) Movies, or the superb character development of the early 90s Batman Series. This movie seems to suffer from some of Disney's traits. (A simple good guy versus bad guy plot, no gray areas, low humor, ('Me Grimlock kick butt'), and amongst other things an artificial simplistic happy ending. Couldn't the autobots have said one nice thing about their deceased noble leader Optimous Prime in the end? How about poor Prowl, Iron Hide, and Ratchet? I guess to say one nice thing about their deceased friends would have interfered with the typical Disney Happy Ending!