Review of The Transformers: The Movie (1986) by Shawn S — 29 Jun 2017

Transformers the movie: 1986.

Was the first of the transformers movies. Taking place between seasons 2 and 3 of the original television show. While I believe this movie is excellent, it is important to understand the implications of it's creation.

The movie was created with the purpose of introducing new characters for audiences, with these new characters being turned into the next wave of new toys. This movie is essentially an advertisement for Transformers Toys. However, given that the transformers television show was created post the advent of the toys, the series was itself a toy advert. For young audiences to watch on saturday mornings, with their favorite transformer toys. All subsequent Transformers entities albeit The IDW comic series, serve this same purpose. With that in mind, one can look at this movie with a new lense of sorts.

This movie is surprisingly Dark for, what was at the time, a light hearted kids show. The film treats death indifferently, not stopping to grieve.

Plasma blasts and laser bolts go from knocking characters down like a punch in the show, to burning holes in their chests and eviscerating them. The destruction of these characters, acted as a transformation. Putting new characters in the Spotlight.

The new cast of characters includes such Favorites as Hot-Rod, Kup, Arcee, Springer, and Ultra magnus. All of whom have to pick up the pieces of the destruction of the autobot faction as a whole.

It is up to these upstarts to use the Autobot matrix of leadership to end the threat of Unicron.

A planet sized transformer which in turn feeds on planets for energy.

This is the Biggest Aspect this movie does right, it Focuses on the Transformers, and their struggle for survival. Saving itself from a large issue of the modern TF Films, focusing too much on human characters and companions, to the detriment of the films subject matter.

The plot starts off strong and thick, With a portrayal of Unicron, decimating an entire planet, a planet shown to have playful children and families. This is the first Plot device this movie does right, It establishes Its main antagonist with a portrayal of His complete potential. The movie hits credits then starts off with the Decepticons planning an assault on autobot city. Unlike in previous and most Portrayals of transformer conflict, the Purpose of the decepticons attack is to Kill all the autobots. Not for energy or resources but to murder as many autobots as possible. An act which is met with resounding success, as fan favorites such as prowl gets many holes shot through him, and Ironhide gets Executed point blank. An execution that, if we were shown the aftermath of his mangled corpse, would add much more weight to the conflict. This is where the difference between emotional weight for the audience, and weight for the plot needs to be understood. Not all viewers will care about the deaths of many characters, however, the film doesn't try to make these resonate with the audience, but instead used death as a driving force for the plot. (with real world implications of selling toys aside).

However plenty of weight is still added as autobot city is ravaged. With plenty of fancy one liners to boot and the best action transformers has seen up to this point.

Which is the second aspect/plot device this movie does right. The action. Many people have an issue with how much action the transformers movies have. This can be answered with the simple reply of, "It is a war between giant robots, of course there is action and of course there is a lot of it.".

However, due to clean animation and defined character models, the action in this movie is easy on the eye and enjoyable to watch.

The plot picks up and slows down throughout the autobots adventures and mission to destroy Unicron. However the third aspect this movie gets right is it Shows the constant danger all the main characters are in. With the plot stopping rarely to allow the characters respite. The safety of home is behind, in a universe where the majority of civilizations are indifferent to Cybertron's Civil war.

The Film reaches it's climax with a very poorly timed party sequence, leading to the assault against Unicron. The assault against Unicron Initially goes sour, and with the films complete indifference to death it becomes hard to tell if some characters die or not. Our main autobots become trapped inside Unicron where Hot-Rod becomes separated from the rest of the group. Instigating his finding of Galvatron, the Reborn Megatron, and their subsequent battle. Which ends with Hot-Rod wrestling the matrix of leadership from Galvatron and Becoming Rodimus Prime, the true Successor to Optimus Prime. Rodimus disposes of Galvatron in a very anticlimactic manner, and escapes Unicron with the rest of his Autobot Compatriots, where the movie immediately jumps to a scene on Cybertron with Rodimus Prime declaring an end to the Cybertronian wars and a new Cybertron Golden Age. This happens despite the decepticon threat not having been disposed of and the war still occurring. This is the Abrupt end to the film.

The Film overall sets the Tone for the next two seasons of the Transformers G1 Cartoon. However this comes at some failures on the Films part.

Throughout the running time the Film has frequently poor animation frames, albeit these frames themselves are of the highest quality when compared to the Original Cartoon.

The Soundtrack score throughout the Film has plenty of hits and misses, which is often a point of contention amongst viewers. In my Opinion I believe the majority of the soundtrack is perfect and assists in highlighting the Mood and tone of choice scenes. With "the touch" perfectly showcasing the mood of the Struggles between Optimus/Megatron and Hot-Rod/Galvatron. However, the song's abrupt introduction within these scenes often leaves audiences dazed, and while perfectly showcasing the mood, it often fails to set the tone with it's intro.

Songs like "Instruments of Destruction" Played during the initial decepticon takeover of an autobot shuttle, perfectly set the tone of the scene and perfectly Showcase the scene's mood. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Weird Al's "Dare to be stupid" Fails entirely in setting the scene's tone, and portraying it's mood. However, the scene the song was partnered with, ultimately felt out of place and attributed negatively to the film as a whole.

The Cast of characters introduced became the Flagship of the newest line of toys.

On the autobot side we have,.

Hot-Rod- a "Turbo revving young punk" With a carefree attitude but a strong sense of Moral.

Kup- An Autobot veteran who is often paired with Hot-Rod, creating a mentorship dynamic.

Arcee- A successful attempt at a female Autobot, but a failed attempt at a Love Interest.

Ultra Magnus- A by the books worrywort Autobot who unwillingly has to step into the shoes of Optimus.

Springer- The first Autobot Triple changer, and a More mature but still laid back autobot.

Perceptor- The new Autobot scientist to fulfill the roles of Wheeljack and Ratchet.

Overall the Autobot selection is good, but feels one character to many. I believe either Preceptor or Springer should have been cut. With springer being the more Likely candidate. Or wheeljack could have survived and perceptor been cut.

The decepticon side features-.

Galvatron- the Reborn more threatening Megatron.

Cyclonus- Galvatrons second in command whose character gains no personality until the show.

Scourge- Galvatrons third in command, who also gains no personality till the show.

I believe the Focus on Galvatron as a character is a boon for the Decepticon Characters.

As the film's running time is too short to properly focus on three new antagonist decepticons.

Overall Transformers the Movie is nothing short of a good film and a fun time.

I believe however, looking at it with a critical eye reveals it's incompetence in the form of, not pointless, but boring plot devices and a musical selection which only hits Half the time. With enjoyable action scenes that, most of the time have weight to them. Great visuals and sound effects, and enjoyable characters.

Plot- 14/20.

Audio-17/20.

Score-13/20.

Characters-15/20.

Visuals-19/20.

Total- 78/100.

I give Transformers the Movie a 78% Fresh rating.