Reaction: Transformers

Finally saw the Transformers movie last night. I think perhaps I was one of the only people who was not looking forward to this. One time I picked up a Transformers DVD thinking I'd relive my childhood only to be sorely disappointed because I learned 2 things watching the cartoon as an adult: that my folks were right (it was a half-hour toy commercial), and that I should have left a childhood memory be.

When I heard a big-budget FX-laden Transformers movie was on the way, I braced for the worst. But I must admit now that I was pleasantly surprised. You still have to treat it as it was meant to be: it's a kid-friendly action film with a very simple plot. The writers cleverly adapted several bits of Transformers mythos. And they surprisingly paid homage without making it sound like they were expecting a cheap pop from the audience.

Alright, so now for the bullet list:

• The good guys and bad guys are here fighting over a mysterious life-giving Cube. That is all. Too simple? No, it's just enough, you don't need to ask for much when it comes to a movie about giant robots pummeling each other.
• The Cube appears to be a nod to the "Underbase" device seen in the old Marvel comics.
• The producers had a little fun at VW's expense by featuring a Beetle as the rejected used car. Volkswagen and Hasbro/Takara had a "difference of opinion" (VW refuses to be affiliated with a "violent" franchise). This is also why a NewBeetle never appeared as Bumblebee in the Binaltech toy line-up.
• I really liked the idea that the Transformers scan any nearby object to transform into. This plot device easily dismissed any questions of how they do what they do; that isn't important to the story anyway.
• Optimus Prime's mouth guard is retractable. Weird choice, but understandable, and that's okay with me.
• Frenzy is never referred to by name. For the record, the CD player is Frenzy. He arguably has the most screen time of all the robot characters... what a strange choice.
• Scorpinok is also never referred to by name... and he never transforms either and remains a simple plot device. I thought that sucked.
• Porsche appears prominently as a product-placement, yet, Jazz (who was originally a 911 back in 1984) appears as a Mazda. But they got his personality right and he breakdances while he transforms (blink and you'll miss it). That was hilarious.
• The human cast were great. I was particularly surprised by Tyrese as a tough-guy soldier (my opinion of him has gone way up from his appearance in 2Fast 2Furious).
• "More than meets the eye" is a nod to the tag-line on the first Hasbro toys.
• "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" is a nod to the "tech specs" card on printed on the back of the Optimus Prime toy from way back.
• "One shall stand, one shall fall" is a nod to the 1986 animated movie (not coincidentally that movie also used this quote in a battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron).
• Megatron is the guy who looks the most different from his cartoon and toy origins. And yet, somehow, as he has the most close-ups, seems to have a face that resembles the Beast Wars Megatron. Maybe that was my imagination.

Two more thoughts I'd like to touch on before closing up.
Despite the fact that this movie is all about robots knocking each other around, the main character is still the human, Sam. Which means all the Transformers (both Autobot and Decepticon) are supporting cast. And sadly, they never got around to developing them as characters very well. In fact, a majority of them show up only half-way through the story as plot-devices. That irritated me.
And finally, transformers unaccounted for by the end of the film:
Scorpinok was never destroyed (but the military sure came close). Starscream is featured in an amazing aerial dogfight sequence... and promptly disappears from the movie. Three new Transformers are created during the course of the final battle thanks to accidental contact with the Cube: a Cadillac, a Mountain Dew vending machine, and a microwave oven... We aren't told if they are sentient. But we should assume they are hostile given a demonstration of the Cube's power in an earlier part of the film.

Still, this is definitely good pop-corn fun and while my opinion doesn't count for much (since it's already raking in the money), I hope it remains successful. It's success can prove to Hollywood that big-budget robot movies can be done right. And that could open the doors for a whole slew of robot-themed films just like what X-Men and Spider-Man did for super-hero movies.