Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986)

From: [email-masked] (Christopher E. Meadows)
Date: 7 Feb 1997 21:47:50 GMT

TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
                       A film review by Christopher E. Meadows
                        Copyright 1997 Christopher E. Meadows

Directed by Nelson Shin, Written by Ron Friedman

Starring Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, Lionel
Stander, and Orson Welles

MPAA: PG    Run time: 86 minutes

My rating: 8/10 (**** out of *****)

Many, many critics have knocked "Transformers: The Movie" as being a
toy-line-inspired cartoon, derivative of "Star Wars" and designed only
to sell toys to the kids.  It's been called overly-violent, confusing,
too loud, and a host of other names. 

Still, how about we take a moment to look at it from a fan's
perspective? 

"Transformers: The Movie" appeared at the height of the toy line's
original popularity.  The Transformers toy line, along with G.I. Joe,
was for a long time one of the most popular toy lines in the United
States, and practically a household word among children everywhere in
America (and Europe, and Japan...).  It spawned a TV series that
lasted several years, and a comic book that went all the way to 80
issues.  It's not a big surprise that a theatrical movie would be
attempted. 

The animation (by Sunbow Productions, a premiere animation studio in
Japan) was very good for its day, sometimes incredible.  The voice
cast included an all-star lineup, most notably the great Orson Welles
(in his last featured role in any film).  There were thousands of kids
with the toys who were presumably all ready to rush to the theaters.
There was even a G.I. Joe theatrical feature waiting in the wings
should "Transformers" be a success. 

What went wrong?  Why was "Transformers: The Movie" an incredible
flop? 

At a guess, Hasbro forgot that, to be a success, the movie would have
to appeal to the filmgoing public as a whole, as well.  "Transformers"
was a loud, raucas movie, with a heavy metal soundtrack and a
storyline that was somewhat confusing to people who'd never seen any
of the Transformers TV show.  Almost no background was given, beyond
the somewhat minimalistic voiceover at the beginning.  While the kids
might have loved it, the adults were left mostly in confusion.  And
let's not forget that the film was pretty violent, with planets being
destroyed and characters dying sometimes left and right. 

All the same, was it really such a bad movie?  Fans of the
Transformers franchise don't think so.  In fact, it's quite a
sought-after video now that it's out of print, and screenings are a
big event at yearly Transformers conventions.  The Internet Movie
Database rates it at 8.8 out of 10, with 521 votes recorded.  But why?

Perhaps at least part of it has to do with the similarities and
differences between this movie and the Transformers TV series.  In the
TV series, which had gone on for two years prior to the movie,
Autobots and Decepticons (the "good guys" and "bad guys") clashed
repeatedly, but with no real resolution on either side--nobody died,
there were no clear victories, thanks to what some cartoon fans refer
to as "parachute syndrome" (from the G.I. Joe TV series habit of
showing parachuting pilots for every Cobra airplane that was shot
down)--to show death in a children's cartoon might risk offending
parental watchdog groups.  But here, in a theatrical movie, they had a
bit more artistic freedom.  Hence, in "Transformers: The Movie", there
was conflict, there was death, and there was _resolution_.  It felt
more mature somehow to have the good guys take losses, and then blow
the bad guys away. 

And we also shouldn't discount the thrill of seeing time jump eighteen
years ahead and finding out what happened to all our favorite
characters years down the road.  Of course, the story focused mostly
on _new_ characters, but the old ones were still there (even if a lot
of them died).  They had a lot of the best lines, too. 

And the storyline itself.  Maybe it _was_ derivative of "Star
Wars"...there were lightsabers, a female robot with a Princess Leia
hairstyleish look, a giant sphere that destroyed planets, a saber duel
between an old respected warrior and the evil bad guy...the warrior's
spirit speaking to the young warrior type and helping him win...okay,
in some ways it was _very_ derivative of "Star Wars".  All the same,
it was a _good_ story, quite action-packed, very exciting, and
gripping to those of us of the right age to enjoy it.  The people who
liked the rest of the movie also liked its heavy-metal-oriented
soundtrack, and the quality of the voice talent was also incredible.
Robert Stack, Eric Idle, Leonard Nimoy, Orson Welles...?  You just
didn't usually find people like that voicing animated movies outside
of Disney. 

In retrospect, perhaps "Transformers" might have done better for
Hasbro, not losing so much money, as a direct-to-video release, as its
successor, "G.I. Joe: The Movie" was released the following year.  All
the same, I personally think "Transformers: The Movie" was not such a
bad film, and perhaps deserves a bit more respect than it's gotten
from professional critics.  As an admittedly biased fan, my rating is
8 out of 10. 

This review is copyright 1997 by Christopher E. Meadows.  Permission
granted for free distribution over Usenet and associated archival, and
for archival and display associated with the Internet Movie Database
(http://www.imdb.com).  All other distribution requires permission
from the author.

--
Chris Meadows aka  | Author, Team M.E.C.H.A., Crapshoot & Co.
Robotech_Master    | on the Superguy Listserv (bit.listserv.superguy)
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