The Transfomers the Movie:
35th Anniversary Edition
review by Bobby Blakey
The Transformers franchise is one that has garnered a legion of fans through all its varying iterations. Outside of the generation on series the most popular of them all is that of the 1986 feature The Transformers; The Movie. Now Shout Factory is celebrating the 35th anniversary of this classic film with an all-new steelbook edition, but does it offer up more than meets the eye or will it fail to transform its own legacy?
The Transformers: The Movie follows the Autobots, led by the heroic Optimus Prime, who prepare to make a daring attempt to retake their planet from the evil forces of Megatron and the Decepticons. Unknown to both sides, a menacing force is heading their way – Unicron. The only hope of stopping Unicron lies within the Matrix of Leadership and the Autobot who can rise up and use its power to light their darkest hour. Will the Autobots be able to save their native planet from destruction or will the Decepticons reign supreme?
The film features a great voice cast including Peter Cullen, Eric Idle, Casey Kasem, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, Frank Welker and Orson Wells in his final role. Even after 30 years this movie still holds up to perfection. Sure the music is very 80s, but that is part of the charm and a major part of the film. That 80s rock blasts through the film from beginning to end and manages to make the film feel bigger than it already was. The animation is still as beautiful as ever and in HD all that much better.
I have always loved this film and remember being blown away hearing Ultra Magnus cuss when trying to open the Matrix of Leadership because as a kid you didn’t hear cussing like that often in animated films. There is a ton of great transforming action that kept all the classic aspects of the generation one series intact while shocking fans with killing off characters and really pushing it to the next level. To this day this film is the perfect example of what should be done when making a series into a feature as opposed to what most do that end up just feeling like a long episode.
This new release debuts the film on 4K Ultra for the first time with a 4K transfer from the original film elements. This anniversary release comes with highly collectible SteelBook packaging that features striking new key art by celebrated comic artist Matt Ferguson, an all-new 4K transfer of the movie in widescreen with HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, the film in HD full frame on Blu-ray, immersive bonus content including never-before-seen feature-length storyboards, plus 4 exclusive art cards. Fans who pre-order from shoutfactory.com will also receive a limited-edition 18”x24” lithograph with new art by Matt Ferguson, while supplies last. Grab your copy of this Steelbook edition on 4K when it hits stores on August 3rd from Shout Factory.
On September 28, 2021, Shout! Factory will also issue two additional 35th anniversary editions of The Transformers: The Movie —a standard 4K UHD + Blu-ray combo pack, and a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack. The Transformers: The Movie MOVIE 35th Anniversary Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray combo pack includes the all-new 4K transfer of the movie in widescreen alongside the HD full frame version and new bonus material. The Transformers: The Movie 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray + DVD combo pack features the movie in HD full frame on Blu-ray as well as a widescreen edition on DVD, alongside new bonus material. These configurations will be available for pre-order later this summer from Shout! Factory.