This is NOT the Transformers of your childhood!

Rating: 10/10 (12 July 2007)

As a member of the group bearing the dubious distinction of the title, "Baby Boomers," I caught the animated Transformers series at the end of what I call "My Belated Youth." I was a fan. When I got to know the story line and the characters, I was hooked. Now, I'm not here to tell you that the old animated Transformers series was the best thing on television, because it clearly wasn't. But what I AM here to tell you is that it was ONE of the best things on television...at least as far as the story went. I tend to hold the Transformers in the same light as "V", Battlestar Galactica, Dune, the Thundercats, Flight of the Navigator, the Last Starfighter, and the Masters of the Universe, all of vaguely the same period. These were the "greats," and still collectively hold a special place in my heart.
There were other, larger, more successful events such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, and the X-Men animated series, the Dark Knight animated series, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle phenomenon. And while these were hugely popular and imminently successful, the previously mentioned works are superior, in my opinion. They feature some of the same heart and some of the same style(s) but there is some element present, which connects to the humanity of me...oh, inimitable me...which none of the aforementioned works possess.
Transformers carries with it the same hope for salvation most religions offer to us as a people. These are characters with a solid moral center, an other-worldly understanding of the cosmos and its implications/impact on the various life forms inhabiting it, and a sense of the greater good - salvation through redemption, redemption through action and personal responsibility. It carries non-human biological machines, which demonstrate individuality and presence of heart and such a strong moral center, as to render the mechanalities of their beings almost superfluous; cool, but unnecessary to the story.
The present blockbuster counters that condition with even more humanity within the technological characters, which assists in creating more admirable characters, lends to the story a fluidity it may have otherwise lacked, and generates an appropriate level of suspense that was missing from the animated series.
The visual effects are absolutely stupefying (that's a good thing) but of course they were...Spielberg knows how to put together some stunning visuals, which complement (rather than negate) the story itself. He is a Master of...Illusion (?). The pacing is great - we were never bored, even for a moment - and the story is richly executed.
This is NOT the Transformers of my childhood. This is better - vastly better, and not due to the almost ethereal visuals, but because of the moral strength, the state of heart, and the gripping story to be found herein.
Watch it. It will enamor you.
It rates a 9.8/10 from...
the Fiend :.