This movie is one I would have never expected to have come out. I never imagined they would turn one of my favorite cartoons, my favorite toy franchises, into a live action film. When I first heard about it I was floored. Like many, I knew it pretty much could only go 2 ways. Either it would be a horrible Failure, or an awesome addition to the Transformers legacy. Thankfully, this move was awesome!

This movie gives guys like me a chance to relive those 3:30 afternoons after school, but this time as an adult after work!

Michael Bay makes "okay" movies. I don't hate him like some do, but the over dramatic blockbuster genres have never been my favorite types of movies. I like a good story, and for the directors to take chances with their characters, he doesn't seem to do that much. So, I wasn't sure if he would do a good job with this film; but he did, and he did it very well! Oh, not to give anything away: ALERT: MINOR SPOILER!!! on one scene some guy is calling a friend to tell him about what he saw and he say's "it is 100 times better than Armageddon!" I liked that Bay ripped on his own film; it showed he didn't take himself too seriously.

The first Transformers movie, back in 86 (that was 21 years ago… Wow…) Anyway, I, like most boys my age at the time, went to see it. I loved it, but that changed Transformers as I knew and loved it. While I liked the film because it was the Transformers, the cartoon changed the entire series, and I never quite liked it the same. This movie sticks to the Generation One series, and hopefully, any future movies will stick to this as well; I never did quite warm up to not having Starscream and having Galvatron, rather than Megatron, being the main villain. Anyway, back to 2007…

This movie has all the exciting action scenes, some great characters, and even some comedy to keep the audience entertained to sit through the 2+ hour movie. In fact, it was a strange experience. It was really good, and sometimes really good films go too fast, or on the other side, terrible films seem to drag. This didn't fall on either side, it was just right, and I'm usually very picky when it comes to movies, characters, etc.

I was lucky enough to see a pre-screening of this film. This is by far the best movie of the year; way better than Pirates, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, and all the other films I couldn't wait to see. This will easily pick up new fans, while retaining the fans of the original cartoon and franchise. While I was extremely excited to actually see it, I was concerned that my favorite Generation One characters wouldn't be present; or their characters would not be as good as they were in the original show.

Unfortunately, some of my favorites weren't there, but that was expected. However, it would have been too cramped if they did add everyone. That being said, many of the greats were there, including Bumble Bee, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet, Optimus, Starscream, Megatron, and a few others. Though I missed the heavy synthesized reverb sound of Soundwave (I didn't expect a tape recorder to be in this one, however, I have plot ideas for the next movie and I expect him to be there)...

The action was great, and the movie will keep you entertained the entire time... Not a dull moment. While the story varies somewhat from the original (only minor changes in my opinion), the basic concepts are the same, and the movie does keep the major features that made the cartoon so great in the 80's. Even the "Autobots, Rollout" catch phrase that Optimus Prime always said. It had some cool references to the cartoon that is sure to make all the 30 something year old guys laugh.

The plot relied a lot on human characters too, and other than Spike and Daniel from the original show, I never cared much about what was going on between people, it was about the Transformers; and the struggle between Autobots and Decepticons... However, even the human characters are for the most part, a great addition to the movie. Most are likable, or believable, especially the main kid.

There was some comedy, and some cartoon references which added to it's appeal, especially to the younger audience.¬
That being said, this is not in anyway funny in the "Jar Jar Binks" way, they did a good job at balancing humor and introducing characters.

I have to admit, seeing Optimus transform for the first time was a major geek thing for me. I felt like I did when they first came out, the scene was spectacular. I liked that the characters stayed true to form; in that they acted like they did in the cartoon. The Decepticons look way different of course from the original cartoon, but the Autobots (despite some vehicle changes) looked very similar.

CGI: This is by far, the best CGI I have ever seen, seriously. The characters looked real, unlike Hulk, and other movies that relied on CGI, this movie was done right, and I look forward to seeing it again already (I just saw it yesterday)!

I would recommend seeing this if you are a fan, or just anyone that likes to see cool cars and planes transform into big robots and battle it out, it's an instant classic!

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing