One Shall Stand, And One Shall Fall (Transformers: The Movie [1986] (2 DVDs))

Name: Guile176

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Product:	Transformers: The Movie [1986] (2 DVDs)
Date:	12.04.03 (1295 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Classic Transformers

Disadvantages: Some lame scenes

Ahh, the 80s. What a time to be a kid. Back then growing up, my life
consisted of all the wonderful things life had to offer. From
playing countless hours on my Atari 2600 to watching Transformers
(not this Beast Wars crap either) on TV every chance I could, things
were great. Sure the old Transformers may seem like kiddy programing
but it still brings back many good memories and alot of fun. One of
my best Transformers memories comes in the form of the theatrical
release of Transformers The Movie. Last year, Transformers The Movie
was re-released on DVD and given an all new life for not only
hard-core but for an all new generation of fans. I just had to have
it.

Transformers The Movie takes place in the year 2005. The evil
Decepticons have retaken the world of Cybertron and are planning to
mount an attack on Autobot City on Earth. However, there is a
problem far more menacing to the Autobot's then Megatron and the
rest of the Decepticons. This threat come in the form of Unicron.
Unicron is a massive transformer that devours entire planets. His
one fear and weakness is none other then the Autobot Matrix which
Autobot leaders keep housed inside them.

Transformers The Movie marks an important turning point in the
entire series. It gave the entire series both a new look and several
fresh new faces. Some of these new faces include the Junkions and
their leader Wreck-Gar, Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod, Cup, Blurr, Springer
and the first female Transformer Arcee.

To make room for most of these new faces, the writers decided to
kill
off many of the older favorites including Iron Hide, Wheel
Jack, Prowl and many others. Transformers The Movie also marked the
transformation of Megatron into Galvitron and perhaps the most
memorable Transformers moment ever, the death of Optimus Prime.

Although I do think it was cool that they actually killed off
characters (hey, this is war), I do not agree exactly in just how
they did this. In the series, these robots in disguise could take a
pounding. They could get blown to pieces and be repaired later.
Here, a simple blaster shot or 2 is capable of shutting them down
permanently. The way Optimus Prime gets wasted in particular is
pretty disappointing. Especially since minutes before he dies he
takes a ton of blaster shots and its like nothing hit him.

The picture quality of the DVD, although superior to the VHS
version, could be a little better. Colors are abit sharper and they
seemed to have enhanced some of the lighting effects, but I feel
they could have cleaned things up just a little better. Despite
this, all the great animation and art from the original is still
here. Things look far better then they ever did on the old TV
series.

The soundtrack in Transformers The Movie is simply amazing. From the
redone Transformers theme to Weird Al's "Dare To Be Stupid" song,
the sound track is scored perfectly. Most of its 80s style rock but
despite that fact, what's here is all good. I especially liked Stan
Bush's song "The Touch" which is used at 2 dramatic points in the
movie.

Voice acting is al
so every bit as good as the amazing soundtrack.
All your old favorites from the series including Peter Cullen as
Optimus Prime, Casey Kasem as Cliff Jumper and Frank Welker as
Megatron. There is also a slew of better known names that lend their
talent such as Orson Wells as Unicron, Robert Stack as Ultra Magnus,
Judd Nelson as Hot Rod and Leonard Nimoy as Galvitron. I seriously
don't believe they could have casted this film any better.

For the DVD release of the film, they have also added a few extra
features. Some of these newer features include 5.1 sound, Story
Boards and an interview with composer Vince DiCola. Also, if you
were one of the few fortunate enough to see this film in the
theaters when it was originally released, you may have noticed that
they cut some minor swearing out of the VHS version. It was nothing
major but it has returned in the DVD release. Pretty bare bones on
the extras compared to some of the other DVDs i've seen, but better
then nothing I guess.

I also have a few other complaints about the film as well, ones
which take away from the overall experience some and prevent me from
giving it a 5 star rating. Other complaint include the fact that
only a handful of Decepticons actually attack Autobot City, yet
despite what looks like an equal number of Autobot present, the
Autobots get wasted like they were attacked by 100 Decepticons. What
the heck is up with that? To top it off, once Optimus Prime arrives,
he single handily takes care of half the Decepticons by simply
ramming into them in truck form and then transforming and
hitting
them with a few blaster shots.

Another stupid element of the film is a scene in which the
Decepticons are returning to Cybertron on the space shuttle
Decepticon Astro Train. Astro Train tells then they need to jettison
some weight or they'll never make it to Cybertron. My question is
Why? Their in space, shouldn't everything be weightless? I guess
whoever wrote the story didn't seem to realize this.

Overall, despite the few complaints I had, I would highly recommend
Transformers The Movie to anyone that was a fan of the old series.
Its also a great way to introduce younger fans to the 1st generation
of Transformers. You can probably pick this DVD up for about $12-15
bucks at most places and its worth every penny. Ah, I really wish
they would do a real sequel to this but it will never happen. The
series has unfortunately become nothing more of a shell of its
former self. Too bad.

Summary: