Rating of
3.5/4
The original Transformers movie
TheWolf - wrote on 08/03/07
Growing up in the 80's, there were a lot of cartoons that one could watch and be entertained. And now, as adults, we can still go back and watch those same cartoons for nostalgia, but realize the the shows seem to talk down to kids by over-flexing a sense of drama, like Thundercats did. He-Man cartoons do the same to a degree, and so does cartoons from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
But Transformers cartoons never did such a thing. They presented a story in a way that now, as adults, we can still watch and enjoy with the same vigor that we watched with in our youth, and that's because that Transformers isn't a cartoon that has dated itself to the point that it screams 1980's, and it doesn't talk down to its audience. The characters are multi-dimensional, and they react to each other in intelligent ways.
And the movie itself goes beyond anything that the cartoon ever did. It introduced new characters in a reasonable manner, and it even included the reality of death and rebirth, coupled with a need for facing responsibility, factors so often left out of children's entertainment. These characters were presented so realistically, that I did feel a sense of loss when Optimus Prime died, and my sister even cried a little (and she's older than I am).
It doesn't happen often that a cartoon becomes presented on the big screen, and it works as its own entity, rather than a ninety minute episode of its source. Absolutely worth watching at any age.
