DVD Review - Transformers

Well folks, I'll try my hand at a DVD review, and what better way to start than with the new Transformers DVD that I recently purchase. The case transforms into Optimus Prime as my previous post last month mentioned. I finally got some time to view the DVD and all the extras on it so I figured might as well give my take on it :) Here's the front and back of the DVD casing again in case you missed it the last time. There are some spoilers in it so you have been warn, I'll cover the following points. 1) Story 2) My Likes and Dislikes 3) DVD Extras 4) Rating 5) Easter Eggs Transformers - The Movie Well hope you like the title in Optimus Prime's colour ;) 1) Story It's your standard good vs bad movie, the story is about the Bad Guy (Megatron) crash landing on earth years ago, where does he land -- the arctic of course -- (like that Aliens vs Predator movie). Earth so big and still they crash land at the poles, can't they land in Singapore or something !! He had come to find the "All Spark" which is a super powerful cube that can make your handphone turn into a real nasty piece of vicious shit! The map of where the All Spark is gets embedded in the glasses of the explorer who finds the frozen Megatron. Cut to modern day and we have Sam Witwicky (our Hero) some nerdy guy who gets a new car which turns out to be an Autobot (Bumblebee). Sam is of course the explorer's grandson, who inherits his grandfather's glasses (the one containing the map). The Autobots descend on Earth and engage the Decipticons in battle. Meanwhile Megatron who has been frozen all this while at a top secret Governemnt Facility (aka Independence Day) gets defrosted and starts wrecking havoc. Final climatic battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime in the city, a few slow mo fight scenes (aka John Woo style - just no doves flying) which sees Sam saving the day by using the cube to destroy Megatron. And so the Autobots save the day but are stranded on Earth. --> Probably gives the director a chance to make Part II if the movie is a hit. Well along the way there is the love story angle and the comedic relief from the autobots and some lady code cracker who has a very heavy Australian Accent and her wise cracking sidekick. It's a Michael Bay movie (incidentally the extras show his cameo appearance in the film which he cut out in the end) If you watch the movie I guess you will know who the stars are so instead of giving you the lowdown on the 'live' stars, I'll give you a summary of who the Transformers are (if you really interested in the full details you can check out the official Transformers Movie web site) : AUTOBOTS (a) Optimus Prime - voice by Peter Cullen ## He is the original voice of OP. He is also the voice of Eeyore the donkey from winnie the pooh movies. He has been doing voices for a number of other movies and television series like from Knight Rider, GI Joe, Spiderman, My Little Pony, Jetsons, Scoody Doo and many others. (b) Bumblebee - voice by Mark Ryan ## Has been in film, television and theater including the west end musical's Evita. (c) Ironhide & Barricade - voice by Jess Harnell ## Has been nominated for an Emmy Award and named one of the top ten voice actors by Variety magazine. Has done numerous shows including being the announcer for America's Funniest Home Videos and has appeared on cartoon shows like the Simpsons & Rugrats. His film credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Cars, Robots, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 1 & 2, Bug's Life and many others. TV Commercials - Macdonalds and Diet Coke to name a few, plus Video game voices. (d) Ratchet - voice by Robert Foxworth ## Worked in theater and a couple of television series like Law and Order, Boston Legal, West Wing and Falcon Crest to name a few. (e) Jazz - voice by Darius McCarry ## Was a child actor at the age of 10. Has worked in theater and film including Hostage and Mississippi Burning DECEPTICONS (a) Megatron - voice by Hugo Weaving ## An Australian actor who played Elrond in Lord of the Rings and as Agent Smith in Matrix. Won 2 Austrlian Film Institute - Best Actor Awards. He is also heard as Noah the Elder in Happy Feet. (b) Barricade - see above (c) Bonecrusher - voice by Jimmy Wood ## He is a musician, singer and actor. He's sung and played harmonica in movies and commercials and has voiced in television series Rugrats and Wild Thornberrys. (d) Starscream - Charlie Adler ## He is an Emmy Award winning director and 2-time Annie Award nomiee. Among his many credits are Rugrats and the Wild Thornberrys. Has been heard in Tiny Toon Adventures and has been a Smurf, GI Joe and even a Glow Friend. Named one of the Top 13 All Time Voice-Over Artists by Animation Magazine and Voice of the Decade by Animation World News. (e) Frenzy - voice by Reno Wison ## Mainly worked in television including the Crosby Show and has guest starred in Las Vegas, NYPD Blue, Cybill, Chicago Hope and many others. 2) My Likes and Dislikes Likes :- - Damn !! it brings back those childhood memories of the cartoon. - The CG was awesome, I like the fight scences best, althougth it's just mindless bashing and at times you can't really figure out the bad guy from the good. - Love the transforming, if they had toys that transform like that it would be soooooo cool. - Sound was great especially the transformation sounds. Dislikes :- - No sound track of ' Transformers... Robots in Disguse etc..etc.. More than meets the Eye ' - Hhhhmmmm.... not enough air time for my favourite transformer of all time Star Scream ! - Megatron not depicted with that 'kelvar like' helmet which too me was iconic and he did not transform into a gun !! what a waste. - Too few Bots (** explaination below **) 3) DVD Extras On the DVD there is the usual Director's commentary, trailers, concept art and a part on how they got the desert attack accomplished. Lots of insight into the making of the movie a few deleted scenes (including the Michael Bay cameo and the X-Box transformation). Interviews with the cast and much much more inside info on the making of the movie. Love the parts on the CG for the Bots. And did you know the actions was all shot live, most of it was live except for the Bots (and it cost heck of a lot to render them to life as such the number of Bots had to be scaled down). Something like 200+ vehicles were burn, shot at, blown up, crashed, flipped, twisted, smashed and rolled over. Most of the vehicles were custom built from old vehicles. However Bumblebee was a GM prototype. Cost ? you have to watch the extras to find out. They had a special segment on Bumblebee. Military hardware was real. Some of the equipment so top secret that the Military only allowed them to be film at a certain angle. 4) Rating The movies was great but then again probably it will appeal to men more than the ladies. It's a simple plot line, no need to get too worked up about it. Actions shots were ok. Need to better differentiate the good and bad guys. CG effects were great. Some things were changed from the original Bots but overall it fits the movie. DVD extras were excellent and of course this particular packaging had that great transforming gimmick. Overall I would give it a 8.5 out of 10. 5) Easter Eggs As you may or may not know, most DVD's usually come with some hidden features. These are called Easter Eggs. I think it comes from the fact that the original hidden icons resembled an Egg. In this DVD they resemble the autobot/decepticon logo or actually the vehicle logos. ON THE 2ND DISK there are 5 hidden Easter Eggs (1) At the Main Menu highlight 'Subtitles' then press the LEFT arrow on your remote and an icon will appear, 'enter' and you will view the DVD credits. (2) From Main Menu select Our World, highlight 'I Fight Giant Robots' then press the DOWN arrow on your remote and an icon will appear, 'enter' and you will get an amusing commercial for BAYBOT a Michael Bay Autobot :) (3) From Main Menu select Their War, highlight 'Inside the All Spark' then press LEFT arrow on your remote and an icon will appear, 'enter; and you will get behind the scenes footage of Michael Bay's Cameo. (4) From the Main Menu select More than Meets the Eye, highlight 'From Script to Sand' then press UP arrow on your remote and an icon will appear, 'enter' and you will see a clip about Casting Mojo which is about the dogs on the show. (5) From the Main Menu select More than Meets the Eye, than Trailers highlight 'Trailer 4' then press the RIGHT arrow on your remote and an icon will appear, 'enter' and you get to see the X-Box transformer effect. There is suppose to be an Easter Egg on DISK 1 as well but I can't seem to access it. Well I hope you like the review and if anyone else bought the DVD and is able to access the Easter Egg on Disk 1 do let me know. thanks.