I had low expectations for this movie and those expectations were met, so i wasn't actually disappointed in it. The robots had features that resembled bugs more than the blocky robots from the cartoon i loved but they got the transforming sound pretty close and they looked generally ok. Ofc, because of their bug-like faces, it was hard to distinguish one Decepticon from another.

However, i had 2 major issues with the movie.

***SPOILER***

1) why why why why why were there Decepticons that transformed into cars? Everybody knows that Autobots are the cars and Decepticons are planes. Duh.

and

2) what is the deal with all the humans? i'm not interested in the story about the Secretary of Defense trapped in a bunker with the computer nerds. i'm not interested in the Marines running around the city shooting ineffectively at the giant robots. i'm here to watch a movie about GIANT ROBOTS KICKING THE CRAP OUT OF EACH OTHER. as Wanyas at SuperMegaDio points out, if there's going to be a fight between giant robot leaders, you should show the fight. and most definitely from a pulled back, wide shot, not a partial view thru the window of an SUV. gah!!

***END SPOILER***

Now, the important question is should i order the Chinese boxset of the entire series now or should i wait til it's released piecemeal in the U.S. and watch them when they're available on Netflix, knowing that the cartoon is prolly awful (but i just didn't notice when i was a kid)?

Haven't you realized yet that CGI'ed giant robots are expensive? You need humans so that you don't go over budget.

Now if you could make a Transformer's movie with people in giant rubber suits, that would come in under budget and you could watch them fight all day.

Even Godzilla movies have way too much "plot" and not enough rubber-suit smackdowns.

Wait until you see what I'm reviewing this week. Think about what it would be like to have a giant monster movie without the giant monsters.

Speaking of movie reviews of giant monster movies without monsters:

http://sporedtodeathtome.blogspot.com/2007/07/warning-from-space.html