The Transformers: The Movie

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)

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.

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.

The release of Bay and Spielberg's megablockbuster is the ideal time to look back on "Transformers: the movie", the original (and animated) big-screen adventure of the famous toy. This feature was commissioned to revamp the product, and kill off many of the original characters in order to introduce new ones. It sees the Autobot/Decepticon war take a backseat to a global war of survival against planet eater Unicorn (voiced by Orson Welles).

Surprisingly enough, there is a lot worth mentioning in this film, both good and bad.

On the minus side, of course, the predominantly 80s soundtrack has aged quite horrendously and some new characters are less appealing than they should be, chiefly the dinobots whose "comic relief" is neither comical nor relieving. The ending also feels rushed, which is a shame since such a fast-paced and action-packed film as this could have used a calmer denouement.

On the plus side, though you can fault the film's purely commercial objective, you can only admire its inventiveness. Unicorn is a beauty, both in design and in how the creature is used. The opening planet destroying scene is abrupt, savage and hugely impressive, even 20 years later. Optimus Prime is used to maximum effect, as is the whole Megatron/Galvatron storyline. The fast pacing and varied locals are the real strength though, since our heroes run from planet to planet and bump into intriguing (and often disturbing) creations, such as the genocidal Quintessons. The film's laudable level of violence is probably a key component of its enduring appeal.

All in all, one can only hope that at least a few of the many neat ideas explored here will find their way into the sequel to 2007's live action version.

This may not be Shakespeare, but to an extent, it is worthy of its minor cult following. A more than adequate 85 minutes with touches of bizarre genius.

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.