Transformers

I was not a Transformers kid when I grew up in the 80's and I think that's why I wasn't so hard on Michael Bay's film when I caught it in the summer of 2007. Going into the film for the first time, the only characters I knew by name were Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee (and I only knew of him through the mention of friends). So, without having the fanboy mentality, I was able to enjoy the movie as it was...and I did. I thought it was a fun action flick and one of the best popcorn movies from the year. Based on the Hasbro toyline and it's resulting animated series/comics, the film follows high-schooler Sam Witwicky who discovers his Camaro is a shape-shifting alien robot; he is soon brought into the middle of a war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, warring factions of a race of sentient robots.

Let's be honest. The only things that matter about this movie are the special effects and the action sequences. ILM did a fantastic job with the Transformers in this film. The robots look amazing and their transformations are seamless. I've heard that some classic fans aren't satisfied with their designs but I felt they did a good job adding what realism they could to giant fighting robots. The action sequences aren't as abundant as one would expect, but I'm not complaining. I felt there were enough action scenes without going overboard and drowning out story. The battles feel epic and they aren't heavily edited into quick jump cuts so you can still understand what is going on.

The cast does an adequate job and keep the movie from feeling B-grade. Shia LaBeouf was charismatic and had a good sense of comedic timing; John Turturro was a fun addition as the mental Sector 7 agent Simmons. Jon Voight seemed almost out of place in the film, though added a bit of class. I know there have been a lot of complaints about human characters in the movie, but it's a necessary element and I'm not complaining. The supporting cast did a great job; my favorites had to be Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam's eccentric parents. I felt the movie shouldn't have gone over 2 hours as it does begin to strain on the patience after a while but it still made for a fun ride.

Sometimes (probably more often than not in this day and age), movies are not meant to be intensely analyzed and picked apart. If one were to do that to "Transformers", the review would likely come back a negative one. However, this flick requires its viewers to be one simple thing: sit back and enjoy the ride! If that can be done, "Transformers" will thoroughly entertain you.

For a basic plot summary, "Transformers" focuses on high school student Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf). While leading a relatively normal teenage life and trying to get the "hot girl" of his dreams Mikaela Barnes (Megan Fox), Sam is swept into an invasion of Earth by the evil Decepticons transformer robots. Allying with the U.S. government and the benevolent Autobots, Sam becomes central to the action due to his family lineage.

If one could ever classify a film as "whiz-bang", this one be the textbook definition of that statement. It has everything most cinema fans want: pulse-pounding action, cool gadgets, romance, and a script that never takes a down moment...the action is always moving forward.

What makes "Transformers" a truly quality experience, however, is the fact that the plot and characters contain a great deal of heart. The plot isn't Shakespeare, of course, but who can't relate to "good vs. evil"? LaBeouf is absolutely perfect as Witwicky, while Fox turned herself into a national sex symbol simply by playing "that hot girl from high school that all the boys lusted over" & leaning over the engine of a car (!). Again, a set of characters that most individuals can relate to.

Overall, "Transformers" will sweep you away if you can let it. Instead of nit-picking or analyzing "the small stuff", this is one to "get your popcorn ready" for!

No, it is not a smart movie, or a well written one, but this movie certainly has it's goods, and one can hardly deny it is fairly entertaining.

The goods were pretty obvious. Stunning visuals, brilliant editing, mind-blowing set pieces, say about mister Bay what you will, he has always had an eye for the visual. And this is an absolute plus to all his work, basically. But we can also state that Bay's previous work, with a few exception, was nonetheless fairly disappointing. Transformers went further than just the visual shebang.

The movie had a good sense of humor too. It was clear that everyone knew that one can hardly take a few car robots seriously, and so no one didn't. Which is a good thing. It made the movie one hell of a lot funnier. The actor's were cool too. Shia LaBouf is a great lead role, John Turturro, John Voight, Anthony Anders and others had really cool side roles, and they made the movie worthwhile.

The only downs were the ridiculousness that often crawled onto the screen, of course fault to the slightly preposterous script. Usually I cringe with issues like these, but aforementioned points somehow made the movie awfully amusing. A great watch, especially in the cinemas, but maybe somewhat less entertaining to watch on a TV. be warned

If you want a movie full of explosions and fighting robots, this is the movie you need to see. Although, it would have been a shorter movie if they didn't go slo-mo during a lot of the fight scenes (which is all right, because it's cool).

Transformers is a great movie with a pretty good storyline and a decent cast.It is a bit long but the two and a half hours fly by.I enjoyed the action in the movie,although it did go on a bit too long many times,sometimes so much that you would forget whats happening,but it is very well directed by Michael Bay.I enjoyed Shia LaBeouf a lot in this,but,although she is very attractive,Megan Fox is not a very good actress,I feel like she just says her lines and she probably wouldn't have got in to acting if it wasn't for how good looking she is,I definitely think a better actress like Emma Stone or Amanda Seyfried could have put in a better performance as this character.The best part for me is without a doubt the robots themselves,Optimus Prime,Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons are beautifully animated and the voice work is outstanding.While Transformers has many flaws,its still very enjoyable and I would recommend it to all fans of Michael Bay and the Transformers in general.

A long fighting race of robots,the Autobots and the Decepticons,head to Earth and one young teenager might be able to fix things.