Tell me, what do you think of giant alien robots 'duking' it out with each other in the middle of a city? Regardless of your position on this vital issue, director Michael Bay's Transformers will remain one of the best rendered transitions by storybook characters into cinema ever.
As adaptations go, we have seen quite a few being botched up. Somehow, not many characters seem to survive the transition from comics and/or video games to the big screen. Transformers, however, do. And they used to be just toys!
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What makes Michael Bay's Transformers all the more unique is the faithfulness with which much loved characters such as the virtuous Optimus Prime and the malevolent Starscream stay true to the fans' memory of them. The director manages to keep fans happy while leaving enough room for the newbies to enter the story and become native to it.
The story revolves around the Autobots' (the good guys) and the Decepticons' (the other guys) quest to get the Allspark -- an ancient artifact that can allow the possessor immense power.
Young Sam Witwicky (played by Shia Labeouf) finds that he holds the secret to where the Allspark is, thanks to a discovery his great-grandfather made over a century ago. He is joined by Mikaela Banes (played by god-sent newcomer Megan Fox) in his quest alongside the Autobots.
Transformers is stunning, funny and intelligent, everything you need to fall in love with it. When you are faced with the prospect of making the audience feel for a 40-foot tall robot, only solid acting can help you. Labeouf carries off the part of the unsure yet motivated teenager with tonnes of charm. It will be quite some time, however, before Megan Fox can learn to act (she is worth the wait though).
It is only too simple to appreciate Transformers for the visual effects. But where it scores is the unashamed theatricals and the undisguised message of hope for humanity.
There are times when the robots, talking in all too human voices and accents appear less than credible. But the producers decided to keep them talking in memory of the television series which thrived on the differences between the characters. In any case, as Optimus Prime informs the bewildered Sam Witwicky when they first meet, "We have learned Earth's languages from the world wide web."
The amazingly wrought battle scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons grow tedious after a while. But in their defence, it can be said that the fights never appear focused on the fighters themselves. The places they battle in, the innocent bystanders they fight over, take centre stage more than once. The fights are seen from the human perspective and are all the more impressive for that.
All in all, Transformers will prove more than worth your ticket money.
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