The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Nelson Shin

Writer:

Ron Friedman (writer)

Release Date:

8 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beyond good. Beyond evil. Beyond your wildest imagination.

Plot:

The Autobots must stop a colossal planet consuming robot who is after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.

Plot Keywords:

Planet | Robot | Battle | Transformer | Transforming Robot

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Norman Alden	...	Kranix / Arblus (voice)
Jack Angel	...	Astrotrain (voice)
Michael Bell	...	Prowl / Scrapper / Swoop / Junkion (voice)
Gregg Berger	...	Grimlock (voice)
Susan Blu	...	Arcee (voice)
Arthur Burghardt	...	Devastator (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Spike / Brawn / Shockwave (voice)
Roger C. Carmel	...	Cyclonus / Quintesson Leader (voice)
Victor Caroli	...	Narrator (voice)
Regis Cordic	...	Quintesson Judge (voice)
Scatman Crothers	...	Jazz (voice)
Peter Cullen	...	Optimus Prime / Ironhide (voice)
Bud Davis	...	Dirge (voice)
Paul Eiding	...	Perceptor (voice)
Walker Edmiston	...	Inferno (voice) (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Toransufômaa: Za mûbii (Japan)
Transformers the Movie: Apocalypse! Matrix Forever (Japan: English title) (working title)
Transformers: Mokushiroku! Matrix yo eien ni (Japan) (working title)
Transformers: The Movie (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

84 min | Argentina:85 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:PG (Reconstructed Edition) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Québec) | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:PG

Company:

Sunbow Productions

Trivia:

Two other characters were scripted to die in the film as well, but the scenes were not animated. During the attack on Autobot City by Devastator, Ultra Magnus attacks, accompanied by Sideswipe, Tracks and Red Alert, and Red Alert is killed by a cannon blast. Also, towards the end of the movie when Shockwave is frantically calling for the Decepticons to engage Unicron, Unicron's hand was supposed to have been seen crushing Shockwave's citadel. The way the movie was released, after Shockwave calls "Scramble!", Unicron's hand comes down and smashes a good part of the planet's surface, and Shockwave is never seen again.

Goofs:

Factual errors: There are a couple frames where you can see the inside of one of the Lithonian ships being devoured by Unicron. The pilot of the ship appears to be Kranix, even though he apparently screams out Kranix's name, and Kranix appears later in the Quintesson prison.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Kranix: Arblus, look! It's Unicron!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Boogie Nights (1997)

Soundtrack:

Hunger

The Ultimate Battle of the Transformers is one of the best animated movies ever made.

If you love techno-anime, certainly you need to see Transformers the movie, this classic is a epic tale of death, the eternal battle of good and evil, an many things more tell in a bombastic way. If you are a fan of the character-construction of Superheroes (Marvel-Dc) you need to see Transformers. The mix of American storytellers and Japanese animators in the original 80's Transformers series turned out to be one of the most successful and remembered cartoons of that era. And the colossal movie that worked as introduction to a whole new cast of characters is a magic piece of cinema. Many will ask if these words are true, after all we are talking about a piece of animation. Yes, this is a cartoon conceived for kids, but it has all the drama and solid storytelling that is vital to all good movies.

The movie starts with a roll-down resume of the entire story (a la Star Wars) and seconds later, the well-known tunes the title song of this robots pounds the air. But this time is different, this is a heavy-metal version that song. It is not only fitting the mix of Heavy Metal and Transformers, these songs are used adequately as a composer uses his variations to call the attentions on certain moments. The unfairly forgotten composer is the responsible for the rest of the soundtrack he used all kind of synthesizers to create a futuristic and emotional score.

Every sequence is a masterpiece by itself. There are no weak points, even comic relief moments like the introduction of the junk-ions is something big and great. If there were not enough reasons to give T: The Movie a chance, think about the famous actors that are part of this mega-event using their voices to give life to some of the new robots (besides the cast of voices of the original series).