Toys in the 1980’s were a fad during the decade. A toy company called “Hasbro” created & acquired a couple of franchises from other toy companies such as Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Furby, Mr. Potato Head. Board Games like Battleship, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Candyland, etc.
Due to massive sales from the specific products, Hasbro has made a total revenue of $5.01 billion. Today it’s one of the most profitable companies and it’s part of NASDAQ-100 which is the Stock Market. It’s listed number 45 on NASDAQ as a result of the company still earning big bucks.
Besides selling toys, Hasbro gained further reputation by collaborating with Marvel Comics to crossover their properties including G.I. Joe and Transformers along with co producing an animated television series with now defunct Marvel Productions. This was before Marvel Studios was ever created, sadly, Paramount Pictures owns the films rights to the live action Transformers & G.I. Joe films while Disney/Marvel Studios owns most of the films rights for various characters.
1984 was the year the first ever Transformers cartoon to air on television. The original series aired on CBS for three years ranging from 1984 to 1987. The old school fans from that era grew up on the series which they considered as one of the best Transformers based cartoons of all time.
A feature film adaptation was released in 1986. At first it recieved mixed reviews from critics & fans alike. It also failed at the box office earning only $5.8 million which never surpassed its $6 million dollar budget. As the years went on, it became a cult classic from the older generation of fans.
With the release of “Transformers: The Last Knight,” I’ve decided to review each of the Transfomers movies before I go see the new one, just to spread the word around.
Fun Fact: This is the very first Transfomers movie before Michael Bay directed the series as a non animated series.
For those who haven’t seen this film, this is a non-SPOILER article. Feel free to read my review if you’ve never ever ever seen the very first Transformers movie.
Positive & Negative Qualities
Positive: The Animation is retained from the television series. No errors were spotted.
Music from the soundtrack is filled with rock music such as the song “You Got The Touch, You Got The Power” & “Dare To Be Stupid” by Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al later voiced Wreck-Gar in “Transformers: Animated.”
The Tone has a darker take. It’s not way too emo nor depressing.
Action Scenes were outstanding. They capture the spectacular essence to witness our heroes and villains pulling punches at each other during many battles.
Likable characters from the TV series make appearances. My favorite Autobot is Jazz & my favorite Decepticon is Soundwave. The latter character is my personal favorite.
New characters such as Hot Rod, factor in the film. Hot Rod serves a purpose. I didn’t mind Blurr, he’s known for speaking fast like tape fast-forwarding.
Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Leonard Nimoy, Erc Idle, Judd Nelson, Robert Stack, and Orson Welles (in his last movie) all did an awesome job for their respective voiceover performances.
Speaking of Leonard Nimoy, he later voiced Sentinel Prime in “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.”
An infamous controversial death scene was shown in front of audience members, especially the children. I thought the death scene was planned out carefully because the character I refuse to reveal, already appeared in a bunch of episodes prior to his death, he comes back from the dead episodes later after the events of the movie. I’ll give this death scene Bonus Points, because it was told properly way better than “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.” You know that one death scene which kinda felt underwhelming.
Without trying to give anything away, The Final Battle is a combination of David Vs. Goliath and The Belly Of The Whale.
Unlike Michael Bay’s Transformers, every single character wasn’t annoying as heck.
Negative: Shocking Death Scenes featuring your favorite characters surprisingly killed in battle. It’s as if George R.R. Martin wrote the screenplay. Don’t want to tell you who they are. I’ll let this con slide, because this predates Game Of Thrones’ unpredictable death scenes.
In Hindsight, the movie takes place in 2005. Kinda strange for a film to be set in the “present day.” I don’t see anything futuristic in 2017 other than drones, Siri, Apple products.
The Final Verdict: A-
I believe this animated movie as by far the best Transformers movie to date, besides the 2007 version. I highly recommend this one if you want to introduce your kids to this nostalgic time capsule you grew up watching. It’s worth a watch. Speaking of nostalgia, the entire original series is currently available as a complete series on DVD & Blu-Ray.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 