The Transformers: The Movie Film Review

When you think of animated Transformers films odds are right away you think of Transformers One and rightfully so as that is a decent film. Yet alot of people just straight up don't know or even forgot that the very first Transformers film was also an animated film and with that film turning forty years old this year I thought that i'd take a look at it to see if it's worthy of being remembered and so then join me as I review the film that scarred kids in the eighties with the film in question being called simply just "The Transformers: The Movie" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a planet eating Decepticon named Unicron sets his sights on earth it's up to the Autobots to find away to defeat him even without there leader Optimus Prime. Now then interms of I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the films plot still being cinematic enough to warrant it being the plot of a big screen Transformers movie but it does at the same time also feel the plot of three episodes of the show edited together with this films plot having a very episodic feel to it as the characters will spend about twenty minuets in one place before the film cuts to black and when it fades back in there in another place where they then spend another twenty minuets wash , rice and repeat and while that isn't a bad thing as feature film adaptations of animated shows was still a new thing back in the eighties it is something that does make this films plot feel less epic as by all rights this is the plot that should have been used to end the show for good as we have the Autobots and the Decepticons going at it in there biggest battle ever all while trying to stop an planet eating robot. That right there just screams epic film and yet due to the fact that the film treats it's plot like an episode of the show the film isn't allowed to be as epic as it could have been and while yes this film is oddly enough more mature and dark even for an eighties kids film it still should have been allowed to be this truly epic film and when the film does allow its plot to be epic that's when the film becomes all the more enjoyable to watch with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

 

Starring in this film is Judd Nelson as Hot Rod / Rodimus Prime and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Ironhide. Also starring in this film is Lionel Stander as Kup , Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus , Frank Welker as Megatron , Soundwave , Frenzy , Rumble , Wheelie and Scrapheap , Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron , Susan Blu as Arcee , Neil Ross as Springer , Bonecrusher , Constructicon Bulldozer Hook , Constructicon Crane Truck and Slag , Gregg Berger as Grimlock , Christopher Collins as Starscream , Dan Gilvezan as Bumblebee , Paul Eiding as Perceptor , Buster Jones as Blaster , John Moschitta Jr. as Blurr , Eric Idle as Wreck-Gar , Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper , Michael Bell as Prowl , Scrapper , Swoop , Pteranodon and Junkyard , Corey Burton as Spike Witwicky , David Mendenhall as Daniel Witwicky , Arthur Burghardt as Devastator , Don Messick as Gears , Scatman Crothers as Jazz , Walker Edmiston as Inferno , Hal Rayle as Shrapnel , Clive Revill as Kickback , Stanley Jones as Scourge and Orson Welles as Unicron.

Now then interms of I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Given that this film is essentially an independent production of a kids TV show it is understandable that the acting in this film isn't that good as nobody would have expected good acting from this film regardless of who is in it or not and yet that's exactly what we got alot of the time as while yes there are some bad performances in this film as you can tell that Orson Welles is just sleepwalking through this film he is still good in what would turn out to be his final ever film role. With the series main actors being as good as you'd expect them to be as they would have had the advantage of having played there characters right from the very beginning and therefor they would have known how best to play there respective character in any given scenes with alot of the films more bad acting coming from the big named stars who are in this film as it's clear that they are only doing this film to either get a pay check to appease some younger family members and that's really it. With the best actor in this film being Peter Cullen as he just nails both of his characters down perfectly with him even being the official voice for Optimus Prime still even all of these years later as he's just that good in the role with the acting that's in this film not really being really helped by the fat that this films script is just so bad as it doesn't really give any of this films acting anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film. 

Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Toei Animation. Now then interms of I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the fact that thus films animation being as good as it was not really being something that's all that surprising as Toei Animation usually do deliver top notch animation and with this being a movie version of the show it does make sense that they would do the same thing here and while it might seem like a new thing that characters in the film version of a TV show would suddenly have all of these shadows on them it's something that is present here with it being some thing that Toei themselves insisted be in the film and it is something that does work as it helps to make the film visually look different from the show as while in a live action film you can improve upon the visuals in the movie version just by have a new HD camera and showing the series sets in a new way here in an animated film you can't really do that and therefor the best to help sell the audience on this movie is to give the characters lots of shadows and while the films animation is on the whole really good especially when it comes to the musical montages but when the film comes to the more dialog heavy scenes the films animation becomes alot more stilted with the characters movements being very robotic and wooden in those scenes this is despite the fact that in the montage and action scenes the characters have these really fluid movements to them which look alot more better then the more stilted movements seen in the more dialog heavy scenes.

This film is set in between seasons 2 and 3 of the main show with this film explaining why seasons 3 and 4 of the show now take place in far flung future of 2005. While you don't need to have watched a single episode of the show as the main plot f this film is pretty much the main plot of any Transformers film it would help in certain scenes if you did watch say one or two episodes of the show. As this is a film that does like to pull on your heartstrings especially during the death of a certain which yes will be getting talked about but it's not really required for you to watch an episode of the show with the thing that's weird in in this film being the fact that they celebrate the fact that the war between between the Autobots and the Decepticons are over when these characters really should know better as we only see them take out one of their leaders and that's really it and yet the entire planet of Cybertron was shown in this film to be pretty much made up of Decepticons therefor the war wouldn't really be other only that battle would be over. This film does fail in doing the one the ting that spin off film should do and that's make you want to watch episodes of the show as this is a film that should have been used to get more people into watching the show and yet due to what it does with a certain character and how they remove alot of the more well known characters all because of the fact that Hasbro had a new line of toys that they wanted to sell it can't really do that as the characters that the people would want to see are those that there friends had told them about and not these new characters as these are characters that do seem like knock-offs of the more well known characters and heck Galvatron is literally a reskinned version of Megatron.

The death of Optimus Prime is something that this film is most known for and not for good reasons as even tho both Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Ghostbusters would have came out by the time this film came out. It was this film that traumatized kids with the impact being so savior that not only where the makers of this film forced to somehow bring him back to life in the shows third season but it also forced the makers of the then upcoming G.I. Joe: The Movie into a rewrite as in that film the character of Duke was supposed to die and now because of how kids reacted to Optimus dying in this film they lazily added in some dialog in the scene that says that says he's gone in a coma and then near the end of the film having them say that he's come out of the coma. While his film didn't really effect My Little Pony: The Movie in a major it was something that did help to cause that film to lose alot of money at the box office for some unknown reason which then had the add of effect of the producers switching the G'I' Joe movie from a theatrical release to a direct to VHS release all of this was because of the fact that one fictional robot died in a movie with story consultant Flint Dille having the most funniest excuse to why this was in the movie "We didn't know that he was an icon. It was a toy show. We just thought we were killing off the old product line to replace it with new products. [...] Kids were crying in the theaters. We heard about people leaving the movie. We were getting a lot of nasty notes about it. There was some kid who locked himself in his bedroom for two weeks." surely if it's something that your working on you'd have some form of idea that killing of the shows main character in the movie would have some form of negative effect on the young fanbase watching it but in all fairness this was the eighties and alot of cartoons at that time were made to tell toys.

Out of the films basically two villains Unicron is the better villain as he is the only character in this film that does pose a genuine real threat to the Autobots. As he's a giant planet eating robots that eats everything that's in his way and while he doesn't really have a main goal in this film out of seeing that that the "Matrix Of Leadership" a device that apparently tells you that your the leader of the Autobots gets destroyed for some unknown reason as the makers of this film don't really explain why he needed this device to be destroyed as he could just eat up anyone who has it thus destroying it himself but for some reason he has to rescue a near dead Megatron and transform him into Galvatron and make him do it for him. With Galvatron being the more weaker of the two villains as he's just a more unhinged version of Megatron and that's it and heck he doesn't really have a plan in this film as he tries to take the matrix for himself and use it to make Unicron his slave instead of it being the other way round and that's really it as he sends the rest of the film working in fear of what Unicron might do to him should he fail one again with that being something that doesn't make him a good villain and yet he's meant to be the replacement for Megatron someone who would try and take over the world just because he can do and to the films credit that is something that we do see him try to do at the start of the film when he attack the Autobots earth base with that being the only impactful thing that the character does in this film as it's that attack that he fatally shoots Optimus yet Galvatron just doesn't do anything that effects the film in a major way whereas Unicron does.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty five minuets. With this film quite literally being about three episodes of the show interms of running time and that is something that you do feel as much like how the show would this film has an action scene around every twenty minuets which is something that does help to make this film feel more like three episodes of the show edited together however in all fairness to this film tho this film really does have alot of plot there to cover that amount of running time. Yet the film doesn't use it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that the film doesn't take the time in fully developing it's plot due the fact that the film does have an opening action scene that does eat up alot of running time with that time being something that could have ben better spent on giving the films plot the development that it really did need as by the time the characters have left earth it's deep into the second act and by the time they meet up again on a trash planet a mere ten minuets later the film is starting it's third act and due to this film can't take the time to develop it's characters. Which for the characters that are in the show like for example Optimus Prime isn't a bad thig as then you could argue that they get there development in the show but the film has alot of new characters to introduce and to convince the films target audience to buy there toys and it can't do that whilst leaving them as these underbaked characters as on paper Ultra Magnus should have worked and yet he comes across as being a knock off of Optimus Prime and Hot Rod just isn't that good of a character and Blurr is just annoying but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With it being made pretty obvious that the makers of this film cared alot more about both the montage scenes and the films action scenes as it's during those scenes that we not only get some really good songs and animation but it's also where the film does become alot more fun to watch as it's when we get to see just how entertaining that this film really can be when it really wants to be. With the best action scene in the whole entire fight inside of Unicron as that's where we get to see alot of the Autobots and their allies do alot of really cool stuff with it being Hot Rod that takes on Galvatron himself in a fight to get the matrix and become te new leader of the Autobots in what is a pretty fun scene. With the thing that really does stand out during alot of this films action scenes being the fact that they like to use songs by Stan Bush as they will often use "Dare" and "You've Got The Touch" which are good songs but its weird that they keep on coming back to those two songs as song is meant to be make an action scene better and yet here because of the fact that the films action is so good in the first place they don't do that and instead feel like an avert for the films soundtrack and when the film does have an action scene it is something that does let you know of just how fun that this film could be when compared to the rest of the film as we do get to see alot of  really stuff in this films action scenes which makes them fun to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while Transformers One dared to be a good theatrically released Transformers film it was this film that truly had the touch as it was the one thing that a film should be above all else and that's entertaining and while yes this film might seem more dated in some respects that is something that only adds to the films entertainment value as that's how good that this film is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that rally does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.