More humor than action

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2007)

Michael Bay's new blockbuster is doing well in the theater. It takes the 80s cartoons premise and puts in the the 21st century with cell phones and ebay...
The story is not the strong point of the movie. Afterall, this is based on material made for kids in order to incite them to buy toys. I was one of these kids in the 80s and still have some Transformers somewhere at my mother's house, so I was familiar with the concept, although not hardcore--for instance, I knew about Optimus Prime and Megatron, but only remembered of Bumble Bee once they mentioned his name; I recognized some robots, but no other names. This movie was partly targeted to my demographic that regard this as nostalgic of our youth, but also to a new generation of kids & teenagers.
Once you accept that the story is going nowhere fast, the movie is quite successful. It has one-dimensional characters, but excellent one-liners. What surprised me the most from Bay, which I regard highly in terms of action sequences, is that the humor was better than the action. The CGI work was good (not great) and some interesting action finally occurred near the end. I'm thinking of a few great shots in the street like a transformer that jumps over a woman in slow motion... but overall the action was not up to par to Bad Boys, The Rock, Pearl Harbor & Bad Boys II in my humble opinion.
The comedy did work for me and my friends though. We laughed quite a bit and a few nods were there for the casual fans of Transfomers like myself.
Overall, this movie was an entertaining summer flick. Do not expect a masterpiece, but expect to be thoroughly entertained for 144mins. Oh yeah, I almost forget for those who care, but the two female leads are hot, very hot. Sure to give a few more tickets sales for a movie like this. But with Bay, it's mostly all jokes and eye-candy anyway.
Lastly, there is quite a bit of product placement, mainly GM & eBay. What can you do in a world that revolves not only around the Sun, but around money...