The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Writers: Ron Friedman, Henry Orenstein
Cast: Orson Welles, Robert Stack, Leonard Nimoy, Norman Alden, Peter Cullen, Scatman Crothers, Susan Blu, Gregg Berger, Corey Burton, Eric Idle, Casey Kasem, Christopher Collins, David Mendenhall, Judd Nelson, John Moschitta Jr., Lionel Stander, Frank Welker
Synopsis:
The Autobots and the Decepticons are two factions of giant alien robots warring over control of their home planet of Cybertron. The benevolent Autobots have set up a base on earth, which is trageted for a sneak attack by the Decepticon's leader, the evil Megatron (Welker). In the ensuing battle, the Decepticons are beaten into retreat but both Megatron and the Autobot's leader, Optimus Prime (Cullen) are mortally wounded. Sensing his demise, Prime passes on the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to his second in command to Ultra Magnus (Stack). However, the powerful entity Unicron (Welles) also seeks the Matrix and recruits Megatron, who has been abandoned by his minions, to seek it out and destroy it. To further his ends, Unicron upgrades Megatron with a new body and providing him with new troops to command. The remaining Autobots are then chased across the galaxy by this new threat, called Galvatron (Nimoy). Can they escape destruction and defeat Unicron? Animated goodness ensues.
First Impressions:
I was 10 years old when this movie came out and I had quite a few Transformers toys during that part of my life, so you'd better believe that I was going to see this movie. When I finally got to see it in theaters, I remember I was both pleased an a little shocked. I was pleased because it was cool to see these characters show up on the big screen but my shock came from the fact that the film was a lot more violent than I had anticipated. By that age, I was starting to grow weary of the way cartoon tended to present conflict. I was beginning to feel as though there weren't really any stakes for the characters and everything always went back to normal at the end of every episode, which bugged me. That was not the case in this film and it changed the universe not just in the story on the big screen but in the Saturday morning cartoons and even the comic books and the toys. What this meant was, there was a lot of graphic violence (well, as graphic as you can get with animated robots), much of which disturbed me at the time. That's not to say I didn't like the film, quite the opposite in fact. In my naivete, I guess I thought that the violence in the film somehow made it more adult. Anyways, it's been around six or seven years since I last popped this in the old Blu-Ray player, so let's see how it holds up.
Story/Direction:
"I've got better things to do tonight than die."
Let's start things off with the most obvious criticism for this film, which is that it's basically a 1 hour and 24 minute toy commercial. This is basically true as the main point of the film was to introduce Hasbro's new line of Transformers toys and give a proper send-off for the old characters. However, it's interesting that despite this obvious flaw, the film remain so beloved 36 years after it released. This seems to be the case for many children's films from the era. Why is it that movies from my childhood tend to have such staying power, while films from other eras don't? I've been thinking a lot about this lately as a result of viewing various old movies for this blog and I think one of the reasons is that the films were written so both children and adults can enjoy themselves and I think that's the case even for modern children's films. The ones that appeal to both kids and their parents tend to remain popular years after release.
The other reason children's films of the 80s remain so popular is they weren't afraid to confront kids with intense emotions, which I think sticks with them. Take this film for example. One of the things that it's known for is that it kills off the main hero of the toy line early in the first act. There are stories of children crying in the theaters over the shock of Optimus Prime's death. While I never experienced any of that when I went to see the film, I was impacted a little bit by the death of one of my heroes and that sort of thing can stick with you well into adulthood.
So, does The Transformers: The Movie follow that same line of thinking in its story? Well, yes and no. The filmmakers certainly attempt to add in elements that kids and adults can enjoy but they're not combined particularly well. The film is overflowing with many dark moments that when the silly kid stuff shows up it's more than a bit jarring and really interrupts the flow of the film. For example, early in the film the Autobots have to deal with the death of Optimus Prime, which is an emotional scene and done quite well but a few moments later the audience is shown a scene of the fast talking Blur (Moschitta Jr.) trying in vain to get the slow-witted Dinobots onto a shuttle. The scene was devised to appeal to kids but all it did for me was undercut the emotional effectiveness of the previous scene. The whole film is full of examples like that.
The plot itself is pretty basic and it's foreshadowing not very well concealed, but I take that with a grain of salt since the primary audience is still children. There's a nice moral to the story, which was also a fixture in most children's media at the time and since most of the characters in it are giant robots, there isn't a lot of scenes that make it unpleasant to watch for modern movie goers. Well, there is a bit of sexual tension between Hot Rod (Nelson) and the female Autobot, Arcee (Blu), but don't ask me how that would even work.
Acting/Characters:
Considering this was an animated film based on a toy line, the assembled cast was pretty decent and the voice acting was pretty good for the most part. Judd Nelson voices the film's primary hero, Hot Rod and he does a decent if not spectacular job. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, voices the film's antagonist Galvatron and he's probably the standout performance in the film. I think Nimoy enjoyed voicing a character so different than the one he is most known for and he gave Galvatron a sinister snarl to his voice that, while it wasn't to the level of Frank Welker's Megatron, it still worked.
This film also has the distinction of being Orson Welle's last on screen performance (well, not "on screen" persé but, you know what I mean). I've heard stories that Welles had no idea what the film was even about and that his voice was so weak that they had to boost it in post-production. Whatever the case, it works as Unicron is suitably terrifying to a 10 year old. Shit, it still gives me a chill and I'm 46.
The rest of the voice cast is full of long time voice actors that do the job admirably. The only complaint I had was John Moschitta Jr.'s Blur. Moschitta was clearly hired because he talked really fast but unfortunately, he wasn't much of an actor but the character only shows up in a few scenes, so it's not a deal-breaker.
Visuals/Action:
The film really shines from a visual standpoint and there are parts where the animation is absolutely stunning. The scenes in space are particularly cool and the close up shots of characters are great. There are bits, however, that look more like the Saturday morning cartoon which is a bit disappointing considering how awesome the rest of the film looks.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of violence in the film, which I'm sure the filmmakers were able to get away with because it's just robots and not actual people being hurt. That being said there are quite a few action scenes to be found including a massive battle in the first act, an escape from the clutches of a giant robotic squid and a final climactic battle that takes place inside the bad guy. All in all, the action sequences are original and exciting and that gives them a thumbs up in my book.
Score/Music:
Vince DiCola wrote the score for the film which was adapted from the music for the cartoon. The score is actually pretty good and DiCola makes liberal use of synth sounds which would normally date a film but for a story about giant robots from outer space, it really works. However, it's the soundtrack where the movie's music really takes off. It's full of glorious, cheesy hair metal songs and ballads that scream 1980s. There's even an arena rock rendition of the Transformer's theme song, which should be cringey but it's just awesome. Top marks for the music.
Final Verdict:
While I was watching this film there was a deep struggle between 10-year-old me and adult me fighting over my opinion of the film. While adult me can find a lot of things wrong with the film, 10-year-old me still thinks it's pretty cool. If I'm being honest with myself, even adult me thinks its still better than the garbage Transformers movies Michael Bay capped out on the world. So yeah, those who love The Transformers, are into 80s pop culture or just want to hear some rocking tunes should check it out. Anybody with kids may want to give it a watch first before letting them see it just to make sure they can handle it.
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