Saw this with a buddy yesterday. Not too shabby. I only know transformers from the cartoons. Remember back in the day Toy companies could not advertise (with commercials) on the show the toy was represented in...so I had to watch TF to see the GI Joe toy commercials...but never got the TF toys.
I guess it is the "Old Man" that I am, but I found it pretty un-acceptable for viewing by the intended "Toy Buying Audience", if that was in fact the intended audience. The Masturbation reference and Violence seemed a bit pointless. And by Violence, I mean the actual deaths. I don't know about your kids, but my Daughter would want to know what happened to that family in the Mini Van that got thrown into the building or the guy that got Skewered by the Scorpion-o-bot. I realize they had to shoot at each other and knock over buildings and blow stuff up, but human carnage seemed a bit over the top if this was a "kids" movie.
And having a police car as a bad guy? I am trying to get my kid to trust the police if she is lost or heaven forbid taken/abducted, did a rapper cast that part?
But I guess with a PG-13 rating she'll be waiting at least 5-6 years before she sees it anyway. I know it is nitpicking and I admit to being a fuddy-duddy, but what are they going to do with the My Little Pony movie? Have Animal Husbandry jokes and let some of the Ponies Donkey-Punch the others....
Now a few things that concerned me cinematically (and I am no film critic, I have no training, I just have my personal tastes)...would somebody please tell directors to STOP using the Saving Private Ryan filming style? It distracts from the story if you shake the camera every 5 minutes. I realize you don't have to do good CGI if you use Shaky Camera Blurry Vision the whole time but that and Crouching Tiger Hidded Dragon/Matrix stuff is really killing movies for me.
And I have to agree with whoever said the Robot forms would have been nicer if they were more consistent with what they were when in "Car/Plane Form"...
The little Jar Jar Binks robot thing was about as annoying as hell. Was that "Soundwave"? If so that is pretty disappointing...
All that bitching aside, I'd go see a sequel. And it certainly is set for one.
Also, the Human combat team as much as it pains me, would have been neat if that had been Sgt. Hauser or Capt. Abernathy instead of "Lennox". That team would make a pretty cool basis for the GI Joe movie. Just please don't let Michael Bay direct it....
Oh and Bumble Bee should have been a Volkswagen bug...VW sure didn't have a problem with "War" when they were suppliers to the German Army from 1936-1975...
And my buddy and I were talking after the movie...what does this movie do to TF continuity? What is Canon in the TF world?