G.I. Joe: The Movie

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.

Wow this movie brought me back to my childhood, when it was this and Transformers were the go to shows for kids my age. As cheesy as it is watching this as an adult hit differently in the sense as childish as this seemed it was more adult than content you get today.

Mostly because there is a lot of violence and one of the characters actually gets hurt. Not something you typically see in GI Joe the show.

Overall the graphics are a bit dated but the story is pretty engaging, the dialogue is cheesy in the sense it felt like this was made for 10year olds... which it was.

I would recommend this to anyone with kids as an adult this would be like watching an older Rambo movie but really tamed down. Enjoyable for all ages in my opinion.

I saw this film last night for the first time in ten years and I must say I still knew most of the dialogue! I saw it about a 1000 times when I was 10 years old. This film didn't loose the 'magic' when I reviewed it last night (other shows and films from my youth like Airwolf, A-Team and the Thunderbirds did loose their 'magic').

G.I. Joe The Movie is still a great, entertaining and fun cartoon. It's all about the origin of Cobra (G.I. Joe's nemisis). An ancient tribe of mutants (the ancestors of Cobra) want to take over the world and it's up the the Joe's to avoid this.

Despite its many flaws (some plotholes, continuity-goofs, etc.), it's still a great time watching it. This is certainly a film that defined my youth.

A 9 out of 10.

My review was written in December 1988 after watching the feature on Celebrity video cassette.

"G. I. Joe" takes the familiar animated and toy characters comfortably into an action-packed animated film, released direct-to-video in 1987.

Title refers not to an individual but is a codename for a U. S. anti-terrorist team, pitted against the monstrous villains known collectively as Cobra, headed by Serpentor (voiced by Dick Gautier),k Golobulus (Burgess Meredith) and Pythona (Jennifer Darling's vocal) in battle to obtain the experimental Broadcast Energy Transmitter.

Don Johnson's immediately recognizable voice works well in the role of womanizer Lt. Falcon, while pro wrestler Sgt. Slaughter brings his gruff voice and animated wrestling moves to play his own tough self, whipping the heroes into combat readiness.

Animation by Toei of Japan is effective with minor fantasy elements well-integrated into what basically is a military actioner.