Transformers (2007)

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: PG13

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

One of the more entertain movies I have seen in awhile, Transformers will satisfy both male and female audiences in being an action-packed and slightly romantic twist on the sci-fi genre.

Every teenage boy dreams about his first car and hopes it will be a real honey of a ride, but Sam (Shia LaBeouf) never expected the cheap automobile his dad just helped him pick out to have a mind of its own. It behaves itself on the drive home but then starts acting up -- just when he is hoping to impress Mikaela (Meghan Fox), the prettiest girl in town who also happens to be dating the official high school bully. Having had enough of her boyfriend's insults and abuses, Mekaela accepts a ride with Sam and unintentionally stumbles into an adventure. The car is actually a robotic entity from another planet who has come to Earth along with his associates to prevent the destruction of humanity by a rouge and evil fraction of their race. Their objective is to recover a "box" that fell to Earth when their planet was destroyed before their adversaries get it.

The military is already aware that something is happening, since one of their bases was attacked by an unidentified and lethal force. Among the casualties is Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and his battalion, who hope to find out just what is invading earth and how to stop it. Sam and his grandfather's infamous exploration of the arctic are vital clues of importance when it comes to locating the box, but in order to make use of it, he has to survive -- and that's hard to do when thousand-ton robots are out to smash you flat. Transformers is not a particularly brainy project but does provide solid entertainment. The characters are likable and that's hard to do when not all of them are human. Sam's "car" is named Bumblebee and one plot twist involving him darn near brought tears to my eyes. I do not cry over mechanics unless it involves a broken carburetor on my way to an important meeting, but the fact that they made me choke up a bit over a car/robot is pretty impressive.

Humor also exists in the production, which is an unexpected but much needed element of fun in an otherwise briskly moving movie in which a lot of things get blown up, tossed around, or smashed. Not everyone is going to like it but I wound up enjoying it more than I thought I would, given that these sorts of movies don't usually appeal to me. There are some unfortunate aspects, though: some innuendos and scantily-clad girls here and there, as well as a bit of ogling and references to dirty magazines. Sam's mom engages him in a conversation about masturbation. That's not a "talk" I ever wanted to hear. Profanities and abuses of deity are frequent, along with one fully used f-word, two other partially-heard derivatives of it ("mother---"), and two uses of GD. There's one obscene hand gesture, and an instance in which a robot urinates on someone. A dog also urinates on a robot. Tons of violence intrude -- soldiers are blown up, smashed, kicked around, and killed in other ways (most of it implied and without gore). The robots beat one another up, engage in massive-scale fights that terrorize people and level city blocks, and sometimes explode.

I can see why Transformers was such a major hit with young audiences. It has a great cast, amazing special effects, likable characters and situations in which anyone can relate (maybe not to giant robots, but to responding to bullies, desiring to fit in, and hoping to catch the attention of that particular someone) plus an awesome musical score and some truly hilarious dialogue. Some of the violence and profanity make it inappropriate for younger viewers, but older ones will enjoy it as a different take on the "super hero" genre. It doesn't require a lot of thought but also doesn't negate the need to check your brain at the door. In the end, however, you might be grateful that your first car was just a car.