Transformers

Steven Spielburg brought the long forgotten 20+ year old cartoon/comics back to life. The 1986 TF movie was and still is THE greatest movie I've ever seen. It will be hard to surpass it. Steven Spielburg does not guarantee great movie. War of the Worlds was a disappointment. I watched some promo materials of the Transformers and didn't like the modern, ugly alien looking robots. They are supposed to be human-like. Thankfully this movie has a lot of actions and not so disappointing.

Cars turning into robots. Robots in disguise. Perhaps long ago some Japanese guy somehow "see" a robot within a car and created this cartoon series. The Transformers started on earth and the story was long moved back to Cybertron with little humans involved. The 1986 movie ended with a Golden Age: Cybertron was restored and (yes!) the autobots have won. This time we are back to earth.

The last time I saw the cartoons was with unpopular new things such as headmasters and Throttle Bots and even Beast things. Everyone is too tired of it and it deserves a 20 year rest. I am glad the movie didn't include the annoying newer things.

This story also share some similarity with the 1986 movie: with the spy character Decepticon cassette Laserbeak spying on the autobot. This time you get a UGLY looking thing (Soundwave?) tapping info from the Pentagon about "the cube". This ugly thing makes this movie disgusting. :(

For half the movie the transformers don't talk. Ok, Bumblebee (now a cool Camero instead of a Beetle)'s voice is damaged, what about the Decepticons? They never talk in their Cybertonian language. Prime and others also come on too late.

Wassup with that scorpion-like Decepticon destroying things in the beginning. The Transformers were NEVER monster destroyers like War of the Worlds. But Hollywood demand actions and blow-em-ups. Human soldiers: do you realize your weapons are quite worthless against the Transformers after rounds of shooting?

We should watch the Transformers like watching people with various personality with a robot body: the philosophical and willing-to-sacrifice leader Optimus Prime. The pure evil of Megatron. The jealousy of Starscream, and the loyalty of others. They also play different roles: Ratchet (the ambulance) is supposed to salvage damages, Jazz the break dancer and Bumblebee as a close friend to human and the comic relief. Starscream deserves some time revealing his ambition in this movie.

Ok, we turned the clock back to the first few episodes. There were no "giants", no dinobots. And yikes, Prime has that Ax/Sword and Megatron has that medival club which only appeared once! What happened to the laser guns and prime's signature cannon? There are perhaps too many guns from the human already. Ratchet, Ironhide, and even Starscream are supposed to be DEAD from the 1986 movie. Their comeback signifies the clock has turned back to their time on earth.

This movie adds modern factor: Where did you learn our language? Prime says "from the World Wide Web". Where did you learn about the glasses? "from eBay". This makes modern teenagers chuckle.

The Deceptions: yikes they are ugly, and only autobots are supposed to be cars. There are only a few Deception cars. This movie has a bunch more. What are they? Who is the guy in mustache? They need a bit of colors.

Explosive actions throughout. It is good they bring back the classic "one shall stand, one shall fall" duel between Prime and Megatron. But these guys don't get it. It ought to be QUIET. Just Prime and Megatron: nothing else. The fight deserves to be longer, and Megatron ought to talk more and be more evil in general. He also needs a cannon in his right arm.

It is not all about autobots rages their battle to destroy the evil forces of the decepticons. The comic scenes of the autobots hiding in Sam's house is fun. Bumblebee releasing lubricants is also fun.

The movie ended with unleashing the power of the cube, rough equvalent to Hot Rod unleashing the power of the matrix to destroy Unicorn in 1986. But why does prime insist to put inside him to sacrifice? Besides, prime doesn't look that defeated.

Added bonus: Megan Fox. Of course she adds this movie's appeal to teenagers. Good movie: ***.

Ugly little spy robot and autobots besides Bumblebee come in too late take 1 star off.