The Transformers: The Movie

It is the Year 2005.  The war between the Autobots and Decepticons enters a new era when a planet devouring monstrosity known as Unicron begins inching its way towards Cybertron.  With one of the most devastating battles in history claiming many of the Autobots greatest heroes, a new team must rise to face this threat unlike any other.  It’s a race against time across an entire galaxy filled with enemies old and new as the final battle between Autobots and Decepticons approaches.

I was born at the tail end of the 80s, so when it comes to The Transformers, my first introduction to them came from the reskinned Transformers: Generation 2 toyline and the re-airing of the TV Series under that title (no knowing it was just Generation 1 all over again with new transitions).  So Transformers: The Movie ended up being my first pure exposure to classic Transformers and when it comes to films featuring the Robots in Disgiuse in general, it might very well be the best of the bunch, even if it doesn’t work on every level and downright tries its hardest to destroy the hearts of hardcore Transformers fans.  Yes, I still think it’s a fun movie regardless.  Why is that?
 
If there’s one thing that sets The Transformers Movie apart from its live action counterparts it’s that it actually centers on The Transformers for the whole movie.  No detouring to Shia Labeouf going crazy in college or a deep state Black Ops team hunting Transformer sympathizers or King Arthur teaming up with a Transformer Dragon.  The Autobots and Decepticons are the stars in their own movie and they get a pretty nice looking adventure altogether.  The animation is ridiculously good and movie level quality, miles above the TV Series.  All of the central characters look better than ever for their big screen debut, especially the main man himself, Optimus Prime.  I’ve also gotta admit, I LOVE the soundtrack.  When I think Transformers Generation 1, the Heavy Metal inspired OST pops to mind with Stan Bush’s The Touch being one of the best F YEAH anthems ever and Lion’s rendition of the classic Transformers Theme Song being my all time favorite (especially in the actual movie when they actually include the digitized ROBOTS IN DISGUISE line). 
 
However, one unfortunate trait The Movie shares with it’s Michael Bay counterparts is all style and little substance as there’s barely a compelling story.  Sure the stage is bigger than ever before but we don’t really get to know the new characters or learn more about the old cast since there’s barely ten minutes between action sequences max.  I’m not expecting anything deep or mentally challenging from a Transformers movie but it would be nice to have a bit more effort put into an actual story that doesn’t involve Action Scene 1 then 1 minute Exposition followed by Action Scenes 3-10.  And don’t tell me you cant do a good story with the Transformers, you have mostly two seasons of evidence to the contrary, not to mention Beast Wars.  The Transformers aren’t just here to make themselves go boom. 
 
And speaking of Transformers going boom, let’s talk spoiler free about the elephant in the room: the first twenty minutes of this nearly ninety minute feature film features the elimination of many characters on both sides from the first two seasons of the TV Series.  Now look, I’m all for the stakes being upped and characters being put in major peril they might not walk away from and it would be a heckuva thing to see heroes make the ultimate sacrifice at some point to ensure Unicron’s defeat.  But it’s clear that The Movie isnt really about giving the original Transformers a big screen romp so much as checking off a list of toys that aren’t selling well anymore and taking them off the board in increasingly gruesome ways.  I’m torn on this because of course I agree it’s a pretty heartless disservice to characters still associated with the franchise even today.  At the same time, it’s still a pretty epic opening befitting something with “The Movie” in it’s title.  But yeah, the risk hardly pays off when we swap out the old cast for a new bunch that we just don’t wanna see in a galaxy spanning adventure.
 
It’s not that the new cast is entirely bad either.  Transformers: The Movie has some serious acting talent in the mix including Judd Nelson as Hot Rod, Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, Eric Idle as Wreck Gar and Orson Wells in his final film role as Unicron.  And those are just the bigger names.  The Autobots do stand out a bit more than the blander new add ons to the Decepticons.  Kup’s a fun long time Autobot veteran, Springer is a triple changing Han Solo type and Arcee is one of the few stand out and capable female Transformers in Generation 1.  Let’s face it though, as fun as they are, why aren’t we watching Prime, Jazz, Bumblebee and Spike battling intergalactic menaces before they reach their final boss who’s as big as a feature film villain should be?  It doesn’t help that the supposed “main character” of the film, Hot Rod, is less Luke Skywalker and more guy who messes up so badly it’s hard to root for him for the rest of the movie (yeah still don’t like him even today). 
 
Transformers: The Movie is incredibly flawed and improperly executed.  Sidelining or straight up murdering characters that made the series what it was in the 80s is a huge mistake when fans have wanted to see these guys clash on the big screen for years.  The new characters try their hardest but don’t nearly come close to matching the legendary status of their predecessors.  And the overall story is about as thematically challenging or compelling as its terrible Live Action iterations.  But darn it I still like this movie a lot.  The movie looks great, the soundtrack is imho one of the best of the 80s, and save for the always welcome appearances of humans Spike and his son Daniel, the Transformers are on screen all the time rather than only appearing in 30 minutes of a nearly 3 hour movie.  If you’re looking for an epic continuation of the TV Series with all of your old favorites, you’re gonna be disappointed.  If you’re looking for a brutal and exciting animated action epic, Transformers: The Movie does the job well.  If nothing else, it gives us the definitive Optimus Prime bad ass moments that none of the Live Action movies have ever been able to give us.  And when an Animated Feature Film over 40 years old can do that better, it still shows that this cartoon classic is still “More than Meets the Eye.”
 
7.5/10
 
Speaking of More than Meets the Eye, This Christmas we’ll be taking a look at the first Transformers Anime that kicked off a bizarre new era for the Generation 1 franchise overseas after the original series wrapped in the US.  Will it lead to me covering some of the others on the blog in the future?  Who knows but for now look forward to our future coverage of Transformers: The Headmasters, coming This December to the Gundam Anime Corner.