Oh wow! I saw this last night and it blew me away.I must admit my expectations were low before watching this film, I'm not a huge Michael Bay fan and wasn't comfortable knowing he was directing the big screen adaptation of one of my most favourite childhood cartoon shows but he nailed it!
This has got to be the best cartoon to live-action film I've ever seen (although I can't really think of any others off the top of my head). Its definitely the best summer-blockbuster I've seen so far this year (and I've seen them all thanks to my wonderful Cineworld card and loads of free time).
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The main plot follows the evil Decepticons and friendly Autobots searching for a mystical cube from outer space that can turn any inanimate object to life. The Decepticons want to use it to turn all the Earth's technology into an army of evil Transformers to rule the galaxy and the Autobots are there to stop them.
I really like the way the creation of the Transformers was mentioned early on in the film and didn't go into great detail. It kept the magic of the cartoon original and at the same time made it semi plausable.
The Autobots are helped along the way by the young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his gorgeous wannabe girl Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox - looks a lot like a young Tea Leoni from the first Bad Boys movie).
The film features a lot of humour, which really works well. There's a load of funny moments with the humans but the really funny stuff comes from the robots. The scene where the Autobots are sneaking outside Sam's house, trying to avoid his parents is hilarious.
The special effects in this movie are second to none. The robots look so realistic and the transformations are amazing (although they can go on for a while, Optimus Prime takes ages to change when you first see him but that helps dramatise it I guess). The fight sequences are excellent although there are a few moments when the camera's right inside the action (robot vs. robot) and it's quite hard to see whats happening.
One of the coolest things I thought about this movie was the original voice actor from the Transformers cartoon (Peter Cullen) reprised his roll for the voice of Optimus Prime (above picture) and the other robots. I didn't realise this until I was told after the film although throughout it I was thinking how well the voices had been matched, they sound great.
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Anyhoo, to wrap it up this is a perfect summer blockbuster (ideal for popcorn junkies) and thank you Michael Bay (I never imagined myself saying that!) for doing such a good job and keeping my childhood memories intact.
