by Rebecca Mikulin

Created on: April 03, 2009   Last Updated: April 11, 2009

I have a confession to make...I never watched the Transformers cartoons. In my younger years my family did not own a TV and the only cartoons I watched were Saturday morning cartoons on the rare occasions we stayed in motel rooms while travelling. My husband, on the other hand, was one of those kids who sat wide-eyed with his friends fifteen years ago and watched every Transformer episode ever made. When one of those friends suggested we all go to see Transformers when it came out I thought it sounded like fun...for the evening without the kids, of course, not for interest in the movie itself.

We start with army helicopters making their way across a desert wasteland - in what is identified as the Middle East - with cargoes of soldiers headed back to base and, from their conversation, out of the war.

Their going-home preparations are interrupted by an unidentified radar blip incoming from the desert. Escort jets are sent and they identify the thing as a US Army helicopter...one that got shot down not long before and had no business flying into base. This helicopter changes into a massive robot who starts blowing things up.

Back in the States, Sam Witwicky is trying hard to raise money and grades to get his very first car, mainly by selling his grandfather's explorer stuff on eBay. He lucks out and gets an old Camaro, and shortly thereafter a gorgeous blue-eyed dark-haired beauty he's been ogling. Everything's great. Until he finds out his car is alive; that it is, in fact, an alien robot.

Basic plot summary: the Camaro, a robot called Bumblebee, summons his friends (four other robots who turn into various automobiles) to find the All Spark and stop the bad robots who also wish to find it. For the sake of those not familiar with Transformers, I won't reveal any more so you'll have some plot surprises waiting.

First off, the computer-generated images were absolutely mind-boggling! The credits reveal Hasbro - a well-known producer of computer games - had a hand in creating this film along with Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. The action scenes look absolutely fantastic in the theater, but those of us who saw it agreed it probably wouldn't be nearly as interesting of a movie on a regular home television. If you have a 50"+ flat screen, though, this is the DVD to buy when it comes out in stores.

As far as the cast, Jon Voight put in a nice performance as the Secretary of Defense, though his part in the movie was considerably less than the roles I am used to seeing him

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