Autobots … Roll Out

Not quite the 80s cartoon but Michael Bay does another great 4th of July movie.  By that, I mean unless you’re an American the story ain’t going to do anything for you.  So don’t go watch it for that but please please please go catch it on the big screen because the animation and sounds design are too good to miss.  Anything less than a big screen would be a waste of time.

Erv enlightened me that there were more than 10,000 moving parts on Optimus Prime alone.  The CGI work was more than decent but what really brought the Autobots and Decepticons alive for me was the sound design.  You literally hear every piece of every being moving.  So it has to be a THX cinema or else don’t bother.  Then again the action sequences were exciting too, made me feel like I was 10 all over again and pretending I’d have my own Autobot looking out for me too.

Whether it was how each bot transformed or how the Autobots tried to take the Decepticons out, I was pretty much focused on the screen.  The sleek animation was really quite a treat and I’d really like to get hold of the production storyboards just so I could ‘read’ each action sequence in detail.  Action aside there was classic drama, when Bumblebee was captured … could have been a scene out of a National Geographic documentary and the CGI made you feel the life of the bot as he struggled like an elephant caught by poachers. 

By the time the credits rolled, a familiar feeling started to grow in me … and I remember being 7, walking out of the cinema after watching ET … I couldn’t wait to go back home and find a tube a Smarties to lure my own ET into my backyard.

So yes, I’m all inspired to buy my own car and I may make it a little yellow Camaro … and maybe it’ll turn out to be my very own Autobot.