Japan’s reaction to Transformer movie

I am just curious what people in Japan thought of the new Transformers movie? I personally thought it was AWESOME!

Azumangadio,

It doesn't open in Japan until 4th August, so it's a bit early to ask yet.

I would be more interested in the american reaction. I know that if i was in the states i would avoid this movie like the plague. Reactions like the change with Megatron and Bumble Bee and lack of Sound Wave, WTF? From some of the reviews ive seen people like the movie very much but they also admit that it has nothing to do with transformers. It could have just been easaly called Robots that change into stuff.

As Dave mentioned, we haven't got to seen it yet here in Japan, but my family's question was, "Why now?" I thought that the trend of the Transformer TV show and toys ended almost a decade ago. So why now, really?

Well that is America for you. They have remakes or big screen versions of everything just to squeeze out more money.

Actually you could also ask 'why now' for movies like Spider Man and Fantastic 4 or even the new Simpsons Movie.

Its all about supply and demand.. and with Transformers probably has something to do with computer animation power?

The Transformers movie has already been playing at military bases in Japan....my family and I went to see it and agree that it was pretty awesome! I thought they did a fantastic job on the special effects....the really seemed as if they were real and occupying space same as the humans! I think anyone who remembers Transformers from their childhood or enjoy this type of movie will not be dissappointed!!

Personally I LOVED the movie.
At first the idea of robots from space that transformed into things seemed stupid. But once I saw the movie, it all made sense and was absolutely phenomonal.
I actually thought a few times, if this wasn't based on a cartoon it would be a bigger hit than it is now and would create a huge fanbase similar to the one LOTR created. I don't know, but if the story was original and the robots didn't appear to be a "gang" already it would be more... I don't know, serious?
Because once they started using names and such I was kinda pulled out of the movie and thought "Oh, they were cartoon characters."

Obviously they had to stick to the plot but thats just what I imagined.

To Uco:

It seems that the reason to do a live-action Transformer movie now is pretty much because it's now possible to put such unbelievable mechanical monstrosities on the big screen and have them look realistic next to real actors.

I for one enjoyed the movie for the really, really pretty CG. The story was okay, frankly. It had its moments, but the CG was gorgeous.

I agree with Niko-chan.

If this wasn't related to the original Transformers cartoon at all it could be one of the coolest movies ever.

The way it stands now. Well, its infinitely better than the endless episodes of the cartoon version. Quite frankly, that never excited me. I believe with the movie version one could really relate it to real life especially when we're starting to make robots and computers that are more human and could think for themselves, beat us at chess or other games, etc.

Thank you guys for the inputs which was very enlighting. I have been lookiing forward to see the Transformer movie and all the posts here give me positive reasons.

I do love remakes. In fact I'm pretty much a Spiderman freak. I can understand that they're making Spiderman now, because the generation that was watching it on TV and reading the comics are now matured enough to make a real cinema out of it, with the director at the top, and the we are fortunate to have actors of the new generation who are ideal for the main roles.

But when I heard about the Transformer movie, Beast Wars was the only thing that came to my mind and that's only about 15 years old. Too early to be nostalgic and certainly too early to attract viewers from various generations.

However from a quick check, I noticed that the American animated series of Transformer was aired both in the U.S. and Japan in the 80s for a short time, later evolving to related works in various forms, and it even originated in a Japanese toy Microman which was made as far back as the mid 70s. I guess I was a rock'n'roll high school kid then who never paid attention to animation.

So like Dave from Arizona (soon to be welcomed to Japan) mentioned, I suppose tecknology caught up.

On remakes, sometimes remakes are just better than how an original show/movie or story was. Remember the story doesn't have to be 100% like the original.

Take a look at the recent superman movie and batman movie, I thought they were both excellent compared to the previous movies. Yes the orignal superman is a classic, but those films were kind of cheesy if you look at it today, well the first batman movie was good, but the latter ones weren't too great.

some very interesting reactions about this movie. but considering its kind of expensive to see movies here in japan i still think that im not going to watch it. Id rather spend my money on Grindhouse which is finally getting a release date. The biggest negative this movie has going for it is the fact that its a Michael Bay movie, i dont think i can handle it. I wish the simpsons would be playing instead of transformers, or for that matter pans labyrinth, but you know what they say, you cant win them all.

I kind of wondered how the audience would react to the fact that any time something advanced looking is introduced, at least one of the characters says

''It's got to be from Japan.''

Yeah, the special effects were pretty good...but the sound mixing was pretty terrible IMO. The movie was just too loud overall. Maybe I was sitting next to a speaker or something...but I didn't think the sound design was up to par.

I thought very much that it was an ''Ok'' movie.

When we saw it and heard the joke about, ''It's got to be from Japan.'', everyone in the audience laughed loudly.

I also thought it was funny, because we all know that Japan usually comes out with the best technology first....and living in Japan and hearing it made it seem even more funny for some reason.

sorry, the previous post was from me

See, that's what I'm talking about. John, to me the latest Superman is a piece of crap. I'm a 70s girl. The '78 version was the shock for me. Reeve Kent and Kidder Lois are my idols. But a different generation prefers a different version. That's why they make remakes as the generation changes.

And hey, no spoilers! :D Is "It's got to be from Japan." a line? I guess it's a parody of the way we used to say that whatever is cheap was made in Japan, back in the 60s.

Yes Japan made the crappiest cars in the past, Honda 600 or something.

Zoom forward 20 years or 40 years they're beating the Germans and Americans.

All they got to do now is win a Formula 1 Championship, they're just lacking in aerodynamicists I think.

I just learned that Spielberg, who made the movie, says on every interview that it was his children who introduced the Trasformer shows and toys to him, and that from then on he himself became a fan. This is what I wanted to know.

If my memory is correct, the original Japanese name
was not transformer, was it?
So I wonder if people who played with the toys in Japan
hardly recognize them from the movie title "Transformers".

Rei, the names are basically the same. Transformer originated from the Japanese toys Microman and Diaclone which was called by the same name in Japan. Also the American TV series called "Transformer" was imported and aired in Japan as "Transformer". It's just that the whole thing isn't as famous as Superman, so unless you have a child in the house from the 80s-90s, adults wouldn't know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_%28fiction%29

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC