Is this film really, "More than meets the eye"?

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2007)

What can be said about the Transformers that hasn't been said already? What haven't they been turned into? Surely you can't mention Transformers without the various cartoon series that have been created since the show and its beginning in 1984, or the annoying spin-offs from it. You can't deny they haven't been made into action figures, and you cannot forget the video games that have seen light on the PS2 and other systems, and of course, the Original Cartoon Movie cannot be forgotten. It seems like by now, Transformers have been recognized in several different forms of media, and are household names to America.
Looking at Michael Bay, whose resume includes such horrid films as the Bad Boys movies, Armageddon (we all really like it because of the soundtrack, admit it) and the 3+ Hour Pearl Harbor (Which is probably the longest three hours anyone has sat through), it's too hard to say whether the reputation of the Transformers could be made better or tarnished by Bay and his direction of a long running cartoon show.
However, Bay pulls off a movie that definitely does not sit on my top favorite movies of 2007 (His ranks lowest, against 1. Pirates 3, 2. Harry Potter 5 and 3. Ratatouille) but still makes a movie that I enjoyed watching in the theater, but I doubt I'll want to see again.
Here's a brief summary: Sam Witwicky (Played Fantastically by Shia LeBeouf) is a junior in High School who gets what looks like a automobile that has something about it, something that the Dealer states ("A driver don't pick the cars. Cars pick the driver.") and soon gains a vehicle that looks like a nice way to pick up chicks (like Megan Fox's character, Mikaela), but has something more to it. It's an Autobot named Bumblebee, one of several seen in the movie.
At the same time, in Qatar (Brush up on your geography for this one), several men fighting for the war (Played by Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson) get attacked by strange machines in the desert. Suddenly, the war turns to be battle between man and machine, but where do they come from? Are one of our allies (or Enemies) trying to take us out with special technology unlike any other seen before? As the movie advanced, it felt like it was going nowhere a bit too fast. A strange transmission that sounds like garbled talking on a shorting out walkie-talkie is the main focus for the most part, until we advance a bit more, and finally see some action.
I will give Michael Bay this credit: He knows how to pace, to a point. His development on all the characters are significant enough to have time to explain them all, but it's a 2 hour, 24 minute movie. There must be a lot of fighting, right? Strangely enough, fighting doesn't occur enough.
When a lot of money is being put into making a movie of this caliber, you'd expect a lot of fighting, especially since Transformers seem like they would be awesome fighters, but the movie has at least a maximum of 25 minutes of fighting, while the rest of the film is mostly character development that drags itself out to the point where it's not even character development anymore, it's just trying to extend the movie out until its large finale, but then even the fighting at the end is not enough. I craved for more.
The audience that was there spent a lot of the movie in the bathroom or snack bar until the fight scenes came on, otherwise, a lot were talking and became bored. I was getting a bit annoyed with a movie this talked about and this big had less action than previously imagined.
One thing about this movie that I enjoyed was the fact there the cast is having fun (sort of), little jokes and sight gags were pretty good, and the audience got a laugh when it was implied for you to laugh.
I will say Michael Bay has made an okay movie. It's flaws are that it's a bit too long, and spends a lot of its time trying to move the plot, but tiptoes to the end instead of making it in bounds and leaps, and takes a long time to deliver action instead of granting us our wish of constant combat.
As for the positives, the acting is well done, the characters have personalities (At least LaBeouf's and Fox's characters do) as well as the Autobots, and the film has a good way of recognizing when it's trying to be funny, while keeping in context of the T.V. Show.
I give this movie a 7 out of 10.