I must admit that I gobbled everything up in terms of cartoons back in the 1980s, especially things such as "G. I. Joe" and "Masters of the Universe". And I always enjoyed the "G. I. Joe" series, so when I had the chance to re-visit the 1987 movie here in 2021, of course I did that.

And while "G. I. Joe The Movie" definitely has the spirit of the series, this 1987 movie just isn't fully up to par with the series. It feels as if the creators were thinking they needed to exceed the series and go beyond. Which resulted in something that just simply went too far.

I just personally didn't grasp the idea of why Duke had to die, though they changed it to slipping into a coma later on. Nor why they had to change Cobra Commander into a full-blown snake. But anything for excitement, huh?

And then there was the thing about the mutant creatures, that just simply was beyond me. They just simply went too far with that concept and the movie sort of slipped away from the archetypical "G. I. Joe" formula that made the series.

Then when they started yelling "Cobralalalalalala", I was just good and ready to get up and turn off the movie. I didn't though, and I sat through the movie to the end. But that sound was just a bitter pill to swallow.

"G. I. Joe The Movie" does add some more flavor to some of the Cobra antagonists, such as Baroness, Cobra Commander and Destro. Just a shame that they didn't really were all that big a part of the plot.

This 1987 movie is essentially almost non-stop action from start to end, for better or worse. I did enjoy that, though, because the pacing of the story was kept moving constantly.

Sure, "G. I. Joe The Movie" is watchable, but it just went a bit too far and slipped over the edge.

My rating of "G. I. Joe The Movie" lands on a six out of ten stars.

For me, it just didn't seem like GI Joe at all. When I watched it as a kid, I just didn't care for it. In fact the part I liked best about this one was the opening credits. They change so many facts around and turn the story around as well. Cobra Commander is supposedly part of this stupid race of reptile people in Antarctica or somewhere that is frozen. Though I always thought he was a normal guy considering every time you saw his eyes in the series they were surrounded by normal colored flesh and not the blue his face was here. There is just too much crap in this one to try and make this a spectacular movie, but for me it just ruins what I watched the series for in the first place.

I strongly admire the ambition of 'G.I. Joe: The Movie' from 1987. As 2-D as it was, modeled after the same quality of the TV show, it absolutely yearned to be more than what it was. I grew up on three toys/cartoon series: Transformers, He-Man and G.I. Joe. So, it was a nice refresher to see this big-screen adaptation again. Unfortunately, watching as an adult for the first time (and I must've seen it 3 dozen times as a kid) I can see the truth in critics/parents calling this simply an "advertisement." Oh, it sure was. They prove that with 5 new Joes they let loose, not to mention a lot of new Cobra baddies, a lot of vehicles and sets to buy (NOW!) The main idea revolves around the break-down of Cobra under Cobra Commander's leadership and their new backing of an ancient evil of Cobra-La whose intention is, no doubt, world-domination and the equally dysfunctional Joe team to stop them. Will the Joes work together to defeat the organic enemies? Obviously. But, knowing is always half the battle. It's truly amazing both teams, good and bad, can actually work together to solve any problem, but that's the message about teamwork and individuality that saves the day. Unfortunately, the movie solely relies on sales and models from the year's before theatrical release of 'Transformers: The Movie' which, was so similarly based, they used some of the same music scores – cheap tatics. Still, it had one up on the cartoon feature length of 'Transformers': it didn't feel the need to kill off multiple characters (as 'Transformers' did) in order to introduce a new line of toys. Nevertheless, despite its extremely low production quality (even for 1987) it was enjoyable, especially for those who grew up on the TV series.