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The Transformers - The Movie Director: Nelson Shin Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Animated, Dolby Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 94 minutes Studio: Rhino Video Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-11-07 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com During the 1980s, one cartoon series ruled the airwaves... The Transformers. This paragon of consumerism was created with a dual purpose--to entertain and to galvanize children to buy the toys. Somewhere along the line, the show became a cult favorite, so in 1986 they fashioned an epic tale of good versus evil specifically for the big screen. The result looked vaguely like an animated remake of Star Wars. Who are the Transformers? The good guys are the Autobots: Optimus Prime, SoundWave, Jazz, Ultra Magnus, and many more. Their mortal enemies are the evil Decepticons, led by Megatron and StarScream. The Autobots must save their home planet from an evil entity known as Unicron (voiced by Orson Welles). At the same time, they must defend themselves from an all-out attack from the Decepticons. Along the way, lives are lost, battles are fought, and a new Autobot leader is born as another dies. The story and action never stop in a thrilling ride that often makes you forget that you're watching an '80s cartoon with inferior graphics. The violence will also come as a mild shock to those who haven't seen this film for a while--definitely a movie for the 8 and over audience. For those who grew up on this series, this is a movie that must be watched. Unlike cartoon serials before and after, The Transformers relied on solid stories and interesting characters, a manifesto the film itself upholds with gusto and grace while also being morally responsible. Don't underestimate this movie; there is definitely more to it than meets the eye. --Jeremy Storey |
 "Widescreen vs. Full-Frame: Ending the Controversy, Hopefully"Hello, I started looking into this question of how "Transformers: the Movie" was photographed and found these helpful URL's below: * http://www.tftm.net/screening.shtml * http://www.tftm.net/technical_details.shtml Apparently the fellow(s) behind this site have done some rather extensive research on this topic and found that it was indeed done in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The idea was to allow each theater to perform their own matting based on whatever projector they have. It's a practice known as "Open Matte" or "soft" matting. I hope this puts your concerns at rest for purchasing any reissue of "Transformers: the Movie". Unless, of course, they decide to use DVD-9 (dual layer DVD) and thus not use so much compression on the video (I refer you to the URL's for further explanation). Save your cash for a Blu-Ray / HD-DVD player and all the titles you'll repurchase to see your movies in true HD format ;). Now if I only had that 20th Anniversary Tron DVD... Oh yes, the movie is a lot of fun. The music is what it is, but it was 1986! What do you expect? That's the only reason this movie gets (4) out of (5) from me because it gets to be a touch grating on the ears at times. Anyway, get a pizza, a few root beers, and enjoy this movie. Cheers, Isaquit0  "More Than Meets the Eye..."Speaking from the viewpoint of someone that was born and raised in the 1980's, there were several key cartoons that shaped our childhood memories. One of the most memorable is "Transformers", and not surprisingly "Transformers" is still as popular, and maybe even more so today than it was back then. What was great about this series is that it gave every kid what they always wanted to see, giant robots fighting alongside humans in an intergalactic struggle for control. The show was so popular that in 1987 it was adapted into a feature film, "Transformers: The Movie". "Transformers: The Movie" takes the basic story of the tv show and kicks it into high gear. This time however, the Decepticons are not the only enemy the Autobots must face off against, now their's an even greater threat to not only the Transformers but to all of the galaxy. This new threat is Unicron (voiced by Orson Welles). Unicron is a world eating, super Transformer that does not play sides, it eats anything that it wants. Now it is up to Autobots to not only thwart the Decepticons, but also protect themselves and Earth from annihilation at the hands of Unicron. "Transformers: The Movie" served as a great turning point in the animated tv series, as it introduced several new characters and eliminated a few others to really shake things up. Since this was a film to be released to theaters the story was more mature to appeal to a bigger audience than just fans of the tv show. The original theatrical release, as it turns out, was a slightly watered down version of the original film. There was some blood and a little more language removed from the theatrical release so as not to offend parents of small children. When the film was finally released to DVD these deleted items had been reinserted into the film so that audiences could watch the movie as it was intended. Superb voice acting and great storytelling makes for an enjoyable ride, even if you haven't seen much of the tv show, you can easily catch on to what is occuring in the movie. "Transformers: The Movie" is rated PG for animated violence and brief language.  "Stop the Music!!"Okay, I went out and actually bought this movie because I haven't seen it since childhood. About five minutes into it a bunch of the old-school characters get wiped out. Then another five minutes sees more of them getting sent to silocon heaven. The story was just flat out ridiculous, here you have this planet that is annihilating the universe but no one has ever seen or heard of it? Enough about the plot, I know it's a kids movie. Now to the really annoying part, the music. Every battle sequence was filled with awful 80's hair-rock music, lyrics and all. Most movies, like donnie darko, use short clips but this flick played entire songs. I heard "The Touch" in both the beginning and the end of the movie. I can't stress how much I hate that tune. The only time I liked it is when Marky Mark butchered it in "Boogie Nights." The overflow of music makes this "so-called classic" impossible to enjoy. Thankfully the movie is just under 90 minutes, and if you try hard enough, it's possible to make it to the end. But be warned, for those of you that enjoyed it as a youth, times change and people grow up! This Movie Sucks Ass!!  "An interesting look at the 80's"Let me preface my review by stating that The Transformers were more or less my religion while growing up. I had the toys, I watched the cartoon. Heck, I even had Transformers underwear. And to this day I can still tell the difference between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. As others have said, Transformers: The Movie takes place between the second and third season of the cartoon show. It takes place, ironically, in 2005, twenty years after the show originally aired. The Autobots are winning the war, having secured Earth and Cybertron's two moons. The Decepticons decide to launch one final all-out attack on Metroplex, the Autobot city. In the course of battle, many Autobot favorites, including Windcharger, Wheeljack, Prowl, and Ironhide are killed. Both Megatron and Optimus Prime are mortally wounded. In the aftermath of the attack, the Decepticons flee to Cybertron, having been defeated. Starscream abandons Megatron and the other wounded Decepticons in space. They are found by Unicron, a robotic planet which, uh, eats other planets. He transforms the Decepticons into more powerful beings, most notably turning Megatron into Galvatron. On Earth, Optimus Prime dies, and entrusts his magical Matrix to Ultra Magnus. The Autobots learn that Unicron is devouring Cybertron's moons and will shortly devour the entire galaxy. The rest of the movie more or less plods along with the Autobots successfully defeating Unicron. Galvatron, of course, survives to terrorize the Autobots in the future. The Autobots' Hot Rod, a new character introduced in the movie, is transformed and becomes Rodimus Prime, their new leader. Everything else remains rather status quo as the war between Autobots and Decepticons rages on, only with new faces in the forefront. That being said, the movie is decidedly uneven in terms of mood. On the one hand, the movie has a lot of violence and death in it. Many of the more popular characters are slain within the first 15-20 minutes of the film, and all die in rather violent ways. Galvatron, played with viscious zeal by Leonard Nimoy, is a ruthless villain. During the climactic battle, he even says something along the lines of (I'm paraphrasing): "It's a shame you Autobots die so easily. I'll kill you slowly so I can have some satisfaction." He's out for blood (or motor oil). On the other hand, there are several 'kids only' facets to the film. Daniel, the new human character, is a child around the same age as The Transformers' target audience. In the course of the movie, he gets to wear a mechanical suit which allows him to transform. Blur (an Autobot who talks very fast and seems to suffer from ADD), Wheelie (a literal child Autobot who speaks in rhyme), and the Junkions (Transformers from a junk planet who speak in television cliches) are utterly useless except for appealing to kids. Finally, Hot Rod, the movie's hero, is the prototypical 1980's sixteen year old. As a result of these character choices, the rather adult-oriented plot suffers from these attempts to lighten the mood because they are incredibly obvious and distract from the movie's flow. The animation is very good, and still holds up today, even if it's a bit dated (the mecha designs and human fashion style scream 1980's). Everything is fluid and the action sequences are a joy to watch. Aurally, the movie is a mixed bag. It features some stomach-turning music by the band Kick Axe (no, I'm not kidding about their name). They perform the worst cliche 80's hair metal ("You've got the touch! You've got the power!") imaginable. Thankfully, the voice acting is very strong, with the exception of Wheelie. I just can't stand him, and his high-pitched voice doesn't help. Overall, the movie is solid, but has some glaring flaws that both show its age and detract from the overall experience. If you or a family member loves The Transformers or 1980's action cartoons in general, then you should get it. "Most Violent and Disturbing Movie I have ever seen."I wouldn't give this movie such a low rating if it wasn't so gory and violent and disturbing. The animation in this movie is breathtaking, but the storyline is too literally dead serious for small little kids. A small little kid could have all sorts of mental scarring from this movie, to see almost all of their childhood hereos die off and literally get blown away in about the first 20 minutes of the movie. I kid you not, this is no movie for small kids. This is gory, violent, brutal, and disturbing animation here. GI*JOE the movie, which came out at the sametime this did, was not like this at all. GI*JOE the movie = Weird as everything, yes. Disturbing and gory, no. If you are going to buy a good cartoon movie for small kids, go with GI*JOE the movie instead. At least that movie will not give kids possible mental damage or emotional scars. In GI*JOE the movie, other than Cobra Commander and Falcon, no one dies, but that movie is beyond weird. Very confusing storyline there. I don't know which one is more weird: Tron, 2001 Space Oddessy, or GI*JOE the movie? In "The Death of the Transformers" that it should have been called: 3/4ths of all Autobots die off in this movie in many very violent ways. Don't except hardly any Autobots living through this movie, not even Optimus Prime himself. The Decepticons are the heroes in this movie. Hardly any Decepticons die in this movie at all. Yeah, the soundtrack has some really good Power Metal on it, and that right there is worth the price of the DVD just to listen to the music if not for anything else. This movie should have been named "The Death of the Transformers" instead. So the whole point is: If you want to watch almost all your childhood heroes die off in very disturbing and gory ways, then buy this movie. (But at least the soundtrack was really good). If you don't, stay far away from this movie. |
