MUCH more than meets the eye...

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2007)

Somewhere, someone in the upper echelons of some toy factory is finally having their day. They had to have thought that toys that could transform from diesel trucks and sports cars to giant robots would make a good impact beyond the TV screen. They had a go at it in 1986 with the animated "Transformers: The Movie", but now, CG technology has caught up with the toys and has given to us a live-action "Transformers".
What we have here is an action-packed, non-stop wall-to-wall thriller. A movie so aptly named has a whole lot of transforming going on, and some of it happens so fast that the viewer is still piecing it all together through the following scenes.
With all due respect to other 2007 big summer hits that have been released so far, like "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Oceans Thirteen", and "Spiderman 3", "Transformers" is the one that packs in as much of the action and comedy that's possible in a 130 minute stuff-goes-boom movie. Whenever the action would slow up enough to relax the audience and allow some funny stuff to happen, some scenes induced such hearty laughter that my sides would ache until the action revved back up.
This was the first PR screening I had attended in quite some time, and it reminded me of why I believe it's a better experience than the general release. It's free, obviously. More importantly, it's guaranteed that most in attendance are at least casual fans of the subject matter and most importantly...the atmosphere is electric because there is crowd reaction. Accompanied with raucous applause is the beginning, key scenes, and end of the show. Big reveals are met with theatre-wide gasps and groans of anticipation. And every time the signature sound of a transformation occurred, there were nuts in the crowd (such as me) that would gleefully cackle. With that...
I have to admit. I was childishly hoping to find some Solstice in the parking lot transform into an Autobot. Laugh it up, Hasbro and Michael Bay..."Transformers" will bring out the die hard fan or inner child in just about everyone. There is much more here than meets the eye!
"Transformers" gets a perfect 10 of 10 stars.