The Transformers: The Movie re-review: Still the best (and it's not close)

In honor of its 40th anniversary, here’s a celebration of the greatest Transformers movie ever made.

This week The Transformers: The Movie returns to theaters to mark its 40th anniversary. As the film that defined my childhood possibly more than any other, I wanted to take some time to celebrate this masterpiece from 1986. In subsequent years, despite financial success, directors like Michael Bay have tried and failed to recreate the magic of the series in live action to the point where I fear that younger generations have been ingrained with a tainted impression of what made Transformers so fascinating back in the day. And while there have been a handful of big picture entries like Bumblebee and Transformers One that have come close to delivering on the heart, soul and style of the original, even after four decades, the first movie is still unmatched.

Note: I'm not sure it's really necessary to put spoiler warnings on a review of a 40-year-old-movie, but here it is because I'm going to be talking about specific scenes and plot points.

Before we get into the film's sound and story, I think it's important to highlight some of the incredible voice acting that went into the Transformers movie (which is what I'm going to call it going forward). If the producers had simply retained the cast from the original first-generation cartoon — which includes legends like Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Frank Welker (Megatron, Soundwave) and others — and then plugged in any gaps as needed, that would have been totally fine. Instead, the producers went over the top and added some incredible names to the roster that elevated the movie to greater heights.

The Transformers movie stands as Orson Welles' final performance, as he died just five days after recording his lines for Unicron. And 40 years later, it's impossible to imagine anyone else in that role. His performance brought an otherworldly gravitas to the planet-eating menace while firmly cementing Unicron as one of the most memorable big bads in franchise history. Meanwhile, casting Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron during the height of Star Trek's success was a stroke of genius, as he managed to make Megatron's reincarnation as Galvatron somehow even more menacing. Then there's Robert Stack, who breathed life into Ultra Magnus, allowing him to be more than Optimus' second-in-command. When he said "But Prime, I'm just a soldier," you can hear the conflict in his voice between knowing what must be done and the burden of being asked to carry the Matrix of Leadership, a moment that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

But among all of these performances, Judd Nelson, hot off of starring in The Breakfast Club , felt like the perfect choice to voice newcomer Hot Rod. More than any other character in the movie, you can hear the growth along the way, from a brash young bot trying to prove himself to becoming the leader the Autobots really needed. Even more than the only two actual people in the movie, Nelson gave the role the energy and humanity it needed to essentially carry the entire film.

Even if you don't care about transforming robots, I feel like almost everyone can still appreciate this movie's soundtrack. Unlike the cartoon series, which relied more on orchestral pieces with big brass, woodwind and string performances, Vince Dicola's score leans more into synths and metal, encapsulating the sounds of the 80s in an unmistakable way. Other tracks like NRG's " Instruments of Destruction " is a downright headbanger while Weird Al's " Dare to be Stupid " provides a moment of levity before the final battle.

However, out of all of these, two tracks by Stan Bush stand out from the rest: " Dare " and " The Touch ." These ballads aren't just catchy, they make you want to burst out singing in tandem and serve as the ideal accompaniment to our heroes' journey and the battle to save not one but two worlds. Some might say the soundtrack to the Transformers movie is the best thing about it; I don't think I could argue otherwise.