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Fun event movie that is worth seeing

by   
7/16/2007 / Entertainment

Transformers is a live action version of a cartoon series that first appeared in the mid eighties.

Essentially, each episode of this was a half hour long commercial for a line of toys that were first devised by the Japanese company, Takara. They were vehicles and other objects that could, with some twists and turns, change into robots.

In 1984, the American company Hasbro, brought the concept to the United States, and then to the rest of the world. The line of toys came in two varieties, the 'Heroic Autobots' and 'Evil Decepticons'. They were a phenomenon around the world.

This is not the first time that Transformers have been brought to the big screen.

Back in 1986, the animated Trransformers: The Movie was released in cinemas with a voice cast featuring the late Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Eric Idle (Monty Python) and Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek).

This film was not a success. One review called it 'obnoxious' and 'nothing more than a feature length toy commercial', yet has enjoyed a resurgence on DVD.

I was not sure what to expect from this film when first hearing that it was going to be made, and that Michael Bay, the director of Pearl Harbour (no offence to any Americans reading this)would be directing it.

I remember discussing it with a friend from school who like me, was a Transformers fan when he was younger.

We kept saying,"It better be good".

It was a relief that when watching this film, that it surpassed my expectations. In fact, I could say that it was the most fun I have had watching a film at the cinema for some time.

Apart from the thrill in seeing how well the computer generated effects that brought the robots to life were done, there were many things that I liked about Transformers. I enjoyed it on the same level as films like Spider man and X-Men.

Like these films, there was drama, and humour which balanced the action.

The acting by the human cast in Transformers was not Oscar worthy. It seems that these days, there is a danger that acting in a big budget action film suffers at the expense of the elaborate effects.

Yet, the performances were very believable to the point where the audience is brought to care what happens to the characters.

The thing is, I felt the same way about the Autobot characters. Rather than being simplistic, and one dimensional, great effort was taken to make the robots characters with personalities.

Part of me felt silly for laughing with and feeling empathy for giant, computer generated robots, If I was an eleven year old boy, I would probably have been carried away with the action, cheering my favourite characters on during the battle sequences.

Finally, the audience is brought to ponder many questions from the values and themes that this film depicted.

Sacrifice, bravery, family and our potential for good are some of the issues touched on.

This film is another variation on the 'good versus evil' theme. Yet, there is no issue with good being celebrated and upheld. All of us have the potential for heroism in this world.

I had to ponder whether there was any spiritual intent by the writers of Transformers, with Optimus Prime's final voice over at the conclusion of the film, in which he compares humans to Transformers, and recognising that 'humans also are more than meets the eye'?



Bibliography

Books

Furman, Simon (2004) Transformers: The Ultimate Guide Dorling Kindersley Ltd.

Maltin, Leonard (ed) (2000) Leonard Maltin's 2000 Movie and Video Guide Signet Books

Web sites

Bruce, David and McComas, Chad (2007) Transformation and Spirituality www.hollywoodjesus.com (accessed 9/70/07)

Sahms, Jacob (2007) Robots with Soul www.hollywoodjesus.com (accessed 9/70/07)

Scott McPhee holds a BA in Politics and a Graduate Certificate in Journalism from La Trobe University.

He has volunteered as a DJ on Plenty Valley FM, having co-hosted a Christian music show called 'The Pulse'. He currently co-produces a weekly community news bulletin.

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