Really That Good - TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986) (Patreon)

Published:

2017-09-09 11:32:01

Imported:

2021-06

Content

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Anyway..

TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE debuted in 1986 to scathing reviews and a less-than-transformative box office performance - after all, it was essentially a 90 minute toy commercial whose target audience was already getting its fix on TV for free. But home-video and regular TV play, combined with the enduring popularity of the TRANSFORMERS brand and the shocking (however marketing-driven) decision to kill off many of the most popular original characters made it a pop-culture staple for a whole generation of fans; many of whom today regard it as a cult classic... but is it?

Where some merely see a cynical feature-length commercial highlighted by oddball voice-casting, inconsistent animation and some of the cheesiest 80s heavy metal ever recorded; many devout fans insist it all (somehow) adds up to something more - and its enduring popularity suggests they might have a point: There's a thousand things "wrong" with TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE; but if a whole generation still claims to be sincerely captivated by its strangely-hypnotic bizarre visual aesthetic, caught up in its surreally-serious sci-fi melodramatics and moved to tears by the death of Optimus Prime... are they wrong?

Is it just nostalgia talking? Where does authorial intent (in this case: to make a toy commercial) give way to audience-perception in determining which creative works get to "matter?"

Is TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE... Really That Good?

Files

Really That Good - TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986)

REALLY THAT GOOD is an independent MovieBob Production. If you enjoy it and want to see more like it, please consider supporting The MovieBob Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/moviebob1 Welcome to a NEW kind of film-criticism series, built around the radical premise that just because "everyone knows" a movie is a classic doesn't mean it stops being worth a deeper look. TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE debuted in 1986 to scathing reviews and a less-than-transformative box office performance - after all, it was essentially a 90 minute toy commercial whose target audience was already getting its fix on TV for free. But home-video and regular TV play, combined with the enduring popularity of the TRANSFORMERS brand and the shocking (however marketing-driven) decision to kill off many of the most popular original characters made it a pop-culture staple for a whole generation of fans; many of whom today regard it as a cult classic... but is it? Where some merely see a cynical feature-length commercial highlighted by oddball voice-casting, inconsistent animation and some of the cheesiest 80s heavy metal ever recorded; many devout fans insist it all (somehow) adds up to something more - and its enduring popularity suggests they might have a point: There's a thousand things "wrong" with TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE; but if a whole generation still claims to be sincerely captivated by its strangely-hypnotic bizarre visual aesthetic, caught up in its surreally-serious sci-fi melodramatics and moved to tears by the death of Optimus Prime... are they wrong? Where does authorial intent (in this case: to make a toy commercial) give way to audience-perception in determining which creative works get to "matter?" Is TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE... Really That Good? "Black Vortex", "Disco Lounge", "Marty Gots a Plan", "Oppressive Gloom", "The Curtain Rises", "Ultralounge", "Wizardtorium," "Inspire" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Transformers" is a property of Hasbro Inc. REALLY THAT GOOD is a work of film/media criticism created for education and journalism purposes and makes no claims on any media that is discussed in any individual episode.