I remember watching this movie on TV as a kid, or at least half of it. I actually had to turn the film off because my baby sister was being put down for a nap and my parents didn't want her waking up. It would be an additional 13 years before I was finally able to rent a VHS copy of the film in my early 20s. Now, another 13 years have passed and here I am watching this story once again on DVD as the big finale to my complete GI Joe series footlocker set. In all that time, I have to admit I never really thought this movie was all that impressive. Sure the visuals were a big step up from the TV series, but the characters and story just don't do much for me; and while I understand what the creators of this film were trying to do, I just don't appreciate the way they did it.
The story behind GI Joe the Movie goes something like this. GI Joe has devised a new machine that could solve the worlds energy crisis (don't ask me why an elite combat squad created to fight Cobra is working on such a device, it's probably Obama's fault). This potentially world changing piece of technology is known as the Broadcast Energy Transmitter - or BET for short (yes, it has the same initials as Black Entertainment Television, I laughed too) - and is being tested somewhere in Antarctica or something (again, I have no idea why). As one would suspect, Cobra also wants this device, but not for the reasons you might think. Turns out Serpentor (Cobra's Emperor who usurped Cobra Commander as leader of the terrorist organization) has allied himself with an ancient civilization that despises the inorganic technology mankind has developed over the years. This race is known as Cobra-la and it is they who want the BET (snicker) for the purpose of energizing some spores they are planning to launch into space. Once hatched these spores will fall to earth and force mankind into a state of devolution so that Cobra-la can reclaim the planet for themselves. There's a little more to it than that, but I think you get the idea.
From a writing standpoint the GI Joe Movie is an interesting mix of both familiar and unfamiliar ideas. While Cobra's plan to steal the Broadcast Energy Transmitter and use it for nefarious purposes fits very well within the GI Joe formula, the overall objective to de-evolve mankind and destroy our civilization has never really been the goal of this terrorist organization. Cobra has always wanted to rule over mankind, not ruin it. Of course Cobra-la is the real driving force behind this apocalyptic plan, but I was still surprised at how quickly villains like Destro and the Baroness accepted the idea. Compounding the oddity of this plot was the obvious anime influence. Though I cannot say for certain, I really got the impression that Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind was a huge source of inspiration for this film, and I'm hard pressed to figure out why anyone would think that an environmentally based story like Nausicaa would serve as a good basis for a GI Joe movie. Still, given the number of doomsday scenarios presented by Cobra over the years, I can see why a new direction was necessary for the series. So I guess the unusual nature of this story - though somewhat distracting - was not necessarily a bad thing, and I'm willing to write it off as no harm no foul.
What is harmful to this story however, is the poor use of characters, specifically GI Joe characters. Taking a note from what they did with the Transformers movie, GI Joe's producers decided to use their animated film as a vehicle to introduce a new cast of characters to the series. So instead of getting healthy doses of Scarlett, Flint, Snake-eyes, Shipwreck etc. we get Falcon, Jinx, Tunnel Rat and of course Big Lob (I'll have more to say about Big Lob later). That's not to say that all the GI Joe mainstays got ignored. Duke gets a lot of screen time, as does Roadblock and the horrendous Sgt. Slaughter (who I never liked). Still, the crux of the story clearly revolves around Falcon (who is Duke's half brother) and the other new Joe recruits as well as Sgt. Slaughter's Renegades. The problem with this is that fans of the series (even young ones) would much rather watch a film where their favorite characters are the driving force behind the story. Instead the GI Joe movie not only pushes these characters into the background, it continues to follow the Transformers model and actually tries to kill one of them off! To be fair the character (spoiler alert) - who is Duke - doesn't actually die in the film, but if you watch the movie closely you will see that the story actually called for him to do so. Apparently the reason Hasbro reneged on the original plan to off Duke was the hugely negative fan reaction they got when they killed Optimus Prime in the aforementioned Transformers movie. To change this for GI Joe they added dialog (usually by offscreen characters) that makes it clear that Duke isn't actually dead, but instead in a comma (one from which he awakes, but not onscreen). If you watch the character reactions from this life or death scene however, it is very clear that Duke does indeed die.
To be clear, I do not take umbrage with the initial decision to kill Duke in the GI Joe movie. It's the reasons behind his unfulfilled demise that bother me. Duke isn't being killed because it's the right thing for the story you see, it's just a way for the company to kick out the old and bring in the new. Hasbro wanted to sell us new toys while at the same time ushering in a new direction for GI Joe. So to do this they thought it best to symbolically "kill" the old show by killing Duke, a decision that was decidedly corporate. Though the GI Joe cartoon is really nothing more than a long line of merchandise based decisions, seeing this cold corporate planning on display in a full fledged movie just didn't sit well with me (a reaction that was echoed by Transformers fans when Optimus Prime received the same treatment).
Making the situation worse was the sobering reality that continually adding new Joe members to the shows lineup was leading to some pretty ridiculous characters. Over the years GI Joe has had some ups and downs with regards to their new recruits. For every character that fit well within the series setting (for example Lady Jaye) there were characters that came across as ridiculous by contrast (Quick Kick). Unfortunately this trend only continued to worsen with the GI Joe movie. Characters like Jinx, Big Lob and Chuckles just didn't work all that well as Joes. Whether it's their less than military backgrounds, the egregiously cliched inspirations (gee Chuckles, you ever watch Miami Vice? You would love it.) or the horribly outlandish outfits of the characters, these new recruits come off looking like a band of circus performers rather than elite soldiers. Fortunately Falcon and Tunnel Rat do look more in line with what I expect from GI Joe members, however I still found Falcon (arguably the central character of the film) insufferable when on screen.
Why do I hate Falcon so much? Probably because he's the most selfish and irresponsible GI Joe solider - not named Shipwreck - I've ever seen. But while Shipwreck's less than stellar behavior was a source of comedic relief for the show, Falcon is actually supposed to be an officer with leadership potential. Yet here he is trying to impress a chick by taking her into a classified area, after which he allows fellow soldiers to be injured because he's absent from his post hitting on - once again - another woman. Now obviously the movie introduced these character flaws so that Falcon could over come them, thus maturing him into the man he's supposed to be. That kind of characterization however, just doesn't belong in any Joe leader. I mean, how does a guy like Falcon even get promoted to Lieutenant? During his court martial General Hawk makes it abundantly clear that Falcon's military record is rife with poor conduct and gross dereliction of duty. So why hasn't he been busted down to private yet, or discharged altogether? And what's up with the command structure at GI Joe anyway? Duke is only a sergeant, yet he's technically in command of officers? I may not be an expert on military rank but that just seems odd. Anyway, I have to admit my issues with Falcon are a little personal. Though characters like Duke and Flint are kind of carbon copy, cookie cutter hero types - with no real flaws to speak of - I prefer characters you can aspire to. These are supposed to be the military elite, the best of the best of the best. I expect to see over the top perfection from the guys calling the shots, I should be in awe of their stalwart dedication to duty. Instead I found myself looking at Falcon with disgust, both as a child and adult (I have similar issues with todays popular Ben 10 character, but that's a rant for another time).
Then of course there's Big Lob. As I previously mentioned there is no shortage of "ridiculous" GI Joe characters to be found in the 1980s. Of all of these, however, Big Lob is definitely worst. The reason I crown Mr. Lob with this dubious honor is that Big Lob is supposed to be a former basketball player turned Joe recruit. While this may not sound any worse than say Quick Kick being a stunt man turned GI Joe, you need to understand that Big Lob's entire skill set is based around his basketball abilities (so for example he throws grenades as if he were shooting a jump shot). Though that's pretty outrageous in and of itself, the funniest thing about Big Lob is that whenever he is in action he speaks in the third person and calls his own plays like a cliched sports announcer. Let me repeat that, Big Lob narrates all of his life or death struggles as if he were playing in a sporting event. Even worse the character constantly confuses his basketball metaphors with football plays, thus the entire idea - which was bad enough to begin with - is not even handled in a consistent way. Honestly, the only other character that even comes close to matching this level of obnoxious would be Quick Kick who - along with his stunt man background - does horrible celebrity impressions during the first season of GI Joe. Still, I have to give Big Lob the title of "Biggest Dud" when it comes to these GI Joe misfires. A conclusion that I believe Hasbro shared since they did not even release an action figure of the character during the 1980s.
Overall the writing of the GI Joe movie just doesn't work very well. Though the producers tried to rightfully up the stakes with the introduction of Cobra-la, this dramatic change to the GI Joe mythos felt strangely odd and perhaps a little too foreign for the franchise. Likewise, the blatantly corporate addition of new - and mostly bad - GI Joe characters like Falcon, Chuckles, Big Lob etc., did nothing to help the movies misguided premise. Compound this with the irreverent manner in which classic Joe characters like Duke where handled, and you have a story that lacks both substance and heart.
On a more positive note, the visuals from GI Joe the Movie are pretty good, in particular the film's intro. Set to some cheesy (but fun) music, the opening title sequence of this film features an attack by Cobra on the statue of Libirty. Naturally GI Joe is there to defend our favorite present from the French (than again the Louisiana Purchase was practically a gift in and of itself), and do so with some very feature film worthy animation. What's doubly nice about this is that the entire sequence uses plenty of fan favorite Joes (seriously, you get more Snake Eyes here than in the movie itself) and none of the newer, lamer Joes that make up the rest of the story.
Unfortunately, the occasionally excellent visuals found in the rest of the film can be somewhat sporadic. What I mean is that there is an obvious distinction between the "A" team animators - who did most of the action scenes - and the "B" team animators who did the more pedestrian scenes. While the overall look of the characters are consistent, I could immediately tell when the film switched between animation units and was disappointed that the movie wasn't done entirely by the better of the two. It's hard to say exactly why the "A" teams animation stood out so much, but off hand I would say that the staging was more unique, the color pallet appeared darker and I think the frames per second was a little higher. Of course it's entirely possible that this was a result of the film's switch to DTV as well. If the movie was only partially finished when this major change was made, I imagine that cuts to the animation budget would have been inevitable and thus inconsistent quality was introduced. I have no real knowledge regarding the movie's production however, so this is purely speculative.
Taken as a whole, I thought the visual side of GI Joe the Movie was solid, as long as you acknowledge the fact it was technically a DTV from the 1980s. Had the film been a theatrical release - like Transformers - I wouldn't be cutting it nearly as much slack and would have to hold it to a higher standard. And when you consider that GI Joe's cousin program Transformers featured some of the best feature film animation of the decade (I'm not kidding, the animation from Transformers the movie was masterful) I'm afraid GI Joe just wouldn't have been up to snuff. As it is however, I liked the overall look of the film and feel that it's the best part of the movie.
In terms of voice acting I really don't have all that much to say about GI Joe the Movie. All the regular actors and actresses from the TV series reprise their roles and do a decent enough job. Of course none of these individuals has a "big" name to splash across the opening credits, so the films producers got Don Johnson to be the movies headliner by voicing Falcon. Personally, I felt the addition of Johnson did nothing to help or hurt the film, though if I'm completely honest I was very aware that I was listening to Johnson and that can be a bad thing when watching animation. Other than that the only thing worth noting is the "one step forward, two steps back" situation regarding Serpentor's dialog. What I mean is that Serpentor had some really silly dialog during the second season of GI Joe. In particular there was his oft used phrase "This I command!!!" which was delivered with such over emphasis that one could not help but cringe. In the GI Joe movie, however, the characters voice actor (Richard Gautier) dials it down a notch and somehow delivers this same phrase in a more believable manner. Unfortunately, whatever gains achieved by this refined delivery where completely lost when Serpentor starts using his new battle cry "Cobra-la-la-la-la-la" (think Xena Warrior Princess). Anyway, I was neither impressed nor displeased with the voice over work in this film. Basically it was about what I expected, and it's pretty much par for the course when it comes to DTVs like this.
Musically I'm afraid that GI Joe the Movie was very lackluster. Outside of the cheesy opening song (which does have some charm) the rest of the film appears to just recycle the same score and musical cues from the television series. Once again, this may be a result of switching the films release from theatrical to DTV. Often times a movies soundtrack is one of the last things done, so if the production budget got cut then it's very possible that the films score suffered. Obviously this is just speculation on my part and I really don't know if this was the case or not. Regardless, the musical score from GI Joe the Movie lacks ambition and is far too generic to be memorable.
As is far too often the case, GI Joe the Movie is very average. The story was unimpressive (the characters even more so), the animation solid (at times even excellent ) and the voice acting/music gets by. The only people I would really recommend this film to are those who have fond memories of it, or people who are completists (like myself). Otherwise there just isn't anything here you need to bother with. If you are interested in picking up a copy however, you have two options. One: you can buy the Blu-ray/DVD combo or Two: you can just get the regular DVD. Personally, I went with the standard DVD since the movie was simply remastered and not restored. That means the picture quality - while good - is not nearly nice enough to warrant a hi-definition release. Additionally, both releases are in widescreen. This is important because the film has only ever been available in full screen (like all DTVs up until the turn of the century), so one of the best things about this new release is that fans can see the movie as it was originally animated.
