"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?" deadpans Sam Witwicky, hero and human heart of Michael Bay's rollicking robot-smackdown fest, Transformers. Witwicky (the sweetly nerdy Shia LaBeouf, channeling a young John Cusack) is the perfect counterpoint to the nearly nonstop exhilarating action. The plot is simple: an alien civil war (the Autobots vs. the evil Decepticons) has spilled onto Earth, and young Sam is caught in the fray by his newly purchased souped-up Camaro. Which has a mind--and identity, as a noble-warrior robot named Bumblebee--of its own. The effects, especially the mind-blowing transformations of the robots into their earthly forms and back again, are stellar.

Fans of the earlier film and TV series will be thrilled at this cutting-edge incarnation, but this version should please all fans of high-adrenaline action. Director Bay gleefully salts the movie with homages to pop-culture touchstones like Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong, and the early technothriller WarGames. The actors, though clearly all supporting those kickass robots, are uniformly on-target, including the dashing Josh Duhamel as a U.S. Army sergeant fighting an enemy he never anticipated; Jon Voight, as a tough yet sympathetic Secretary of Defense in over his head; and John Turturro, whose special agent manages to be confidently unctuous, even stripped to his undies. But the film belongs to Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and the dastardly Megatron--and the wicked stunts they collide in all over the globe. Long live Transformers! --A.T. Hurley

More Than Meets the Eye

The Original Movie

Transformers Mania

The Soundtrack

Michael Bay Does It Again

This is the most formulaic summer movie I have ever seen. Stuffed full with celebrity cameos, overblown special effects, and blatant product placement. It's more a 2 1/2 hour GM commercial than a film.

The characters are all one dimensional and the plot is predictable so I never really got into the film. I know for sure I will never watch a Michael Bay movie again having been disapointed for the last time. Also Shia LaBeouf is the most ridiculous leading actor in a movie since DJ Qualls in "The New Guy".

AW E S O M E

I got the movie put it in turned the surround up stood 10 feet in front of the tv beer in one hand remote in the other and was blown away. WOW I don't know what else to say.

Love it!

I think this movie was a great action flick! Even if it doesn't bear resemblance to the original, I loved it!