Movie Review: Transformers

As a kid that grew up in the 80's, I was lucky to be blessed with such animated masterpieces such as Voltron, Robotech, Galaxy High, Thunder Cats, Jem and the Holograms, Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, and Transformers! Of all those classic cartoons one grabed kids imagination more than any other and it was the Transformers, not only were the toys really cool but the show was great, at least it was when I was a kid with an over active imagination.

The battle between the valiant Autobots and the evil Decepticons has raged for over 3 decades, been made into an animated feature length film, has had multiple comic adaptations and has now been brought back to the silver screen in a live action summer blockbuster ($309,420,425)! Not bad considering Optimus Prime was going up against Spidey and Jack Sparrow, but that might of been part of the reason Transformers did such phenomenal sales at the box office. I had been following the news of this movie since June of 2003 over at PDT and the feelings of Trans-fans stretched the spectrum from avid disgust at not being faithful to the canon to childish glee at seeing their favorite childhood cartoon coming to celuloid reality.

I fell somewhere in the middle, cautiously optimistic, and after seeing it I can say it did what needed to be done. It told a story of transforming beings from the planet Cybertron that came to Earth to find a source of energy. The Autobots lead by Optimus Prime and the Decepticons commanded by Megatron,a boy named Witwicky who befriends the Autobots and giant robots kicking the crap outta each other. All the rest was filler to grab as many Trans-noobs as possible...apparently it worked! My only complaint about the movie is John Turturo, he might be a great actor, but for the love of Cybertron, what script was he given!? If I could I'd cut every single scene with sector seven and replace it with some Decepticon transmissions with Cybertron. That is all I will say about the movie's short comings because it's a fun movie that will grab your attention with it's squirel-on-crack pace. And the work ILM did on the visuals was as impressive as the T-Rex in JP when I first saw that!

I did apreciate the fan service sprinkled throughout like, "One shall stand, one shall fall" and "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings".

The special transforming DVD case from Target is also pretty cool, too bad DW sold out to Microsoft because there are alot of consumers who would've bought it on Blu-ray, my self included.

Some fun extras to bring fans back to their childhood and show new fans how rich the Transformers mythos goes.

Looking forward to T2!

B+