Transformers
I delayed seeing this movie so that I could go with Dave while he was in town, otherwise I'm sure I would have gone opening night. I've always been a big transformers fan. One of the greatest xmas gifts I received this year was the new edition of the Transformers movie from Nicki. So how did the new one stack up? Hard to say.
However, I must get something off my chest first. I refuse to refer to this as the "Live Action Transformers Movie". It is not live action. It is CG. True that is not animation in the sense of the original show, but it's not live action. The TMNT movies were live action (the old ones) because they had people in turtle suits. If they had used people in robot suits for this, then I'll grant them live action. But they didn't (thank God!), so they don't get to claim live action. End of story.
So anyway...
The story (if you can really consider it that) was good, and all over the place. But then again look at the stories of any transformers episode/movie. Is that what we're really going for here? No. So in any case, the story gets a pass, whether it needs it or not.
The main attraction was the action and CG. Both lived up to what I would have hoped for. The detail was phenomenal on the robots themselves, and the fights were great. Although, for some of the action it would have been nicer for some wider shots. With the tight shots it was sometimes hard to distinguish what was going on.
So where are the faults... Well I was afraid that there would be way too much focus on the humans, but there really wasn't. They were there, and a part of it, but not the sole focus. I do have some issues with some of the writing/casting though. As much as I am a fan of John Turturro, they could have cut out him and everything about him and I would have been much happier. Also, the ultra young, ultra hip leads all around, while expected, is just overdone. The saving grace of that was making the main lead into a dork. Still, he does end up with the hot chick...oh well. It's Hollywood.
The biggest fault is that the movie was all over the map. At times it was dramatic and serious, then it's a fast paced action/sci-fi film, then it's almost slapstick in nature, and so on. All could have worked, on their own, but jumping from one to another just seemed like they lacked focus and vision in the whole project. It's almost as if each segment of the film were roughly sketched, given to separate teams to develop, and the teams had no contact with each other. It's almost like that game where everyone writes a line to a story, and then you put it all together, and it's funny cause it's so off the wall and doesn't flow at all. Except they decided to do that with a big budget film. Odd choice, but to each their own.
In the end, I could over look the faults and enjoy the goodness that is Transformers on the big screen. I mean they even got Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime! (He was the original Optimus) And they had Hugo Weaving as Megatron. (Double score). So the voice acting of the Transformers themselves was great. They even threw in a couple lines from the original film (One shall stand, and one shall fall!). All in all it was better than I expected in some areas, slightly worse in others, but overall very enjoyable.
RATING: Worth a Full Price Ticket, Worth a High Netflix