
Transformers
Review by Bryan Kenny
Directed by Michael Bay
Produced by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg
Starring:
Shia LaBoeuf as Sam Witwicky
Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes
Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
Hugo Weaving as Megatron
The story for the movie was slightly different however. The Autobots and Decepticons are searching for what they call the All-spark, which is a massive cube that holds the power to create new Transformers out of any mechanical device. The Decpticons intend to find their frozen leader (Megatron) as well as the cube and use it to amass an army to destroy the Autobots and the entire human race. The Autobots came to Earth to locate and protect the cube as well as the one person with directions to the location of the cube, Sam Witwicky.
Review:
I had been following the development of the new Transformers movie very carefully since its announcement a few years ago. As a child who grew up in the 80's, the news of a live action film based on my favourite childhood cartoons was a dream come true. The more I read about it, the more promising it sounded The only downside I could foresee through the numerous articles and interviews that I had read was the involvement of Michael Bay. Then the designs for the individual robots leaked on to the internet, which for a life-long Transformers fan were more than disappointing. There was a glimmer of hope for the movie when the voice actor for Optimus Prime was announced at a convention in 2006, Peter Cullen, the man who gave life to the beloved character in the 80's would reprise the role in the new live action adaptation of Transformers.
I attended an advanced screening of Transformers the night before it was officially released into theatres. Despite my excitement about the fact that someone actually took a stab at a live action Transformers movie, I was very uneasy going into the theatre and really was not expecting much. I am very glad to say that it was worth going to see, and if I get the chance I will most likely see it again. This is very high praise coming from a hard-core Tranformers fan and someone that despises Michael Bay's work.
Watching the movie, I gradually lost my initial feelings toward the robot designs. I think the major turning point for me was seeing Optimus Prime transform for the first time and hearing Peter Cullen's voice, I no longer cared what they looked like. As far as this Transformers fan is concerned, that was the same Optimus that I grew up with. In the end, the only issues I had with the movie were; some fairly cheesey "more than meets the eye" references, a direct quote from the original animated movie and the way they handled the Decepticons. When watching this, you really get to know the Autobots, you see that they all have distinct personalities. If you grew up with Transformers, you would know that the Decepticons have a similar diversity in personalities, you catch very few instances that display this, which makes it seem as though the Decepticons were overlooked for the most part.
All of my nerdish reservations aside, I definitely recommend this summer blockbuster to anyone looking for any or all of the following genres; action, adventure, comedy, science fiction and mind-blowing visual effects. Transformers is definitely worth seeing more than once.
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