ALMOST very well done!

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2007)

I'm going to do what few have done--I'm going to review the movie, not the director, or the plot holes, or the fact that it's derived from an 80's cartoon genre. I'm going to review THIS MOVIE!
The good -- The CGI, fight scenes, and transformations were beautiful. You truly believe that huge robots are turning into vehicles and back again. During the fight scenes, the robots interact seamlessly with their environment. The human acting wasn't too bad either. All the MAIN human characters did well overall and were developed well. They also responded well to the robots who wouldn't "be there" during filming.
The bad -- All PURPOSEFUL attempts at humor were freaking awful! I moaned much more than I laughed, it was really pathetic, so don't watch this movie for any comedy relief. There were some funny moments, but they were more accidental than planned. My biggest complaint is that, aside from Prime (played PERFECTLY by the great Peter Cullen), none of the other robots had much of a chance to either speak or show their personality other than their endless butt-kicking. I know it was 2 1/2 hrs, but more could have been done to show the personality of the robots other than Prime.
Summation -- The humans were there for acting and the robots for fighting. If you see this movie expect something like Starship Troopers, only this time some of the bugs are on our side. My opinion is, if the personalities of the robots would have been taken 1/2 as seriously as the people, this movie would have been excellent. Next time they should let the voice actors develop their characters before making the second movie, then they can have more lines for the robots. Only expect a good performance from Prime, all other characters were wooden and underdeveloped.
7/10 for a good effort, it's worth seeing ONCE just for the action. If you're not into huge, beautifully detailed, sentient robots beating each other senseless, it's NOT for you. And no, you don't have to have seen the 80's cartoon to enjoy it.