Product: The Transformers - The Movie (1986)
Rating: 5.0
Marvelous animated film
In the 1980s, it's no surprise that Transformers ruled television screens while simultaneously causing every kid to want to go out and buy the toys. I am one of the ones that grew up watching my favorite Transformers duking it out for the fate of mankind. I loved every minute of it, even if some of the episodes were really corny. However, this review isn't about the show; it's about the movie, originally released in 1986. The movie brought forth new circuits for us to admire while also killing off several of the old characters, including the beloved Optimus Prime.The animation is ten times more advanced than that of the original show. Optimus Prime and Megatron have never looked sleaker and it's quite a shame they didn't last very long in the movie (well... Megatron turned to Galvatron... you get the idea.). Even by today's standards, they haven't aged badly at all. The voice cast is a list of well-known actors and most of them put in fine performances. While Robert Stack's portrayal of Ultra Magnus seemed somewhat bland, Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of Galvatron was nothing less than excellent. You also have to consider they were probably brought to the project based on the pay, not for the art. Other actors included Judd Nelson as Hot Rod (another good voice performance), Lionel Stander as Kup, Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar (Yes, THAT Eric Idle), and of course, Casey Kasem and Scatman Crothers as Cliffjumper and Jazz, respectively. But of course, let's not forget the legendary Orson Welles voicing the most bad(...) Transformer of them all: Unicron. The planet eating monster that transforms from planet killer to robot and vice versa. In fact, this was Orson Welles' final performance. That means Transformers is the last credit on his resume. How cool is that??The music score was contributed by Vince DiCola, back in the day when synthesized scores were becoming huge. He previously did the score for "Rocky IV" and additional music for "Staying Alive." I really like the score and it's quite a shame that Mr. DiCola has not done many film scores since. Speaking of which, the DVD features an interview with him that's somewhat interesting for the diehard Transformers fan. The songs are from largely unknown musicians; the most notables ones are Stan Bush, who did the songs "Dare" and the hit single "The Touch," and Spectre General, who performed "Nothin's Gonna Stand in my Way" and "Hunger." Spectre General is actually a pseudonym for Canadian rock band Kick Axe. Sound familar now? They did two albums and toured with Judas Priest before their breakup (they were also produced by Spencer Proffer, the producer of Quiet Riot, which explains his credit on the two songs).The storyline does seem a bit Star Wars-ish. But seriously, who really cares? And more importantly, what sci-fi HASN'T? It does have a few holes and/or mistakes that seem like lazy writing (for example, jettisoning injured Decepticons to "make room and less weight" doesn't apply to space; it's called MASS), but the overall good versus evil story was pretty good. It also sports some impressive dialogue like Springer's "I've got better things to do tonight than die!" or the infamous "Ba Weep Granna Weep Nini Bang" greeting the Junkions use.The infamous (...)has been restored back in the film. The picture quality has been greatly enhanced and so has the sound quality. Including the interview, the DVD comes with the original theatrical trailer and original storyboards. My ONLY complaint with this DVD is that it doesn't come with a widescreen version. Didn't Sunbow claim they found the widescreen print? Why didn't Rhino include it? Oh well. Perhaps in the future.A memorable piece of 80s nostalgia and a must for diehard fans. Looking back on it now, it's a pretty good animated film. I must admit I almost cried when my favorite hero, Optimus Prime, bit the dust, but it's pretty awesome they brought him back at the end of Season 3. Any Transformers fan will enjoy this. If you don't, you are an overanalyzing critic. Go back to your "Titanic," critic.