Transformers: La película

The Transformers: The Movie is a surprisingly cruel film that hides its desire to get rid of the old toys and market a new wave of Transformers toys in a briskly paced adventure that's one of the most 80s movies ever made and a lot of fun. A film that definitely doesn't play it safe and properly moves the story forward.

Peter Cullen will always be perfect as Optimus Prime, a stern but gentle presence who always feel like the ideal leader because of his kindness rather than his stoicism. Judd Nelson as Hot Rod is a worthy successor, he has the ideals and heart of Prime but the maturity isn't there yet, a perfect contrast.

The biggest downside to the film is the few comic relief characters who mostly consist of talking nonsense at a very fast pace, usually in a high pitched voice to make them even more grating. Eric Idle is probably the best and definitely the least annoying but still a real waste of talent on what could've been a genuine scene stealer.

Nelson Shin's direction is really good, it peaks early on with a first 30 mins that's one extended battle sequence with genuine stakes and the transformations are so satisfying and comprehensible. The animation looks good overall, maintaining the look of the show with a bigger budget but struggles in a few places.

The soundtrack is amazing, the most 80s songs ever created will just randomly play whenever action happens and it enhances rather than detracts. The Touch and Dare appear twice simply because they're the best and the Transformers theme itself is just beautiful.

I'm biased. There's no two ways about it. They could have gotten two six years olds to draw the cels, a troop of monkeys to write the dialogue and then printed the film upside down and full of static and I'd still have loved it (if anybody out there says 'Didn't they do that anyway?', I'll thump them.) I am one of a dying but suprisingly populous breed: the Tranformers fan, and to me this film is like the Holy grail.

If you think I'm going to get all gooey and teary-eyed then go into nostalgia overload then forget it because I'm not. I say this with a straight face and a critic's eyes: this is a good film. It may be a two hour toy commercial. It may have made zip at the box offce. It may get bad press from idiotic fossils that just aren't prepared to make the effort to tap into the universe the film is set in. But the fact remains that to anybody that's grown up with Transformers, this film is marvelous. Why? Because it does it right! The characters act right. The style is right. It's all done so perfectly that no right minded Transfan could possibly complain. How many Batman fans (and I mean real Batman fans) can honestly say the same thing about their film franchise.

It's easy to get preachy about the violence in a film aimed at kids. It gives the moral majority something to do other than examine each Disney film for subliminal messages. I found it refreshing to actually see this kind of film refuse to pull its punches. It's an action film without tapping into the over-sentimental gushy stuff that usually turns kids off anyway. This is a war. Death and violence are part of it. Will it effect the children that watch it. Maybe, but I don't know which way. I saw first saw the film when I was 7. I saw all of my favourites get blown apart. I saw my absolute, total, complete and utter hero, the person that personified all that was good and noble to me (you know who I mean) get killed saving his friends in an ultimate display of bravery and courage. I cried. My mum cried. I still do. I think that one moment made me more afraid and ashamed of death and destruction than a dozen Private Ryans.

The animation is top notch, there's an amazing soundtrack and the voice talent is good too. Not perfect, but Nimoy's portrayal of Galvatron is incredible. Espicially when you consider that it was probably done as a 'For the money not the art' job. The script isn't bad either. It has a host of sharp, quotable one-liners that would put Bruce Willis to shame ("I've got better things to do tonight than die.") The story is a rip off of Star Wars but what isn't and who cares? It's cool. The animation is superb. I said that earlier but I really do believe that it's better than Disney at some points. Certainly better than the average output at the time. It doesn't compare with today's graphics but it hasn't aged badly at all. The sountrack can sound a little too cheesy at times but the energy and verve of the film is there and it backs up the visuals with ease.

In the end it won't matter. This film won't mean a thing to anybody that doesn't know who Jazz, Bumblebee and Soundwave were to begin with. They won't watch it. They won't like it. And you know what? We don't care. Those of us that can name all five mebers of the Stunticons know better. They gave us what we wanted. And we remain eternally grateful.

I thought it was perfect for its time. I recently acquired a VHS and enjoyed the movie all over again. The over rocked song, extra dramatic statements, the whole bit sent chills up my spine when I first saw it in 1986 and again in 2004. The animation wasn't the best, even for then, but that was not important. At the time I was a teenager and I enjoyed every bit of it. Transformers was my favorite cartoon, right after Voltron (the lion one). I liked the new characters, it didn't matter. It was a perfect 80's over sentimental, over rock tracked, bravado of a male ego movie aimed at little boys, even down to the vehicles, Semis, race cars, dump trucks, construction vehicles. Nowadays it wouldn't wash, with the violence and destruction (Unicron) but those were the 80's. Now everything is sanitized.

They should, however do a 2004 or 05 version revisiting OptPrime and MegaT - Imagine Pixar or whoever doing this movie it would look serious. Dinobots forever, (I dislike with a passion that stupid animal transformer series where Optimus Primal has to twist his whole body to transform. He looks rather stupid.

First of all, anyone who has left a negative comment on this movie has something wrong with them, seriously. I have no idea when I first saw this movie but I was about 6-ish. I'm now 22 and this is still a bloody awesome film. I have always been a big Transformers fan and I know I might seem a bit bias, but I own the movie on DVD and have shown it to a number of transformer illiterates, male and female, young and old and still the only people I know who have ever got a bit sick of it are my parents, as they have seen it about as many times as myself. Everything about this movie is excellent, from the new characters, to the fact that the autobots seem to suck at shooting anything ( as opposed to the usual 'bad guys can't shoot for doit'.) even down to what would be, if not for the movie it's in, one of the crappiest songs ever 'the touch', by the Loins I think. THE Battle, Primes death, the creation of Galvatron, the Junkbots, Sharkticons, Unicron, IT IS ALL GOLD!!!! Anyone who liked 80's cartoons should love this movie, and so should all your Kids, if not, I think it's time to go and get checked out by your G.P.

Transformers the movie is a retro 80's cult classic that not only took the original series forward in the animation department but also took the story forward in to the future with the next generation of Transformers. The plot is a recreation of the King Arthur legend of a young man trying to find his way with out knowing that he is destine to rule his tribe one day. All the fan favorites are here with new ones to be cherishing, and the soundtrack to this movie is probably one of the best sounding albums to come out of the 80's. This movie still holds up as one of the best TV to Movie translations of all time, and it still kicks major league butt as well. The only drawback that it has that they did not make a sequel to this classic in animation.

a must own for all animation fans.