Less than meets the eye

The Transformers is about what you would expect a 80s cartoon would like it if it had a budget of $150M. Lots of CGI robots wrecking buildings, people in danger, but little to no onscreen death, despite massive carnage and an emphasis on explosions over story. There's nothing wrong with making movies about 80s cartoons, I think a Thundarr the Barbarian film would be fun, what with Ookla the Mok and all.

What I dislike about this style of movie is how so many action/scifi films reference the complicated explosions of Star Wars while forgetting it is the characters that draw people to those movies. Much more of that film is given to detailing Han, Luke, Leia and Ben than to showing prowess with effects. Even the droids are developed more fully than most characters these days. This is why Firefly is so appealing.

On the plus side, Peter Cullen, who worked on the original cartoon voices Optimus Prime. You may also recognize him as the most recent voice of Eeyore.