My Review of The Transformers: The Movie (1986) · 3:39pm Jun 22nd, 2020
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; might not watch it again but still happy I watched it for the first time
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
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Hey, friends! Here is my review of The Transformers: The Movie! The first time I’ve watched this film was back in school when one of my old friends brought this movie and we as a class watched it together. I didn’t remember much from this movie except Optimus Prime dying, Galvatron’s birth, and Starscream’s death. That was it. I don’t think we watched it all the way through. So last year, I decided to watch the full movie online. At first, I didn’t like it that much. Just last Saturday, I watched the movie again. This time, I really enjoyed it! It’s much better than the bad ones I reviewed recently. Let’s get this started, shall we?
PROS:
1). This animated film actually focuses on the Transformers; it has only two humans throughout this entire movie, but it still gives them important roles to play so that they would not be rendered useless. However, the Transformers are the main focus, not stupid human subplots.
2). Unicron was an amazing villain. His debut in the beginning of the film really set the tone. Also, when you see him for the first time, you don't have a clear idea who he is, what he is, or what his plan is. Then you see him devouring planets and moons; next, he summons Megatron and his wounded warriors; then he transforms them into Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, and their troops. Then in the climax, he... actually transforms into a giant robot! It’s like the movie keeps you guessing until it reveals to you what he really is. I love that. Even though Orson Welles hated his role, he still did wonderful. May he rest in peace.
3). The animation is lovely and much better than the show’s animation itself. Still, you can spot a few animation errors here and there.
4). The soundtrack is fantastic! My favorite one is “You got the Touch! You got the power!” when Optimus begins his battle with Megatron. That was epic! It plays again when Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime and defeats Galvatron.
5). Hot Rod (voiced by Judd Nelson) is a very interesting character. I didn’t like him at first, but after learning about him in his bio, I started to have deep respect for him. I now really like him a lot since I can relate to him to some extent. He really doesn’t deserve the hate he had gotten for so many years. After all, Optimus allowed himself to get killed by Megatron. To be honest, Hot Rod is a much better character than Bumblebee. Bumblebee is overrated; I never understood why Hasbro keeps glorifying him and making him a main character in almost every show! Thanks a lot, Michael Bay...
6). Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee, Blurr, and Springer were great new characters. I really enjoyed watching them.
7). Galvatron was also a great villain. One of my favorite parts is him killing Starscream. “Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy!” Gosh, I love that line! Still not as hilarious and great as Starscream’s death in DOTM.
8). Wreck-Gar was also great. You got to appreciate his “Dare to be Stupid” song. Thanks, Weird Al!
9). Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Ironhide.
10). Frank Welker as Megatron, Soundwave, and several others.
11). Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron. Heh, people might have saw Sentinel Prime’s betrayal a mile away since he shared the same voice actor. Even Wheelie said, “That’s the part where Spock goes nuts.” RIP, Mr. Nimoy.
12). The story itself is very exciting. It leads us to a journey that many fans around the world would never forget.
13). The Dinobots were the best parts of the whole movie. I loved seeing them take on Unicron, the Quintessons, Devastator, and even the Sharkticons! My favorite Grimlock line in general is “Me Grimlock no bozo, me king!”
14). Lastly, the intro and the ending were fantastic.
CONS:
Just two flaws this movie has:
1). Optimus Prime and several fan-favorite Autobots died tragically. Optimus’s death was so heartbreaking and emotional that it was hard for me to stop crying. It really disturbed me. The original storyboard had the other Autobots die much more graphically and appalling. Here is an example. Also, one of the writers of this movie advised Hasbro to not kill off Optimus as he recognized Optimus as the iconic father figure of the Autobots. Hasbro had no idea how famous and iconic Optimus was. They realized that when they received angry fan letters from parents whose children were traumatized by his death. One of those kids locked himself in his bedroom for weeks. I can’t even imagine the look of anguish on those kids in the theaters.
2). The old toyline is killed off so that they can introduce a new toyline no one has seen before or heard about. At least they make up by giving our new protagonists character development so that we can care about them. You see more of that in season 3 of the G1 show.
Thus, I give this movie a 10/10. I really love this film. For those of you who haven’t watched it, you GOT to watch this! Be prepared to be amazed by this! Any thoughts on this?
Peace.
It actually started a lot of the traditions.
Oh, I love this movie so much! Wait, till you see the Bumblebee movie, I can't wait!
Great review as always. Here are my thoughts on the movie:
+ Vocal performances (especially Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, and Orson Welles as Unicron)
+ Action & fight scenes
+ Improved animation over the G1 cartoon
+ Amazing soundtrack
+ Equally amazing musical score by Vince DiCola
+ Every single robot design
+ Hot Rod's character arc
+ Unicron's terrifying appearance and power
+ All the new worlds and characters
- Some errors in animation
Final Verdict: 9/10 (Amazing)
I believe this was better seasons 3-4 of the original series and needed to understand season 4.
Introduced the 'universal greeting' Bah weep Granah Weep Nini Bong