Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 4.0
The Best Of The Whole "Transformers" Universe
I remember the '80s. In fact, I was a high school/college geek during that time (before "geekdom" was actually cool) who still watched afternoon/Saturday morning cartoons. Apart from the exceptions (all Japanese imports), most of them were basically extended commercials for what was being offered as toylines to kids. There were two series that were different - both were selling toylines, true, but both had excellent storytelling, interesting graphics, and excellent overseas production houses that kept the quality of animation just a little bit ahead of its competitors. They were also properties owned by Hasbro and licensed by Marvel Entertainment. These were "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe; A Real American Hero."When The "Transformers" series (both TV and toyline) needed a reboot, they took an unusual approach. Rather than doing another "miniseries"/extended pilot to introduce new characters, Hasbro/Marvel/Sunbow Productions (the animation house responsible for most of the Marvel Entertainment series during that time) took the unusual step in spending a vast amount of money on a theatrical release. Not just another theatrical release either - a bold, mature, sensible retelling of the Autobot saga that, rather than sticking with the tried and true simple adventure story, made the decision to massacre a lot of characters in order to make room for the new. The even killed off the most popular character of the franchise, Optimus Prime, thus adding an emotional punch that couldn't be avoided.Yes, there were commercial reasons for doing all this, but the characters were so well established, and the script dealing with them so well-constructed as to make you care for a bunch of, let's face it, machines, the effect was to cause mass hysteria in the theaters by the younger audience members. Parents who were expecting merely another, longer, Saturday morning diversion, were horrified. All hands responsible got more publicity, good and bad, than they ever anticipated. Finally, and more importantly, the Transformers were cemented in popular cuture lore fully and finally, even with their non-target audience (older guys like me who were the rarity in the cinema).What can there be said for this movie that hasn't already been? As I mentioned, the producers spent a great deal of money to make it a quality film. They brought in a real film scorer, the excellent Vince DeCoia (sp?) of "Rocky IV" fame, to do the incidental music. They built an iconic '80s soundtrack to go with it (Stan Bush? a guilty pleasure form the big-haired decade). They even gathered an eclectic selection of top-line stars to do voicework (yeah, they exploited the dying Orsen Welles, even ditching most of the work when it didn't cut the mustard, but they got Leonard Nimoy - Spock, the ultimate scifi good guy - to play the revived villain Galvatron). The result? Something that had an epic feel all over it, what with all the death, wandering around from mission to mission and such, a unique achievement in a bloated field.An epic with a decidedly mature feel as well. I've read some of the previous reviews, and understand that, as like then, some parents ignored the justified PG rating and got this for their young kids, expecting a merely "kids" cartoon. Therefore I must add this to what I wrote - THIS IS NOT FOR YOUNG OR EASY UPSET CHILDREN! As mentioned earlier, characters die - shockingly, brutally, and in rather large numbers. There is also once (and just the one) moderate curseword used in the dialogue.The specials of the DVD are good, if not earthshaking, and they do add to what's been in the fan community for some time, but the deal here is the movie. Adventure lovers - get it. Watch it. Love it!