So here's another one of Spielberg's many movie miracles: the car-robots have come to life (no pun intended.) During the age of pre-Cartoon Network ani-mania, the Transformers had been one of the biggest icons that dominated the realm of animated series worldwide.But then, that was during the (circa) 1980s. With the current advent of advanced cinematographic techniques in the movie industry, The Transformers have been resurrected, refurbished, revamped and engineered into a shiny new package called "The Cinema of the New Millennium."
So how good was Transformers the movie? I'd say it was the cherry on top of a fantastic cartoon series which everybody loved. It was made so well in the sense that it was innovative and universal, yet ridiculously simple.
I would say that the movie was innovative simply because of the utterly ingenious computer engineering and digital imagery. Just watching the vividness of the robotic transformation that each automobile underwent is enough to make the viewer wonder just how much was spent in making the film.
I believe that the movie also embraces the principle of totality. It is universal in the sense that the general setting of the screenplay encompassed both space (with scenes crossing as far as the Middle East) and time. A story which was originally set during the 80s became a thing of the present-day pop culture. It is a film which bridged the gap between the previous generation and the current one.
Lastly, the simplicity of the plot is the key factor in bridging this said gap. The storyline was so concise, that it became a tangible commodity to audiences of all ages. This is where Alien vs. Predator meets I-Robot in the guise of Peter Parker in Spiderman. Boy meets girl. Boy acts as mediator. Boy faces the dark forces (larger than himself) which threaten to destroy the planet, and finally, boy saves the day (with the help of a few able-bodied super machines that uphold the values of justice and integrity) in order to restore that much elusive "World Peace." (Sandra Bullock couldn't have said it any better.)
One thing that should be noted, however, is the discrepancy found within the screenplay. The plot is different from the storyline of the original series (although the movie makers probably justified this with marketing strategies and propaganda inside the film industry.) This is the only flaw that could be found in an otherwise all-too-perfect blockbuster. Of course, we old-schoolers have always believed that nothing beats the original or the "real thang!"
To conclude what I think of "The Transformers," it was a film that encapsulated the slogan at the very heart of its animated series: "more than meets the eye." The sheer brilliance of present-day filmmakers has allowed us to relive "the good old days," while at the same time to discover a revitalized aspect of what we very much cherished during our childhood. As the very title suggests, watching the film would indeed be a truly "transforming" experience for young and old alike.
