Before the Show: Let’s Hope There’s More Than Meets the Eye

Before the Show: Let’s Hope There’s More Than Meets the Eye

7/2/2011

Being a child of the 80s, I watched the Transformers cartoon. I remember when it debuted as a 1-week mini-series very similar to the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero mini-series. The cartoon became a daily event—a 30 minute commercial to sell toys. I watched from time to time. I owned a few of the robots. But then in 2007, Michael Bay debuted a live-action Transformers movie.

I was really excited. I knew the characters. I read a few comics. Considering CGI in 2007, this should be a freakin’ good movie. And it was. The problem was with its sequel. Revenge of the Fallen was an attempt to make every explosion bigger and every robot fight more ridiculous. And they forgot one thing -- a story! It was a mess. We went back to the desert to have more robots fights. LA got destroyed again! The robots were so complex, they all looked the same. And the audience got lost on the whole point of the movie. And it was like 2 hours too long.

Now we get Dark of the Moon. Promised to be better than the prior film. Reports that there’s actually a story. The trailer looks very similar to the last two. Robots racing down a highway, transforming while crawling up buildings and Shia LaBeouf falling and saving the girl. One disappointing factor: no Megan Fox. But, then again she’s over rated. She was only good for fan service— short shorts bending over a crotch rocket.

So, I’m off to the theater to see this latest chapter. If anything surprises me, it’ll be that there really is more than meets the eye…