Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 4.0
Not what you may think...
Believe it or not, The Transformers is an exercise in rebellious filmmaking. Take a cartoon children's show about robots from another planet that can change into vehicles (yeah we all liked it, even though we were a little older) beef up the animation, get some high talent voices, give it a Heavy Metal soundtrack, actually kill some of the characters (yes, I said kill) and what have you got? Well it beats me but it works. This movie was a marketing ploy (as well as a big toy commercial) to change the guard of the Transformers characters. When I said earlier that they killed some of the characters, I mean some of the main characters. And not just power down type of deaths, these were deaths caused by war. This movie is violent in places, but not bloody. The implications of the Decepticons as they kill their do good Autobot enemies is down right classic. They kill without thought, and the Autobots defend and die without concern for themselves. They truly are heroes as much as the Decepticons are villains. The movie is simply about a large planet eating moon, voiced by Orson Wells (yes, THAT Orsen Wells). It is traversing the galaxy chomping everything that is getting in its way. Of course its heading straight for Cybertron, the Transformers home planet. In the middle of the Autobot/Decepticon War no less. The first battle that takes place on Earth is furious, having only to do with the war. When the Autobots learn of the Planet eater, they start for home immediately. They run into trouble along the way, keeping the action quota way up. The lead role, Hot Rod, voiced by Judd Nelson, is slick and skilled, but young and immature. Its obvious what's going to happen to him later (no he doesn't die). The lead Decepticon is voiced by Lenord Nimoy, joyfully overplaying the voice role of a bad guy, and he does it so well. In any case, there is plenty of action until the final showdown where the planet eater shows there's more to him then meets the eye (sorry, no pun intended). The movie starts to slip toward the last quarter, the animation declines a bit, as if they may have been running out of money. But overall, this movie is entertaining and a blast to watch. The DVD has almost no extra features but it's still worth the cost for upgraded sound and clearer picture quality then you would find on VHS.