G.I. Joe: The Movie

G. I. Joe the movie is a film that is good, if not perfect, as it is severely underrated. The plot is after their latest failure, Cobra finds some new allies in the civilization of Cobra-La, led by Golobulus, who is revealed to be the one who gave Doctor Mindbender the idea to create Serpentor, Cobra's current leader. However, the Joes also receive new recruits, one of them being Lt. Falcon, Duke's half-brother, who is also reckless, as it proves as he leaves his post to flirt with Jinx, resulting in Cobra initiating a prison break. Now the race is on to stop Cobra's latest plot to spread spores that will turn humanity into snakes.

This movie went through a troubled history. Announced first, it had plans to kill off Duke (whose action figure was being discontinued at the time). However, this would inspire Transformers: The Movie to kill off Optimus Prime, a move that caused so much controversy and outrage from fans and parents of kids who were traumatized by that scene, that Hasbro reversed the decision, and Sunbow were forced to rewrite the scene so Duke fell into a coma. Also, the poor box office performances of Transformers: The Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie (the original, not the one with Twilight Sparkle) resulted in G. I. Joe: The Movie skipping theaters and heading directly to video. Despite the edits to keep Duke alive, it is still a good movie, as it has a good story, voice cast (especially with the likes of professional wrestler Sgt. Slaughter, alongside the cast of the cartoon), and the action is excellent. My only gripe is the movie focuses too much on Falcon (whose is basically Hot Rod, only worst), and some of the plot points sound a bit corny (especially the reveal that Cobra-La was the ones who gave Mindbender the idea to create Serpentor).

I can't say enough times that I love the eighties for their great cartoons and great movies. The creativity during that time was awesome. As far as I am concerned 2 cartoons really stuck out in the eighties, namely GI Joe and The Transformers with Transformers being my personal favorite. For years I have been waiting for a return of those 2 cartoons to television. Their return would bring some class to the crap that now exists on television, like X-Men, Spiderman, Power Rangers, VR Troopers... The list goes on and on. What makes GI Joe and Transformers so great is the great storylines along with the absence of a Disney mode. Anyway, I read that a dvd of GI Joe The Movie existed so I forked over my cash to buy it right away and boy was it great to relive some memories. It was pretty good, although I didn't like Globulus and his crew. GI Joe was always about the battle against Cobra, not some mutated freaks.The whole GI Joe cartoon series screams DVD release (as long as they aren't sold for rip-off prices, like for example happens with the Battle Of The Planets cartoon or animes). As far as I am concerned GI Joe and the Transformers are the standard for cartoons. If you have never heard of GI Joe The Movie then check it out, but if you are a fan "What are you waiting for ?". Go rent it or buy it and enjoy the antics of Duke, Flint, Hawk, Beach Head, Sgt Slaughter and the rest of the gang. Quote of the movie: 'We're all going home or nobody goes home"

Like Transformers G1 I never grew up with the classic GI JOE series, luckily my uncle who grew up with the series introduced me to the classic GI JOE episodes. After watching all the GI JOE episodes online(season 1 was better) I decided to check out the movie they had. While not as great as the Transformers movie this was pretty good. I can't say much but this mainly could've been one of the five-pat mini series that the show would usually do. I mean other than the opening theme, they use music from the show and the animation is pretty much the same as the show. Nothing wrong with that, but look at the Transformers movie it had better animation, a great soundtrack and to be honest better characters.

I feel sorry for Cobra Commander in this film. I just do. He's been the great leader of COBRA, now reduced to a slithering snake. I really didn't like the idea of Cobra-La and Cobra Commander and Serpentor's origin. The leader of Cobra-La implanted the idea to Dr. Mindbender? In the show they made pretty clear that they wanted a new leader to lead COBRA all because Cobra Commander was doing a bad job. It just doesn't make any sense. While a lot of people may think that Lt. Falcon was like Hot Rod from the Transformers movie, but I see no resemblance other than the fact they're young. Hot Rod was young, but also kind, energetic, and grew into the role of leader.

Lt. Falcon was suppose to be like that after Duke, supposedly died, but the idea was scrapped because of the death of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie. So instead have Falcon as a bit of a jerk. I just realized I have more complaints than positive things to say. I do like the action, but it's pretty much the same action we see in the show, It's good to see characters from the show, like Roadblock, Beachhead and Sgt. Slaughter. And I do love Serpentor's famous "COBRA LALALALALALALA"!! Overall this movie could've been a regular episode of GI JOE

If you loved the 1980s TV show you will love this movie. G.I. Joe the movie is not mearly as good as the TV show, but rather is much much better. This movie comprises of the same guys we love (or love to hate), such as Duke, Sgt. Slaughter, Cobra Commander, Serpentor etc etc. However, it is the new characters that really bring life and intrigue into this movie (ie. jinx, lt. falcon, nemesis enforcer, golobulus etc etc).

My favorite scene of this movie was the opening scene where pythona infiltrates the inpenetrable terradrome. I also loved the slaughterhouse training, and the many changes that occur within Cobra Commander. Then again, as a child I watched this movie all the time so I may be just a tad bit biased.

I must admit that I gobbled everything up in terms of cartoons back in the 1980s, especially things such as "G. I. Joe" and "Masters of the Universe". And I always enjoyed the "G. I. Joe" series, so when I had the chance to re-visit the 1987 movie here in 2021, of course I did that.

And while "G. I. Joe The Movie" definitely has the spirit of the series, this 1987 movie just isn't fully up to par with the series. It feels as if the creators were thinking they needed to exceed the series and go beyond. Which resulted in something that just simply went too far.

I just personally didn't grasp the idea of why Duke had to die, though they changed it to slipping into a coma later on. Nor why they had to change Cobra Commander into a full-blown snake. But anything for excitement, huh?

And then there was the thing about the mutant creatures, that just simply was beyond me. They just simply went too far with that concept and the movie sort of slipped away from the archetypical "G. I. Joe" formula that made the series.

Then when they started yelling "Cobralalalalalala", I was just good and ready to get up and turn off the movie. I didn't though, and I sat through the movie to the end. But that sound was just a bitter pill to swallow.

"G. I. Joe The Movie" does add some more flavor to some of the Cobra antagonists, such as Baroness, Cobra Commander and Destro. Just a shame that they didn't really were all that big a part of the plot.

This 1987 movie is essentially almost non-stop action from start to end, for better or worse. I did enjoy that, though, because the pacing of the story was kept moving constantly.

Sure, "G. I. Joe The Movie" is watchable, but it just went a bit too far and slipped over the edge.

My rating of "G. I. Joe The Movie" lands on a six out of ten stars.