Reasonable but too drawn out

Rating: 6/10 (8 December 2011)

#contains spoilers#
Not as bad as some people have made out, but certainly not as good as it could have been.
The effects are brilliant (as you'd expect in a CGI driven film), but the storyline and pacing leave a lot to be desired.
Too much of the first half is taken up with Sams job hunting, and his current girlfriend. That and a few cringe worthy appearances by his parents, which add nothing to the story. Safe to say you can skip most of the first hour and it will make little or no difference to the film.
The final battle scenes contain some impressive CGI sequences, but really you don't find yourself attached to any of the characters. And that means the battle scenes lose a lot of their potential impact.
A shame, as the franchise could've been so much better. But this film was played too much for comic effect for my liking, and no amount of CGI could raise it above a mediocre offering.