More Than Meets The Eye

When I was young, I played with toys just most other little guys. Some played with G.I.Joe or Star Wars action figures, others with Thundercats or Hot Wheels, but my toy of choice was a fairly popular type of alien robot that would camouflage as various modes of transportation in order to fit into our world. No, I'm not talking about those wimpy GoBots! I play with the superior toy, the only toy that mattered, the Transformer.

Now that I'm all grown up, at least by years lived, I play with the real thing in my cars and motorcycles, but there's still an affinity for the toy in this man. In fact, there are a lot of grown men now who used to play with Transformers when they were young, and some of these men work in film, an industry that has been transformed with the advent of computer graphics. In recent years comic books have been adapted exceptionally well because scenes are now produced that previously could only be imagined. It's been a windfall for people like me who also grew up on comic books, and my Transformers have now finally hit the silver screen.

Opening last week, I finally got to see it for myself on Saturday after my plans for opening day fell through. I wore my Autobot t-shirt and was not disappointed, neither was my neighbour who saw it with me. The characters were changed somewhat from the original cartoon, which my parents lamented was only used to suck kids into buying the toys, but they retained a fair bit of the traits that made each one special. I was really happy to hear Peter Cullen's voice revived for Optimus Prime, but sorely disappointed that Frank Welker was not chosen for Megatron, who's bark had a certain evilness that cannot be replicated. Hugo Weaving did an adequate job on the Decepticon leader, but it wasn't the same. The rest of the robotic characters didn't get much in talking, but I guess that's the way the movie goes. The story revolved mainly around Sam Witwicky (originally Spike Witwicky in the cartoon) and his smoking hot girlfriend Whats Hername.

The action scenes were excellent, but the new design for the aliens made it difficult to see who was who when things got intense. The original toys transformed such that a fair amount of coloured vehicular bodywork was covering the robot body and the Transformer was easy to identify. But the movie robots had a lot of exposed internal componentry, too much at times, especially around the faces. And since the internals tended to be similar in colour between all the Transformers, when two or more battled it out it was difficult to tell them apart. Back to the facial structure, I wasn't keen on Megatron's appearance at all. And what the hell was he supposed to resemble. He was a Walther P-38 handgun originally, but was an alien jet for some reason this time 'round. Didn't like that much at all.

I liked that the filmmakers added a heavy dose of comedy, like when these five gargantuan robots are hiding in Sam's backyard from his parents, crouching under the veranda or pressed up against the wall. It was really quite humerous and Sam's mom had some choice lines too, much like Eugene Levy's father figure in American Pie. Ahhh, understanding 21st century parents are good for a laugh, eh? Also cool were the many jokes or hidden gems from the animated Transformers The Movie and the cartoon that really fleshed out the characters.

But I think best of all was how the movie was left open in the end to add a sequel or two which would, er, just be awesome. I enjoyed this one so much, and I can see watching it a hundred times over like I did the animated movie, that I can only hope for much more to come. Thank-you Michael Bay for making this film, and if I can suggest for the next one, more Starscream (the insolant punk) and many more Transformers. I can see this being a franchise that could kick some serious Decepticon ass! Not that some Autobots shouldn't get their due.

And thank-you to the two guys in crew cuts that had a grey Nissan Xterra in the parking lot with a big Autobot symbol in white on the hood. That gave me a good laugh!

edit: Reading an interview with Peter Cullen, there will be sequels! Spoke Cullen, "But Optimus will be to a larger degree in the second and third movie and that was explained to me from the very beginning by one of the producers."