The day I heard the Transformers were being made into a live action movie I was hesitant at best. Hollywood has such an amazing knack for ruining child-hood memories and international icons. If something becomes famous without Hollywood there’s generally little the West Coast can do to boost its appeal.
I was actually so tentative to embrace the film I didn’t see it in the theater. Why spend all the money? So I patiently lingered and almost forgot it entirely. The fact that many of my friends (who are all avid movie goers) didn’t have anything to say about it solidified my doubts. Finally one of my co-workers informed me they’d seen Transformers and they liked it. Unfortunately I couldn’t wholeheartedly embrace his opinion . . . he spent most of his time intoxicated. Heck, even Loathing in Las Vegas is cool . . . if you’re on drugs.
Well, as you know, Transformers is now on DVD . . . and I’m so glad it is.
I don’t know why I waited so long! As a child I loved watching the cartoons and I had a rather large collection of the action figures. Sure, you could waste half your day twisting, snapping, and turning the figures only to end up with a half-robot/half-semi truck, side-show freak, but the cartoons took no dexterity or memorization to enjoy. I even had Transformers bed sheets! Let’s just say the movie lived up to all that’s gone before . . . sheets, cartoons, action figures, underwear, and more.
The plot stayed true to the original concepts. Nothing’s worse than adulterating a good story. Hem, hem, Mission Impossible I; Jim Phelps would never become a bad guy. I hate you Jon Voight! Actually, Jon was in Transformers as well and he did a good job. Okay, so you have a hot daughter . . . I forgive you for desecrating Jim Phelps’ memory. Sorry about that, now back to the non-biological extraterrestrials. Transformers was believable and well thought out. All of the sub-plots received their due time and no interesting characters fell through the cracks (except maybe for the cute, computer chick). Though the first half took a teeny-weeny while to get going, the ending made up for it.
As to the writing, I give it a one-and-a-half-thumbs-up. Though there was a huge, gaping target with cliché written across the front . . . the writers did a great job missing it. Even the lines taken out of the original series rang genuine. There’s nothing cooler than hearing Optimus Prime say “there’s more to them than meets the eye,” especially when Peter Cullen, the original voice of Optimus Prime, is saying it. I could’ve done without the whole “masturbation” dialogue though, and when will Hollywood stop making adults look like complete morons. Maybe it’s because all the adults in Hollywood are morons . . . I don’t know. Either way, they didn’t inject unrealistic humor too often. Sure, the whole Autobots acting like grade-schoolers in Sam’s backyard was annoying, but it could’ve been worse. Think I’m being too hard? What do you expect from a guy with only half a thumb?
The acting was better than the average epic movie. Shia LaBeouf is definitely growing as an actor, and Jon Turturro was fantastic. I was also glad to see the voice of Megatron performed by Hugo Weaving. He rocks. As for the new girl, Megan Fox, I think she gave a stunning performance. Her tow-truck sequence communicated so much raw emotion without a single line.
I’ve been saying for a long time “there’s noting you can’t do in movies anymore.” The only room left to grow is in presenting the effects realistically. Well, the Transformers were a genuine work of art. Half the time I tell what was C.G. and what was real. The animators seamlessly worked the computer world and our world into a stunning portrait of realism. I would’ve hated to be the guy who designed the characters; they were so complex and intricate. I can’t wait to see the extra content and find out how they animated the twisting, shifting, flexing machines. There facial expressions and body movements had so much personality. There was the occasional moment where all the gearing metal, exploding buildings, cannon fire, and running made it a little hard to follow the action, but I guess that’s the price of realism.
As to the overall theme, it was consistent and value driven. Freedom of choice and the importance of life are always worth fighting for.
In the end the Official Olsen Rating gives Transformers a very good score (out of ten).
Plot: 9
Writing: 8
Acting: 8
Cinematography: 9
Special Effects: 10
Theme: 9
With a combined total an 88%, that makes Transformers an awesome film for the family.
