I feared the worst, I enjoyed the finished product.

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2007)

OK.
I am one of "those guys" - I'm 30, I grew up being a huge fan of the Generation 1 Transformers. I still enjoy the concept, have a couple TF toys on shelves in my home office, that kind of thing. TF was my own "Star Wars" - the latter never having appealed strongly to me.
Still, I knew I was going to see the movie regardless, just to see what they had done. Bay's movies have been basic no-thinking popcorn flicks that I haven't hated, so I wasn't biased against the directing at least. My girlfriend was equally excited, also a child of the 80s even though TF wasn't her toon of choice back then.
I'm not going to detail the plot, as so many reviewers have done so before me. I just wanted to point out some things as one of those grew-up-on-it fanboys.
The humor: It was good, for the most part. We all laughed many times in the theater. A couple of jokes were pretty bad (Bumblebee drenching Turturro), a couple scenes a bit too long (hiding in Sam's back yard), and "My bad" a gauche line for a noble character; but overall, lots of genuine laughs. Sam was babbling and neurotic (especially in the early parts), like Woody Allen on a speedball, and that got old pretty quickly - but at least he slid in a clever retort here and there.
The plot: Not G1, but acceptable, decently conceived and fairly sensical. Sure, it's absurd to think sentient, advanced technological beings would need the help of a 17-year-old kid to find an artifact, but it was fine. Open end allows for a sequel quite easily, but it's fairly sewn-up as a oneshot if necessary. One plot device that I figured wasn't fantastic, would have been better if it was explained to the viewers (Sam does something crucial at the end of the movie, but we're not told how or even *if* he comes to the conclusion that it would work - a little thinking on the viewer's part is needed there).
And by the way, I was struck by the sheer lack of TOTAL HYSTERIA that would ensue were even one giant robot appear in any city whatsoever. There were people close enough to the robot battles to almost be hit by them. I would assume those streets would have been EMPTY at the first quaking footfall of *any* of the robots.
The bots: Many fans, myself included, were fairly angry at the new looks of our favorite characters as presented in promotional stills. Just not enough of the old charm in the new look, I thought. As for the vehicle modes, I somewhat understood the German car manufacturers' position on Jazz and Bumblebee, but the changing of Prime's truck form so drastically I didn't understand. As for the robot modes - wow, a billion moving parts all at once, huh? Hmmm, I suppose it makes more sense from a robotic-biology standpoint...
Anyways - I came away from the film truly thinking of Optimus Prime as Optimus Prime. His color scheme, vehicle mode, and even that one awful line, were not enough to take the character away from himself. Peter Cullen had a huge part in making that a reality, too, and I hope he reprises again in any sequels to be made. Bumblebee was fun and likable, but not *quite* his old self... Aside from Prime, I'd say Jazz was closest to his original character. Ironhide was okay, but I think I remember the G1 Ironhide being more like an old veteran soldier than a hair-triggered munitions expert. Ratchet was the Spock of the away team here, perfectly functional and without exuberance. I don't really remember his cartoon self as much as the others'.
The Decepticons were similarly almost-there. Megatron was every bit as menacing as, although there wasn't enough time to give him the sinister criminal mind of, his G1 self. Starscream was VERY de-characterized, having almost no personality, especially compared to the classic version. The baddies were plenty destructive, true to form, and at least they weren't limited to a scheme that would have been a 22-minute plot-foiling-waiting-to-happen in 1983. Oh, and Frenzy was annoying as hell - but I'm glad they saved Soundwave for the future instead of forcing the angular spider-bot on us with that iconic name.
Speaking of icons: surprisingly to me, Devastator was the one character I had the most complaint about the change to. In the movie a heavily armed and armored tank, but in the cartoon series a gestalt of five large construction vehicles forming a massive robot. THAT would have been 1. worth the title "Devastator", G1 nod or not, and 2. A *very* cool (and large) thing for the viewers to behold.
VFX: Everything looked good, realistic as could be done with so many moving parts... I think they stretched the existent mass as far as could go without actually increasing the amount, sometimes, considering a car the size of that Camaro turned into such a huge robot, for example. When he reverted to car-mode from bot-mode as the 2009 Camaro concept, I really had to ask myself "Now if all that went in there, how is there going to be seating space for Sam and the girl, guys?"
Additionally, I'm sure you've read it already, but some of the fight scenes were shown too close to see what exactly was being done on the screen.
All in all: I really enjoyed it, and while some of the faults I found with it were fairly big (to me), the overall presentation was good enough to keep the issues at bay. Don't expect Academy awards, don't expect your childhood right there on the screen, just sit back and enjoy. My girlfriend loved it so much she wants to see it again before it's left the theaters.