Transformers: The Movie (1986) / Sci Fi-Animation

MPAA Rated: PG for violence and some language
Running Time: 84 min.

Cast (voices): Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, Orson Welles, Eric Idle, Scatman Crothers, Casey Kasem, Robert Stack, Lionel Stander, Susan Blu, John Moschitta
Director: Nelson Shin
Screenplay: Ron Friedman
Review published May 23, 2018

Bah Weep Grah Na Weep Ninibon.

Transformers: the Movie is a theatrically released, ultra-long episode bridging the second and third seasons of the popular TV series that ran during the mid-1980s, based on the Hasbro toy line that had everyday objects and vehicles that could 'transform' into robots with a few twists and turns of one's fingers, showcasing more of the civil war between the goodly Autobots and their evil nemeses, the Decepticons.  Set in the year 2005, twenty years after the events in the first two seasons of the TV cartoon, the robotic life-forms must deal with the legitimacy of continuing their enmity when they are faced with the coming of a hulking, planet-devouring orb called Unicron, who is threatening the continued existence of the Transformers' home world, Cybertron.  The battle would rage on beyond Cybertron to one of the Autobot havens, Autobot City on Earth.

As the film is removed from the more kid-friendly confines of television, the makers of Transformers: The Movie take the effort to go a bit darker than the television show, with more violent repercussions, prolonged action sequences, and a couple of words they couldn't quite say on TV.   There are even some on-screen deaths (more the result of the toy-making company discontinuing certain elements of the toy line than in boldness of storytellers), including a battle between Autobot leader Optimus Prime and Decepticon mastermind Megatron that feels like it carries dire and permanent consequences (which may have shocked quite a few kids at the time unaccustomed to witnessing the deaths of beloved cartoon characters), the film feel quite gutsy for those who were deeply into the "Transformers" mythos as depicted on the cartoon and in comic book form from Marvel, who co-produced the film.  The emergence of Galvatron, a new character formed out of an old one, voice by Leonard Nimoy, adds an additional layer to the film in terms of sympathy and intrigue than one might suspect; the creators of the film are obviously trying to make a good film from within the confines of what has been produced as a feature-length commercial meant to sell new product line to the fans who enjoy the cartoons.

In addition to the deaths and emergence of new characters like Rodimus Prime (Hot Rod), Ultra Magnus, Kup, Wreck-Gar and the Junkions, the alien Quintessons, the aforementioned baddies Galvatron and Unicron, and the first female Transformer, Arcee, the mythology of the series would find new depths with the introduction of the Matrix of Leadership and several other story ideas that would carry into the remaining seasons of the cartoon and into the comics, injecting more science fiction elements that fans would grow to relish, especially as they revisited the property when they matured.  The film also breaks some ground by pushing the action into space beyond Earth, which is where the first couple of seasons of the TV show predominantly resided, and features some vivid and detailed work from the Japanese animation company Toei Animation, who had more time than customary to devote to the aesthetic appeal, making the anime-style visuals much more eye-popping and fluid than in churning out episodes of the TV show.

The film's casting and soundtrack foster curiosity, pulling together, somewhat improbably, voice talent that includes plenty of talent that would have been largely unknown to the kids that might flock to the theaters, such as Orson Welles (who was ailing and subsequently died during production; he would do his lines out of breath, forcing the producers to synthesize his voice to make it sound more appropriate to Unicron's menace), Eric Idle, Leonard Nimoy (who initially hated the movie, only to embrace his involvement later, even returning to Michael Bay's series as Sentinal Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon  and Robert Stack. 

The soundtrack, which plays in between Vince DiCola's synth-heavy score, is improbably chock full of hair-metal contributions from the 1980s, quite appropriate that characters made out of the stuff would have action set to 'heavy metal', with the oddest inclusion coming in the form of a Weird Al Yankovic song, "Dare to Be Stupid", done in the style of Devo.  One track from the film, "The Touch" from Stan Bush, originally slated to be on the soundtrack to the Sylvester Stallon film Cobra, would gain some notoriety many years later for its significant inclusion within the film Boogie Nights, coincidentally sung in the film by Mark Wahlberg, who would go on to become the star of a couple of the Michael Bay Transformers films.

A critical misfire upon release, dismissed cynically as merely a means in which to hock more toys for Hasbro, a significant number of fans have long since championed it as a legitimately good and compelling film, and it had grown into a cult classic among Transformers aficionados,  and those enraptured by the 80s cartoon nostalgia of their youth.  It's highly unlikely that this appeal will translate the film into becoming a legitimate classic of the era, as it's a film that isn't very easy to jump into without any prior knowledge of the "Transformers" as a property, and without suspending disbelief in general that the story itself, and the backstory that led up to it, doesn't make a lick of sense if viewed with any kind of legitimate scrutiny, especially as it shoehorns in secondary characters like the Dinobots.  Alas, it was a failure at the box office as well, only making $5.8 million on an estimated budget of $6 million, landing in 14th place on its initial weekend and never recovering from there.

As the Michael Bay-directed and produced series of Transformers films rolls on, and arguably gets worse in terms of quality, the more that this quaint 1986 release seems like some sort of substantial movie by comparison among Transformers fans.  If you've ever been a fan of the Transformers cartoon or comic books from the 1980s, there's a good chance you'll relish it, even if it's only to reminisce on the things you once held as entertaining in your formative years.  Those who've never been initiated will, at best, enjoy it as an enjoyably weird oddity, or, at worst, find it impenetrably indigestible nonsense.  The makers of the film provide very little exposition to give any rationale for where the story goes to those uninitiated. However, even for those in the know, there's a lot of new material and concepts here to have to keep up with, as The Transformers: The Movie would live up to the toy line's most famous of mottos by being, 'More than meets the eye."

Qwipster's rating:

©2006, 2018 Vince Leo