Not a perfect adaption, but much better than expected

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2007)

As many fans who have posted here, I was a huge Transformers as a kid...I had many of the toys, saw the 80s animated film in the theater and have followed the more recent animated "Energon" series.
While I was disappointed by the fact that there were only a handful of Transformers and some of the character models (I've never preferred Prime with a moving mouth), this movie exceeded my expectations. And mind you, leading up to this film, those expectations were very low. First off, these types of old toy/comic/cartoon revival films rarely pan out well (remember Masters of the Universe? What a rape job...I would KILL for an updated, good adaption of He-Man!); the other detriment is that it's a Michael Bay film, whom I've never been impressed with. But he surprised me here.
I think Spielberg's role helped out in droves here to temper Bay's action-lust style. Granted, the action doesn't stop for the entire film, but what downtime does exist is filled with good (and much unexpected) humor without degrading the "coolness" of the Transformers. It even had decent touches of drama and sentiment. In essence, the plot was true to the original series - which was never overwhelmingly original - but works fine for the sake of this film. In fact, there was some good layering to the background story and how the original discovery of the Transformer's existence shaped modern technology. Of course there are some over the top elements to the plot, but how could anyone expect any different? If you enjoy what you're seeing, let it roll and that was true for me.
I think most people (especially casual fans or non-fans) will walk away from this at least appreciating it as a great action film with spellbinding effects. No sense in giving detail here, but this is a big screen film for sure. Despite how long it takes to actually see the majority of the Transformers, there is good suspense and buildup to their unveiling (especially Prime). And after they have all arrived, we see PLENTY of them.
Despite the film's length, it never seemed to drag on. I'd love to see future installments take us to different planets and have Megatron be revived as Galvatron. A power struggle between Megatron/Galavtron and Starscream would also be a nice twist and ode to the old premise of the Transformers' chemistry with one another. And hey wait, add Unicron to the wish list! What's more threatening than a Transformer that devours planets?
I think this is a great film for any action/effects fan, and while I'm sure some Transformers fans might disapprove of this chapter, it's a must-see just to know either way. I for one, was satisfied.
What's next for Hollywood and Hasbro? My guess would be "Yo Joe!"