Transformers 2007

[Sharktopus]

Personally, if anything about the movie even remotely appeals to me, I do my best not to form an opinion until I've seen it. Start to finish. Can't form an opinion on a movie based on a trailer any more than you can write an essay on a novel based on cliff's notes. :^)

More like writing a book review based on the dust jacket description.

I like that even better. :^)

Not that I, like everyone else who's ever gone through college, haven't ever TRIED to write an essay based on the dust jacket... :^)

Of course not. Who would do that?  It helps that movies don't take weeks to watch.

[Junkyard]

You know, I'm a fan of the comic book Fantastic Four, and I knew they'd mess the movie up, but I went to it anyway. Why? It might have been fun, and i had an afternoon to burn. I was also a bit curious about how they'd adapt it.
I guess I can't understand the REASON for not seeing a movie based on something I'm a fan of. Did FF the movie hurt the comic? Not really. Did it hurt me?.... okay, a little, but then Pak-man and Tyrant didn't give FF such a good review, and anyway, it's wasn't a lasting kind of hurt anyway. Do you see yourself in extended pain after seeing the movie? Could you end up in more pain than you seem to be putting yourself through?

[gbeenie]

Well spoken, Pak. I, for one, have virtually no interest in Transformers in general, and I actively dislike Michael Bay, but I plan to see this movie. Why? Everything I've seen leads me to believe it will be fun to see. It even seems like Bay has finally settled in and stopped trying to reach for cinematic targets beyond his grasp (I actually enjoyed The Rock); if he would stick with big, dumb action movies where no significant realism is required, he might do just fine. I'm not going in expecting Casablanca, and I am fairly certain it won't be.    And that's perfectly okay.

[Tyrant]

I love that uncontainable excitement people have right after a fun movie, before the nitpicking and heywaitaminutes start.

I wish more Transfans could get Tyrant's sentiment through their thick Cybertronian skulls. Just a few years ago, a live action TF movie would be a complete joke. Stop bitching, and just be happy you get to see it. (Pretty much my attitude toward the FF movies, too.)

Well, I'm not going to go see this no matter what way you want to twist and justify this abortion of a movie. I've watched enough footage to turn me off. I'm really not a fan of crude, unintelligent humor all that much that is on display in this movie. The komedy is so forced and cheesy that it makes me want to unload everything in my stomach right now. Dear god, the old 80's animated movie was funnier than this pile of slop could ever hope to be. I cannot believe human beings think this is fun for the whole family? What the hell is wrong with you people!? Why are you letting mass media turn you into mush melloned slobbering dolts who will watch anything without prejudice? I betcha I even as an amateur writer who composes stories for fun could have revised this movie to have much more intelligent, subtle humor in it using a few ideas as the outline of my revision. I suggest if you want a fully rounded Trabsformers narrative you read mine and other fanfiction writers' stories out there on the world wide web.

  And you absolutely have the right to your opinion.     It's a shame you won't give it a chance, but going to my husband's point, once a mind is made up, it's very hard to change that mind. We're all guilty of that from time to time. I won't give anything even semi-related to Pokemon the time of day, for example. I don't think ill of any Transfan who refuses to see this move, although I would say that by seeing it, you're enabling the franchise to stick around that much longer.

   In defense of the move, I'll add that there's no way in absolute HE doubt hockey sticks that our old 80's franchise could have possible worked on the big screen as a live action movie. One reason we love the old stuff is because it's nostalgic and, dare I say it, campy as all get out. Expecting anyone (it didn't need to be Bay) to stick to this formula would have been a disaster. The ultimate goal of making a movie is to make money. Making money off an old franchise in this day and age involves updating it. Were any naysaying Transfans to see this film, they would quickly see that the old, boxy body types would not have the grace to accomodate Bay's action sequences (and, let's admit it, he's good at those even if most of his movies suck in every other way). The humor of the old series was, although still funny, out of date with today's audience. And it's an ACTION film. It doesn't need to be smart. Just fun. It started out just fun. C'mon, the cartoon isn't sophisticated in any way.

  This movie wasn't made just for us, but for millions of other human beings who have not ever watched TFs. It had to be changed accordingly. Speaking as a veteran Transfan who's been with this franchise since the beginning (and literally met my husband because of it), I'm humbly grateful for the experience of a fun movie such as this. We didn't sit there nitpicking the thing. We had FUN. That's what an action movie is all about. Especially this one.

   I'll end my little lecture on the fanfic subject, which I believe has trapped a bunch of Transfans into naysaying this movie. You can get so caught up in your own version of a series that you forget what's cannon. Take the SNAD movement (Sensative New Age Decepticon for people who don't know) which dictates that the Cons aren't actually "evil", just misunderstood or somesuch. Well, all the toy packages, comics, cartoons, ect ect say EVIL Decepticon. Everyone certianly has a right to take creative liberties anytime they want (there are some brilliant fanfics out there), but they also shouldn't be surprised when things don't go how they think they should go. Even if it's cannon.

As a sidenote, I hope everyone enjoys the flick as much as Pak and I did. It's going to be pretty embarrassing if we end up the only ones who liked it.   

[torgosPizza]

Why are you letting mass media turn you into mush melloned slobbering dolts who will watch anything without prejudice? I betcha I even as an amateur writer who composes stories for fun could have revised this movie to have much more intelligent, subtle humor in it using a few ideas as the outline of my revision. I suggest if you want a fully rounded Trabsformers narrative you read mine and other fanfiction writers' stories out there on the world wide web.

That's really funny, because I don't read any fanfic because it's all garbage.

In all seriousness though, I think it's interesting that someone who spells "comedy" with a K would call the rest of us "mush-melloned slobbering dolts" because the majority of us actually want to see this movie, and the ones who have already seen it, including some of the most vocal naysayers, have come back saying that it was fantastic and actually DIDN'T ruin their childhood memories.

Although I gotta say that grown adults worrying about their childhood memories of a cartoon based on the Hasbro toys being shattered... really makes me weep for humanity.

[gbeenie]

That being said, I can say with near perfect certainty that I will not be seeing the Underdog movie...

[torgosPizza]

Another great example I just thought of just now is Garfield. Somehow they made two movies, but that's another topic.

Were people worried more about their "childhood Garfield memories" being "destroyed," or the fact that they were taking a really great, funny cartoon and making a crummy, hastily-thrown-together movie? I'm guessing the latter.

The argument will probably be "but Transformers had real depth and meaning" but... so do most cartoons. I think pretty much every cartoon (maybe not Voltron) I'd ever watched as a kid and even now, has some sort of meaning or sense of depth in some way. Not ALL of course, but I'd venture to say 90% of them do. Why one franchise gets singled out in the world of franchises the way Transformers does is really beyond me, but then again, I'm not really that attached to it (even though I loved it as a kid) as some of the people out there.

[gbeenie]

All I'm sayin' about Underdog is:


Dear Hollywood,

If you insist on taking my entire childhood and fucking it directly in the ass, the least you could do is buy it dinner and a few drinks first.

That is all.

You Pal,
Geena

[Junkyard]

Sadly... that is sinscerely the most eloquent way I can imagine phrasing it. I mean it looks like they're just stealing Krypto the Super Dog and calling it Underdog. It's like "Incredibles," but with less subtlty, and likely less skill.

[torgosPizza]

Oh man... can you imagine how people would react if they made a SUPERMAN movie?

50 years of character history... TV and radio shows that kids and their parents probably GREW UP watching and learning from... making them into the adults they are today! And Hollywood goes and makes a MOVIE adaptation?

Have they no shame?

[Tyrant]

  Yeah, but was anyone asking for a live action version of Underdog, like, EVER?

  S'alls I'm asking. 

[Junkyard]

That's kinda the point: No one was asking for Underdog, but a few were asking for Krypto.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

it scares me to think that a mighty mouse movie might be coming in the same vein, its the natural progression. 

[AmandaGal]

Although I gotta say that grown adults worrying about their childhood memories of a cartoon based on the Hasbro toys being shattered... really makes me weep for humanity.

Yeah, I think that's the saddest part of this debate.  It's a movie about a cartoon. Sure, I used to beg for an Optimus Prime too and when I got it, I was the happiest kid in the world.  I never missed an episode.  I think I even remember playing a craptastic transformer game on my PC way back in the day.

However, a movie isn't going to make me forget those things.  It isn't even going taint them.  It's a freakin' movie.  If they can make a movie about the terrorist attacks, HIV, people dying in Africa, etc. why the hell can't they make a movie about a cartoon that features giant transforming robots? Sometimes I think we all need a better grip on reality

That being said, I'm going to go see it (and I want to go get the video game).  I think more than an insult to my old childhood memories, it's great that someone else will get to experience them even though they've moderned up.  I felt the same about ninja turtles.  The new cartoon sucks by the old cartoon standards but I bet somewhere out there there's a kid who loves it just as much as I loved my TV show back in the day.  Yes, I thought my cartoon was much more intelligent and well written but the first time I watched it, I was a kid and let's face it.  We watched these shows because robot transforming cars ROCK and turtles kicking ass with a giant rat ROCK.  We didn't watch them because they were well written and shrouded with subtly.  We were kids for god's sake.  If that was the case, the toy franchise wouldn't have so big.  The TV show was basically a vehicle to get kids to buy stuff

[Junkyard]

We need a standing ovation smiley.
:standingoves: