“Transformers” is a super-big, Earth-shaking blockbuster, one that makes the most impact when its robots rise up in a multiplex. So how does it play on DVD? If you have a decent-sized TV and a solid sound system, it makes the leap to the smaller screen fairly successfully. But watch it on a 27-inch, non-high-definition set and the power of the effects fade.
Of course, that won’t stop the girls and boys who love those Hasbro toys from enjoying the two-disc special-edition DVD, which arrived Tuesday with multiple featurettes that reveal how director Michael Bay and his team brought Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest to cinematic life.
Roughly three hours worth of featurettes take fans onto the sets and inside the minds of the special effects gurus who did an impressive job of making those transformer transformations look 100-percent realistic.
Fascinating featurettes like “Rise of the Robots,” which shows how the 18-foot-tall model of Autobot Bumblebee was sculpted out of foam, compensate for the missteps. Besides, even the occasional silliness of the bonus features fits right in with the movie, a giddy, albeit empty, geekfest.
Best Michael Bay Bonus: Bay clearly is in love with his own movie, which makes his commentary track a bit tedious after a while. But you have to respect his candor, even when it makes him sound like kind of a jerk. Case in point: His description of how angry he was on the first day of shooting when members of the crew were still eating dinner at the moment he wanted to get cameras rolling. He remembers telling his director of photography, Mitchell Amundsen, “Mitch, this is a big movie. You’re not going to be eating your burritos anymore when I show up to set and I’m ready to work.”
I am sure Amundsen will be thrilled to discover that his boss’ reprimand has been commemorated in DVD-commentary form.
Transformers
Two-disc DVD set, $36.99; Single-disc DVD, $29.99; HD DVD, $39.99
4 stars
