Transformers (2007)

Released July 3, 2007 (IMDb)

I have found myself not going to movies in the theater much lately, mostly because I don’t think that they would be worth the price of admission. I refuse to pay for candy and drinks at outrageous prices, so I find watching a movie at home on DVD with a pizza or cheese sticks is a much better deal. Transformers was one of the movies I didn’t want to wait and watch on DVD. I didn’t really follow the early production closely, but when I saw the trailer I knew I had to see it in the theater.

I was not disappointed at all. The sexual tension between Sam and Mikaela is the same plot of ‘geek yearns for hot girl’ that we’ve all seen before. Normally I’d write this off as something cheesy and unoriginal. The thing that made this subplot fun was the humor used by Bumblebee’s part in bringing them together. It was definitely one of the funnier parts of the film. Humor is a significant part of the movie, which reminds me a bit of Firefly/Serenity. Not all science fiction works well with humor, but Transformers definitely pulled it off.

I can’t really say much about the special effects except that they were simply awesome. The transformers blended seamlessly with the rest of the characters. The final fight scene was insane, and I was impressed to see that people actually died. I’m glad that the director didn’t choose to tone things down and make it just like the cartoon. The sheer amount of destruction involved in this movie can only be truly appreciated on the big screen. I definitely got my $6.50 worth.