I remember when this was in the theater, I couldn’t wait to watch it. The action is fantastic and the story is amazing,it will keep you on your toes and you will feel a tear fall when Optimus Prime dies. (Sorry that was a spoiler).

Four stars?? For The Transformers: The Movie? Seriously? Can you believe it? Well... The four stars are for this edition of the movie, not just the movie itself. This particular edition is the 35th Anniversary Limited Edition 4K UHD / Blu Ray Steelbook. Quite a mouthful but for a franchise killing bomb turned cult classic fan favorite, this movie sure has gotten *a lot* of different editions on home video in the US. There was the FHE VHS (Blue Box), Avid VHS (Red Box), the Rhino DVD, the 20th Anniversary DVD (with lenticular slipcover), the 30th Anniversary Blu Ray, the 30th Anniversary Blu Ray Steelbook, the 35th Anniversary 4K and the 35th Anniversary 4K Steelbook... Phew. And that's just the US...Japan had a laserdisc also :) But back to the 4K Steelbook edition. First, the steelbook itself. Really nicely done with an iconic moment of the movie on the cover and some subtle holographic effects acceting the awakening of the matrix in the autobots' darkest hour. What do you get that's new? Well, you get a 4K restoration of the movie which fixes some of the 30th Anniversary video issues while also reinforcing that Hot Rod is NOT all red like the VHS and early DVD versions showed him to be. He has pink on him...and that's how it was in 1986 (yep...saw the film IN THEATERS). It was also that way on the Panini Sticker Book for this movie and yes...had that also. Anyway, the 4K restoration showcases the art for this film in a way that has never been seen before. It's the original uncut film with all of the swearing (all two words) intact. The infamous US "superman style" opening credits are intact rather than the UK's star wars style text crawl, which has sometimes shown up in US video edits. In short, this is the unedited film with awesome popping colors, (mostly) razor sharp images and great sound (like eighties rock music? This is like a very good sounding music video with its nearly credit to credit non-stop soundtrack). There is ONE thing about the 4K version, though...and it doesn't negate anything I said earlier. It's in Widescreen. So, you say...widescreen is how we like things in 4K. The caveat is that this was animated in a 4:3 ratio (since it was basically season 2.5 of the TV Show bridging between S2 and S3) and since it had such a short theatrical life, MOST people have seen it on VHS or on TV...in 4:3. The movie was hard matted for theaters so you do actually lose the top and bottom of the image for the widescreen framing. It can look like less picture (it is) but this IS how it was featured in theaters...so OAR is a bit of a murky subject here. The Blu Ray gives it to you in Full Frame (1.33:1) so there is that. The Blu Ray is a newly pressed disc that uses the 4K master and isn't just a recycle of the 30th anniversary Blu Ray. Special features (all on the Blu Ray) are MOSTLY the same recycled content (hence 4 stars in stead of 5) although there are a few new features including seeing the entire movie's audio set to the original storyboards and Stan Bush performing his two songs. The movie itself is a classic that is still a product of its time. That being...throw some money at a film featuring popular toy characters with a bigger, longer storyline that fits into the narrative of the existing show (everyone was doing it...my little pony, care bears, rainbow brite...) but still use the thing to sell more toys. In the case of Transformers, the idea was to roll out a whole new product line using the movie as...well...a big ad. How do you get the kids to give up their existing toys and want new ones? Why...kill off all of the existing ones on screen. The legends surrounding the first 30 minutes of this film where most of the original G1 characters are violently destroyed on screen are legendary. The stories around how kids reacted to Optimus Prime's deaths are...well known. Again, I saw this movie in the theaters. It was a shame that Optimus died on screen but...I didn't lock myself in a room in trauma for a week either. Whether that really happened or is just a legend...who knows? And c'mon kids...the ads on TV (during the show) were SCREAMING the hook "Does Optimus Prime Die??" There's no way anyone went into this film not aware it could be on the table :) Anyway, how do we look at The Transformers: The Movie 35 years later? It's a decent flick, if you're into the brand. It tells a story that is MUCH bigger than its tv episodes were, so it's never accused of being just another episode of the show (X-Files, I want to believe..looking at you). It has a FANTASTIC soundtrack (Weird Al?? heck yea!), an amazing voice cast (Robert Stack? Judd Nelson? Eric Idle?? Leonard Nemoy? ORSON WELLS??) and it has a decent coming of age storyline while being amusing and having some detailed characters and arcs. The Grimlock / Kup / Hot Rod exchanges are pretty funny in and of themselves. And just a word about Orson Wells. At the end of his life, he recorded lines to be a robotic planet that eats other planets (yes, death star meets galactus)...pretty unbelievable for someone of his stature in hollywood. But still cool. The first act is just bonkers crazy good - much much better than it had any right to be, although the autobot and decepticon slaughter really elevates the stakes here culminating in the best autobot-decepticon extended battle ever put to screen at (ahem) autobot city. Any fan of the show was thrilled - even with the deaths - at this part. The second act is...sloggy. The new characters can't quite overcome the shock of losing the older ones and the movie gets lost in its "explore the galaxy" phase while relying way too much on all the life in the universe being robotic. There is some unsubtle world building going on in act 2 that slows the plot down due to its inorganic exposition dumps (of which there are many). The third act picks up again, but never quite achieves the highs of the first act. The new prime that arises at the end is a hallmark of the third act, but it all feels a bit rushed as well as a bit anticlimatic. That "anything goes" urgency of the first act is not present in the third and there never seems to be any question that Unicron won't eat Cybertron and Galvatron WILL be defeated. The animation, while amazing compared to the show (6million budget vs 300-400k for an episode), is ok...there are some noticeable off model sequences and animation errors. The flashes of laser fire and constant camera rotations are cool at first but can be a bit tiring for older eyes after a while. Still...for the time...this is impressive and very, very kinetic (so different than anything disney or universal were doing at the time). Robotech is credited with the arrival of Anime in the US, but Transformers the Movie should receive some of that credit. It's definatly influenced by anime staging, pacing, etc. There are some early examples of integrating computer animation into the film also that should be mentioned, most notably when Unicron transformers the mortally wounded Decepticons into their new form (sometimes called the Unicrons, but never in the movie...) So, is this product a winner? Sure is! If you love the movie, than this is a no-brainer purchase. Great restoration, awesome steelbook, new features plus many of the old ones carried forward...what's not to love? If you're a Beast Wars fan, or you were introduced to the brand via the Michael Bay movies, than you may not quite get what has made this movie the enduring classic that it has become but I would encourage you to try it out. Till All Are one!

What can I say? “Till All Are One!” The rally cry for all Transformers fans, made famous from this great animated film. Surprising opening scene sets the stage for an all-new direction for the Franchise, and the next surprise later in the film, changes it yet again! Great voice performances by Robert Stack, Peter Cullen, Judd Nelson, and the Legendary Leonard Nimoy as well as the final performance of Hollywood royalty, Orson Welles. A great wealth of 80s nostalgia!

Suberb Video & Audio -- essentially, more than met the eyes, and I'm very pleased I own the limited edition. It's now in moratorium, but I'm not concerned with 40th aniversary approaching: Dolby Atmos? Who knows -- until all are one... Overall, great memories.

Great quality sound, picture and over all animation movie loved it