As mentioned in previous posts, I am a huge fan of Transformers. This enthusiasm mainly came from the fantastic 80’s film ‘Transformers the Movie’, which had Rock music, many of the original series robots terminated and some amazing battle sequences.
I did purchase an earlier DVD that was released and although the 5.1 surround was good, the video was still very dark just like the VHS version. So imagine my excitement when I heard they were releasing a remastered, colour corrected, widescreen version to celebrate the 20th anniversary!
So having received it yesterday what is my verdict? After all I already had an earlier DVD release don’t forget…
Well I am very happy with this release, in fact I would go as far as saying this has met pretty much all of my high expectations. The colour correction and remastered video and audio are superb, although Hot Rod is verging on pink instead of red and the 5.1 audio subwoofer track can lose some of its resonance during dialogue sections. On the most part though I have found many areas where I simply couldn’t pick out the detail before, but now you can enjoy all the little features with a brand new interest.
The bonus content is quite substantial as well on this two disk DVD pack. On the second disk you have the typical 4:3 full frame version for those without widescreen televisions and bizarrely Hot Rod is red in this aspect ratio! There are some nice short video clips of toy advertisements, movie trailers from both this movie and the new upcoming Transformers live action film to be released later this year and some other bits and bobs. The best part is probably the fan commentary over the film provided from some very knowledgeable Transformer followers.
Overall for any Transformers fan it is a must purchase and although not quite perfect, it does offer (as far as I am concerned anyway) the best movie experience for this cartoon classic.
On a side note, which is your favorite part of the film? Mine has to be when devastator has completed his transformation and says “prepare for extermination”. Certainly gets the adrenaline going! Ahh to be young at heart!