Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 1.0
Not the Best TF:TM DVD Out There
With the new live-action Transformers movie due out next summer, Sony's trying to drum up excitement with an anniversary release of the animated movie on DVD. But no amount of special features can make up for an inferior transfer of the film itself. And the slew of special features are mostly not that special.VIDEO:With any DVD release, the video quality of the film is important. Sony has clearly dropped the ball in this department. The widescreen disc looks okay, but the color correction is not accurate and there is still a fair amount of dust visible. On the fullscreen disc, the movie is a mess. Colors are completely off with purples appearing as blackish reds and oranges appearing as yellows. And the contrast is way too high. Details are lost in deep shadows and overexposed highlights. There is also a lot of noise on the fullscreen version. This is disappointing because the fullscreen disc actually shows more of the animated image than the widescreen. This is because the film was animated 4:3 and cropped for the theatrical release. Why Sony couldn't have restored the fullscreen version and cropped that to create the widescreen version I can't imagine. In any event this release is sadly lacking in the video quality department.*NOTE: There IS one reason you might prefer this release to the previous Rhino DVD. If you have a high-definition, widescreen format TV, the widescreen transfer is overall easier to watch than selecting the 'stretch' option with the 4:3 Rhino release. Even though Sony's color correction isn't quite right, its formatting wins out. Just remember, the movie was animated 4:3 and cropped down for the widescreen theatrical version, so you're losing a fair amount of the image watching it widescreen. But for those who have a fancy TV and want the movie to fill it, this Transformers DVD is the way to go.EXTRAS:The extras are what any fan would request, but they're mostly handled poorly. The major exeption is the involvement of Nelson Shin (director), Flint Dille (story consultant) and Susan Blu (voice of Arcee). They offer their thoughts in a commentary track and in several featurettes. These are pretty cool. But they don't make up for the DVD's disappointing qualities.The original toy commercials are fun bonus features (some hidden as Easter Eggs), but Sony couldn't secure rights to the actors' likenesses, so all of the faces are blurred. And the commercials were taken from VHS tape which means the quality is decidedly inferior.The Scramble City bonus feature is also quite disappointing. Again, Sony couldn't secure some of the rights. This time they couldn't use the audio track. In its place is a mildly interesting fan commentary, but since the full version is availible (subtitled) on the internet, this is really fairly pointless.The test/deleted/alternative footage is nothing special either. One long shot of tiny Autobots surrounding a fallen Optimus Prime that had never been seen and several clips from the final film without an effect or two. It's nothing impressive.I'll give Sony one thing: the packaging is great. True to the spirit of the original film, but it too doesn't make this the release worth getting.BOTTOM LINE:Unless you have a widescreen TV and don't mind losing a bit of the original image to formatting, buy the Rhino DVD. It was released in 2000 and should be easy to find used.