Transformers: The Movie

VERDICT: 3 stars out of 5

Year of Release: 1986
Country of Origin: USA
Language: English
Running Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Director: Nelson Shin
Producers: Masaharu Eto, Tomo Fukamoto, Nelson Shin
Screenwriter: Ron Friedman
Voice Cast: Orson Welles, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, Chris Latta, Lionel Stander, Susan Blu, Corey Burton, David Mendenhall, Eric Idle, Robert Stack, Neil Ross, Roger C. Carmel, John Moschitta Jr

If you want to watch a Transformers movie, skip the Michael Bay atrocities and go for this animated movie. It’s shorter for one thing. Also, every minute of it is more thrilling and makes more narrative sense than Bay’s hackwork. It does believe in story continuity. Furthermore, instead of wasting time on annoying humans, it’s the Transformers that are front and centre – as it should be for a film bearing their name and brand.

I first saw this cartoon – appropriately enough – in a department store. One lazy Saturday afternoon back more years than I’d care to recall, a friend and I wandered into a section promoting the toy craze at the time – these little robots called “Transformers” that had limbs that could be manipulated (i.e. transformed) into motor vehicles, weapons, airplanes, whatever. Two toys in one – it was cool.

Our attention fell on a TV set, standing mutely in a corner. As if on cue, a salesgirl turned it on and fed a tape into the accompanying VCR. We stuck around to see what the show was, expecting a slew of toy commercials. Instead, we got Transformers: The Movie.

For almost an hour and a half, we were glued to that TV set. The material was another spin on the eternal battle of good versus evil. The good guys were the Autobots, led by the noble Optimus Prime. The bad guys were the Decepticons, led by the ruthless Megatron. Their millennia-long civil war decimated their home world of Cybertron and now they fight over Earth for its abundant resources.

Those backstories were detailed in the animated series that was then shown on TV. This spin-off movie is a sequel set about 20 years later, in the then future world of 2005, which I thought back then was so far away and therefore unimaginable. As can be expected, it’s not a rosy future for the good guys. The Decepticons won. But the Autobots are not giving up. However their war may prove moot because a cosmic threat is on the way to annihilate everyone.

Within that framework, Transformers: the Movie follows a standard hero’s journey in the tale of how Hot Rod, the brash youngster, turns out to be the unlikely chosen one for the post of saviour / Autobot leader in the aftermath of Optimus Prime’s demise. A very simple, archetypal plot – but hey, it worked for Star Wars. So it’s nothing ground-breaking, silly even by pulp sci-fi standards, but that didn’t matter. I thought Transformers: The Movie was the coolest thing ever, even more so when Unicron, a mobile planet that devours everything in its path, upstages both heroes and villains. This overwhelming villain was awesome – the perfect impossible threat. I love this movie, and I still do. I never cared that critics dismiss the movie as nothing more than a toy commercial. Nowadays, thanks to Michael Bay, I even see this movie as genius.

To an extent, it is a toy commercial for Transformers is a successful toy line. Seen through cynical eyes, the merchandising is rather blatant since the movie sweeps aside the cast established in the popular TV spin-off cartoon in favour of new creations that can be made into new releases.

The movie may be meant to sell new toys but how they clear their old stock is shocking. I must admit that first time I saw the movie it was horrifying how casually the old guard gets thrown into the meat-grinder. Its carnage cannot be compared to its TV counterpart. After all, it opened with Unicron eating a planet, complete with a close-up of his jaws bearing down and crunching it up like a tasty muffin. It was imagery worthy of a horror film.

Freed from the restraints of public access television, Transformers: the Movie also seized the chance to depict the true dimensions of the Autobot/Decepticon civil war – that not everyone makes it out in a war. The battle scenes are unflinching, the highlight being the to-the-death duel between arch-enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron. When these robots fight, you get the feeling of being in a war zone. Characters are shown getting blown apart, bodies are strewn on the battlefield, the property damage is extensive.

Likewise, the movie embraces the issue of death that the television cartoon glosses over. Since we know everybody returns next week without fail, there are never any casualties on either side. Everyone is fair game here. We get to see familiar characters permanently blown away. I was stunned to see Megatron shoot down Brawn, Ratchet and Ironhide. I will never forget Megatron casually dismissing Ironhide with a coldly delivered “Such heroic nonsense” as he points his gun at the poor guy’s head. The scene cuts off but not before you hear a shot. I was even more flabbergasted when about halfway through the film, Optimus Prime died soon after his heroic moment. Then the camera lingers on Starscream as he is reduced to ash. Their deaths are affecting – especially Prime’s deathbed scene – because these are recognisable faces we have grown up loving biting the bullet.

And there’s the rub. I can go on and on but I am aware that no matter how much I sing the praises of this film, I am only preaching to the converted. Both the weakness and strength of Transformers: The Movie is that it plays to the fans – the kids who grew up with the toys and cartoon series. Given that the film drops viewers right into the middle of the action and then runs full steam ahead, no explanations given, to anybody who’s never heard of the Transformers, it does seem like a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. To the uninitiated, it’s just scene after scene of colourful giant robots blowing the crap out of each other. Okay, so that is pretty awesome on its own but you wouldn’t get the specific thrills and emotions that go with it. It’s still best enjoyed if you’re a fan. Like me.