Transformers

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2007)

'Transformers' - A really splendid adaption of the once 1980s toyline and spawner of numerous TV animated series. The movie takes a little time to get started, a slow introduction, but it picks up pace very quickly and there's no shortage of robot-mashing action and explosions throughout the film. There is actually a decent attempt at character development with some humorous moments between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his would-be girlfriend (Megan Fox). Basic plot is pretty simple as it is throughout 'Transformers' lore... Autobots and Decepticons came from the planet Cybertron after it was torn apart by war to the Earth to find a new source of energy for machine-based life. Witwicky is a decendent of a colonial-era sea captain who had found Megatron inadvertently frozen in the Arctic and who had accidentally left an imprinting of the power-source's location on the great-grandfather's glasses which are now in Sam's possession. Sam and Mikaela team up with the Autobots to destroy the the source-cube and fend off the Decepticons with the help of the military and a cagey Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight who has become LaBeouf's real-life mentor). I was pleased to see the robots not coming off goofy or over-wrought. Michael Bay has done a great job bringing the old-school toy series to realistic life on the big screen.