Transformers: O Filme

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.

Well, I agree that the appeal of this movie is mostly to fans, but I was never a big fan of the series, and I loved it. It's definitely not mainstream, but for anyone who can appreciate robots voiced by some big names (even Orson Welles!) thrashing each other with a very cool, hugely 80s soundtrack, this is where it's at. The main plot, although not exactly inspired, is at least compelling. Any of the scenes with Unicron (Welles) or Galvatron (Leonard Nimoy) easily make the movie worth watching, and there are a few scenes that actually have heart. If you don't like 80s cartoon action, stay away. But if you'll always be a Megaman-playing, Ninja-Turtle-watching kid at heart, check it out.

It was 1984. I was a young lad of 8. Transformers had long been my favorite afternoon cartoon, then I went and seen the movie. Itwas friggan great. It was actually the first movie I can recall that I got to experience an on screen death of a character that I cared about. I remember almost shedding a tear at the death scene of Optimist prime, then the nail in the coffin. I heard one of the characters (brain fart, cant remember name.) say "Dammit". A tame word by todays standard, but enough back then to get a PG rating, and for a character in a cartoon that I had only known as squeaky clean to swear, made them seem more human to me than ever. great movie, the animation is dated, and the plot is alittle shaky by todays standard, but for its time, it was the most amazing thing American kids had ever seen.

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.

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.