Got back from watching it just now…
My flat out opinion: Second best movie I have seen this year. 300 being the first of course.
No matter what I may say or think Greg would hate it if he ever sees it. He’ll nit-pick it apart from every action scene and mediocrity he sees. But who cares about Greg here. 
I loved this movie! Magnitudes better than Spiderman 3 for sure.
OK so let’s get the bad out of the way…
[spoiler]Sure, there’s some cheesy plot. But it’s not the plot I’m interested in, it’s the action. Period. It’s Transformers here, based on an 80s cartoon with the intent to sell toys. You sort of have to let slide the rather dumb eBay references made by Optimus Prime and how he says they learned our language through the world wide web. I’m not sure if he was supposed to be cracking a joke there(?). And maybe I’ll try to forget the inane Sector (Section?) 7 people who are supposed to be the “underground” government guys that know all this top secret crap that our Secretary of Defense doesn’t… OK OK… so that’s the bad…[/spoiler]
NOW THE GREAT STUFF… SPOILER TAGS INCLUDED.
[spoiler]Wow, I can’t begin to describe what I did like though. I will say that anyone who says this movie ruined their childhood needs bitch-slapped with a tire iron and run over by Optimus Prime. This movie actually makes my memories of watching the original 80s cartoon seem minuscule. It’s so much better than the original cartoon Transformers I remember that I actually feel ashamed of the 80s cartoon being cool. Of course I was only a kid, but damn this film gives new life to the Transformers it does make you want to feel like a kid again.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Oh hell, it’s giant fucking robots! Finally a movie with giant robots fighting! And with that, you got jets, you got tanks, you got aircraft carriers, you got explosions, machine guns, buildings falling, sharks with freakin’ laser beams (ok, maybe not that), hot cars, hot chicks, plenty of humor in between, even a transforming Xbox 360 for krikey’s sake! It was just..fucking…awesome! It’s everything I was expecting it to be. Sure it’s not the greatest film ever made, but after all the fantastic action toward the end with robot fights I left the movie feeling pumped and satisfied. And really that’s all I wanted it to be.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Quick note about the Optimus Prime lips thing. OK, so I was wrong, he does have “a mouth” but I’d hardly say they were humongous lips that totally ruined the character. The mouth was actually undistinguished for the most part, and not even close to the “show stopper” everyone was up in arms over. I was cool with it. There was a quick scene where Optimus appeared to pull back a face plate over his mouth after a fight, so it did make it seem as if the plate was some sort of mouth guard for combat. Fine by me. So glad they got Peter Cullen to do the voice, the film wouldn’t have been the same without him.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]I was curious as to how they managed to throw in a masturbation joke, along with the one Decepticon saying “shit”. Of course the audience laughed. I laughed. Definitely a good bit of humor in there for adults to enjoy too that I guess kids wouldn’t really understand. Although some parents who drug their kids along thinking it’s totally a kiddie flick might not appreciate it. Definitely not all a kiddie flick, still safe for kids, but it ain’t no cartoon.[/spoiler]
I really hope there are more of these films. My friend David is a total Gundam fan. Gundams being the mobile suits flown by human pilots in several Japanese animé series’ going back a few decades. I have to agree with him when he says he hopes the success of Transformers as a summer blockbuster will encourage Hollywood to bring more films of the giant robot genre or films with human piloted mechs in them. And I mean more prominent use of the giant robots / mechs as essential to the film overall. Typically any past films with giant robots or mechs have made them appear clunky and slow, and they take a very small role in the film. Anyone who remembers Ripley from Aliens 2 in the construction suit or the soldiers piloting the mechs from the Matrix films knows what I’m talking about. Shit like that, just faster and cooler yet. I was overjoyed to see Transformers got it right with fast-paced, consistently moving robots with some flare and attitude.
If you watched the original Transformers and liked it, go see this film. If you’re a fan of giant fucking robots, go see this film. If you don’t mind the slightly cheesy plot and very small interspersed occurrences of stupid dialog ( but definitely better overall than all the mushy crap in Spiderman 3), go see this film. If you are Greg Gant, you are encouraged to ignore this film entirely. 
