Going' with the crowd here...

Rating: 4/10 (28 June 2009)

Dreamworks and Paramount should congratulate themselves on putting out this wonderful summer fare. It got us to do what was intended, go see a movie with lots of action and neat special effects. Unfortunately, no one said it had to be good.
I'm sure every other review write how wonderful the "first" Transformers was. It was. Even the trailers were exciting. This one seemed to have all the elements but missed the mark completely. It was like watching a bunch of scenes thrown together to make a film look like a beloved toy franchise.
Another thing is I saw how little boys, seven to ten, were just lovin' this film while everyone else was looking at them as though they were nuts. They were not because this film, was totally designed for them: no story, lots of "cool" colorful robots on the screen. Except for the language. When I was 7 to ten, I don't think my parents would have like me hearing all the swear words that Dreamworks, Paramount, the Ratings board, etc. allowed in...and parents not quite getting what PG 13 ACTUALLY means. Was it because of the robots that were 'mouthing' them, that it was acceptable to these folks? If so, for shame. Of course 7 to 10 year old boys (and some older ones too) aren't going to get the implications of this, but many of the older people did and I must say that was TOTALLY uncalled for in a film franchise like this. It wasn't cute.
Then there are the humans. Sorry, didn't care for the leads, and if you took every single one of them out...they would not have been missed. Only the Armies. The Armies made perfect sense, they should have stuck with them. Actually, it would have made a better story just with the Transformers and the armies. And I was upset that they introduced...ever so slightly...the Pretenders. Or were they the Pretenders, honestly I don't think the filmmakers were too keen on how to develop them. Ori and Bay were more concerned with making MAXIM cover shoots come to life, they missed a golden opportunity here.
And yes, I am SO disappointed at the beginning...Sideways(?) didn't get enough time for me, as did not Devastator at the end. I know about the Constructors, but gee wiz, they just appeared on the screen, all willy nilly and all we had for most of this was visual effects. No story. Opportunity missed.
I am so exhausted over this Transformers 2 hodgepodge, that I fully expect Spielberg to want to introduce the Dinobots in Transformers 3. Not a bad idea, just get another writer and director on it because I know it's itching under his thumb right now.
So should you go out and see it? It's entertainment, but not the best of the 09 summer. It's mindless, and that's good. In IMAX it's fantastic, but don't expect academy award winning material her except for below the line - and that's the point. Got a few bucks to spare - watch. If not, please don't. And if you're waiting for the DVD, I know many parents WILL be disappointed over the unnecessary use of ribald language here.
Dreamworks, Paramount, et al can pop open the champaign for a huge money making opening week and rightfully so, they got us to go out and take a look. Too bad, everything that is supposed to be success is based on how much money it made, because some of the better movies so far, didn't make a lot of money, but deserve a look too.
And..two and a half hours was incredibly TOO long for this, even in IMAX.
So I'll sit and anxiously wait for Transformers 3 - only because I know its comin'...but just a curiosity....hey is um...JJ Abrams and David Knoepp doin' anything....special....'bout now....???