Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 25

July 4 seemed like the ideal time to take my children to see the classic cartoon made into live-action movie. The cartoon used to be a favorite of mine (as it was for so many my age) and my children were eager to watch robotic-aliens “tranform” into everyday machines in an effort to save the planet. I admit that I was skeptical about the movie, after many favorites of my childhood have been butchered in their movie adaptations. I can assure you though, that Transformers did not disappoint.

In this movie the Autobots and Decepticons fight a war that leads to the destruction of their home planet Cybertron. The surviving robot aliens search the universe for the Allspark, a device which will give life to machines anywhere. Discovering the Allsparks where-abouts are on Earth, the Decepticons launch attacks on the World to uncover the location of the life-giving cube that will rebuild soldiers for their war. The Autobots are summoned to Earth in an attempt to not only save our planet, but to prevent the Allspark from landing into the hands of the enemy.

I was in awe just as much as my children were wactching the special effects that movie-magic unveiled in transforming Optimus Prime from semi-truck to giant robot. Tranformers managed to take me back in time and was pleased that the movie followed the sme basic story line shared by the cartoon. The movie even included some of my favorite characters in a more updated version of the classic.

The movie was an action-packed hit directed by Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Island) and kept the story-line pumping from chase scenes to explosions with a little humore mixed in. Shia Lebouf gave a lovable performance of a teen kid who discovers his first car is a robot sent to Earth to become his protector. Bernie Mac even added to the movie in a small part as a car sales-men with no small role in adding comedy to the action flick.

Transformers was a great movie that you can feel good about taking your kids to see. I would recommend this flick to children of all ages (or if you want to feel like one again.)