Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 4.0
The Blu-ray Version: Know What You're Getting!
When I saw Transformers on Blu-ray, with snazzy hand-drawn cover art (my copy is Rodimus holding up the matrix with Unicron and all the other S3 characters), I knew I'd be satisfied with even a barebones release. But as it happens, this UK Madman release has extra features that rival even the U.S. Sony/ BMG DVD release. Highlights include a Peter Cullen Q&A;, the alternate Star Wars-style opening, awesomely bad Stan Bush music video, lots of toy commercials, and a PDF file of the movie script.The only problem with all of this is that all of the extras are in PAL format and not compatible with U.S. players. The version I bought of the movie was described as "Region Free." That's kind of true, as the feature film is presented in 1080p 24fps and playable anywhere. The special features are not, however, and I had to use computer software to be able to watch them. When I try to launch a special feature from my PS3, nothing happens.So, with the bad news out of the way, I can say that I love this transfer. First, it's genuine 1080 HD, certainly not upscaled (some YouTube uploads had me worried). Second, it's unabashedly filthy. Just the way I remember movie prints as a kid. We're not talking Tarantino Grindhouse, here, it just feels like you snuck into the last theater left playing the movie. It's refreshingly organic and fitting for an 80s cartoon. Thanks to blu-ray, digital artifacts are minimal (nice to see after the digital mess on the U.S. DVD). Even the many "strobe light" sections fare pretty well.Bad things: motion judder is apparent in panning/ zooming shots where it shouldn't be; anyone who thinks Rodimus should be red will be disappointed; some challenging scenes still show some MINOR compression artifacts (not noticeable and nowhere near the DVD releases); I would have liked to see a 4:3 option; that obnoxious PG logo on the front obscures the artwork like the movie's a pack of cigarettes. And, as I said, the special features are PAL and won't play on U.S. players-- you'd have to rip the videos to your PC to play them.Odd bit of trivia: even though this disc is advertised as single layer, my PC reports the disc as using 28.78GB (blu-rays max out at ~25GB per layer).All in all I'm very satisfied with this release, especially considering there is no U.S. counterpart. As long as you know what you're getting, I highly recommend it.