Soil from Stone

One would expect a Transformers movie to be for kids, but it’s not. A certain amount of violence was suggested by the nature of the Transformers storyline. However, the movie depicted people flung hundreds of feet through the air, crashing into cars and buildings, and impaled and crushed by robotic appendages. It wasn’t bloody and didn’t approach some recent Mel Gibson creations, but still didn’t appear to target the five to twelve year-old audience. It was a fun movie, but perhaps too violent and frightening for most of that age group.

Two other problems:

1. One sideline implies that people are too stupid to invent anything significant on their own. Every major technological advance of the last century was the result of reverse engineering a transformer recovered from arctic ice at the beginning of the twentieth century. I don’t know about you, but I found that a bit insulting.
2. The movie’s heroine had shared a classroom with the hero for a decade, yet was surprised to hear that. She didn’t recognize him and couldn’t even remember his name. Later we are asked to believe that this shallow exterior is just that: a veneer. Inside she’s really just misunderstood and brimming with complexity. Yeah, right. Beyond the physical, a girl like that has no redeeming qualities. She’s great to look at, but otherwise she’s a waste of oxygen.