Directed By: Micheal Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Voight, Anthony Andserson, Rachael Taylor, John Turturro

Synopsis: A war re-erupts on Earth between two robotic clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, leaving the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

Ever since if first saw the teaser trailer for this film over a year ago, I have been anticipating the adaptation of the classic 80's cartoon series. Even though it has been 20 years since the tv series aired I felt a strong pull of nostalgia for the franchise while watching this film. Micheal Bay has granted the wished of many by bringing back the Autobots and Decepticons for children of the 80's to relish over. The movie was big, loud, fast paced, ridiculous, and campy. But hey, I liked the over the top flashy juvenile, spectacle for one reason. It made me feel like a kid again.

Transformers centers mostly around high-school student Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) who buys his first car, that turns out to actually the Autobot Bumblebee. Bumblebee defends Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes from the Decepticon Barricade, before the other Autobots arrive on Earth. They are searching for the Allspark, and the war on Earth heats up as the Decepticons attack a United States military base in Qatar. Sam and Mikaela are taken by the top-secret agency Sector 7 to help stop the Decepticons, but when they learn the agency also intends to destroy the Autobots, they formulate their own plan to save the world.

The CGI, fight scenes, and transformations were beautiful. You truly believe that huge robots are turning into vehicles and back again. During the fight scenes, the robots interact seamlessly with their environment. The human acting wasn't too bad either. Shia LaBeouf breaks out with a well timed comedic and action packed character all roles up in one, All the MAIN human characters did well overall and were developed well. They also responded well to the robots who wouldn't "be there" during filming. This is most likely the best Summer blockbuster so far of 2007, and perhaps one of the biggest of the year. Last week I saw Die Hard 4.0, which was an awesome action movie, but this one takes another step further. I mean, who could have imagined a movie about robots that transform into common objects would overshadow most of this year's major superhero movies?

My only complaint was the voice work of the transformers were cringe worthy at times. But I guess they were trying to be as faithful to the cartoon series as much as possible which was cliche and campy in its original form. But that why so many children connected with the series. Basically, the humans were there for acting and the robots for fighting, don't expect much personality from the the transformers yet, they are limited to mostly one liners in this first installment in what is expected to be a trilogy.

That's pretty much all there is to elaborate on. I recommend anybody who is remotely familiar with the Transformers cartoon series to go see this film. Even if you were not a fan, you will be amazed by the sheer gusto and awe to which these robot have come to life. Just go and find out for yourself if the movie is More Than Meet The Eye!

David Squires