Transformers: O Filme

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 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.

As a kid in the 80s this was probably the coolest and most awesome movie ever. As an adult in 2023 with few previous experiences with the Transformers franchise this movie is just campy 80s action, and it is a blast. This movie is like 80 minutes long, and at least 60 of those minutes are giant robots fighting in space and you can only go so wrong with that. The voice acting is over the top in the best way, and there's a lot of talent including Casey Kasem, Frank Weller, Scattman Cruthers, and Orson Welles. Having no knowledge of Transformers, I didn't know any of the characters names except for Optimus, Megatron, and Starscream for some reason and I didn't know or care what the story was because I was just having a ton of fun. Also the soundtrack is awesome, filled with sick 80s songs and badass instrumentals. Both times The Touch came on I was grinning ear to ear, easily one of the most underrated movie songs ever.

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.

In 2005, years after series 2, the Decepticons rule Cybertron. The Autobots are limited to bases on Cybertron's moons and Autobot City on Earth. Optimus Prime is planning a massive assault on Cybertron, but Megatron has similar ideas, and launches an attack on Autobot City, nearly decimating the entire Autbot force before retreating. Of course, this being a movie, things get complicated: Unicron, the devourer of worlds turns up, and is heading for Cybertron. Now the Autobots have to reclaim a relic from the Decepticons while defending Cybertron from a giant transforming planet that eats other planets.

Simple, no? Couldn't follow that? Stop reading now, this movie is only for fans.

Essentially, this a feature-length toy commercial. The story is cool. After all, its about giant robots that transform into cars. Awesome. The movie just follows these robots along as they spend most of the 84-minutes fighting. All the new characters are introduced by having an established character say to the new character "Hey! (new guy) Blow up that thing!" or, "Hey! (new guy), attack those bad guys!". Awesome. I love movies where fights aren't disrupted by petty things such as plot details or character introductions, it makes things much more fun.

The animation is generally better than it was in the TV series. Add to that an 80s soundtrack, consisting of only 80s pop and hair-metal. Awesome. Of course, not everyone is going to like the soundtrack. In fact, I'm willing the bet that a majority of people would loathe the soundtrack, but that is not important, because the soundtrack is awesome. Plus there are some really cool quotes. Yay.

9/10 - Only for fans (of either Transformers or 80s music)