Story
Transformers tells of the longstanding intergalactic battle between a robotic race of Tranformers – the ‘good’ Autobots led by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and the ‘bad’ Decepticons, led by evil Megatron (Hugo Weaving). Their battle centres around their attempts to find the source of all Transformer power, the Cube. The Cube has been hidden on planet earth for many years. Megatron and his forces are trying to find it by infiltrating military and political bases.
This plot is stumbled upon by an intrepid artic explorer Captain Witwicky in the early 1900s, who leaves the secret of his discovery to his family.
Over 100 years later, his great grandson, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) uses a school presentation to impress a popular classmate, Mikayla (Megan Fox). He also sells off some of his ancestor’s belongings to fund the purchase of his first car. The car he ultimately selects is an old yellow Camaro. Sam discovers that the car is, in fact, the Transformer Bumblebee, a good Autotbot. Sam also discovers that he holds important secrets to the location of the Cube and that Bumblebee is his guardian.
Meanwhile, in warzone Qatar, a US military base is attacked by an unknown but deadly foe. The only survivors are a squadron and their captain (Josh Duhamel), who try desperately to warn the Secretary of Defence (Jon Voigt) of this new threat. The Secretary of Defence enlists young computer analysts to identify the origins of the enemy. A young female analyst (Rachel Taylor) identifies the force to be the alien robotic Decepticons.
Back in LA, Sam finds himself pursued by both the Decepticons and an operative (John Turturro) from the secretive Section Seven. His friend Mikayla is caught up in his troubles. As the Decepticon threat looms, Bumblebee sends a message to his Autobot friends, who crash down to earth. The Autobots, along with their human friends, join together in a final bid to rid earth and the galaxy of the destructive Decepticons.
Themes
Good vs evil; self-sacrifice
Violence
There is frequent violence in this movie including:
- A destructive attack on a US military base in Qatar in which buildings are blown up, windows are blown in by a sonic boom, and soldiers are killed in explosions and machine gun fire. No blood is shown, but soldiers are seen being thrown about and then inanimate.
- The surviving squadron is attacked by a robotic scorpion-like creature. It kills one of the soldiers and injures others. The attack moves into a local village, where again villagers are injured and homes destroyed by bombs.
- A small Decepticon infiltrates Air Force One, and while attempting to upload a virus into the military database, is attacked by CIA agents. Several agents are killed by the Decepticon, which survives.
- Sam is chased and eventually caught by a Decepticon. He is thrown about and appears to be hurt.
- There is huge battle scene towards the end of the movie, with fighting between the Autobots and Decepticons, and the military and the Decepticons. Many soldiers, air force personnel and terrified civilian bystanders are killed and injured
- Many Decepticons are destroyed and Megatron is shown to callously rip apart one of the central Autobot characters.
Sexual references
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
- In Sam’s bedroom, there are posters of bikini-clad women on his wall. He also later refers to having porn magazines hidden under his bed.
- Sam’s friend calls Mikayla an “evil jock concubine” and when Sam dumps him for Mikayla, he tells Sam to put “bros before hos”.
- As Mikayla is looking at his car’s engine, Sam is seen to be checking out her body. He then accidentally keeps speaking in sexual innuendos (e.g. I like females working on my engine.)
- When Sam locks himself in his room, his mother asks him whether he was masturbating.
- When the Sector Seven team invade their home and destroy their garden, Sam’s mother yells at them to ‘get their hands off my bush!”.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
- Sam’s father is shown to be drinking wine one evening at home.
- Sam asks a police officer if he is taking drugs.
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in this movie: the Transformers, eBay, Apple computers, Panasonic, Porsche, Camaro/General Motors and Nokia.
Coarse language
This move contains some mild coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Transformers is an action adventure movie adaptation of the 1980s cartoon series featuring the Autobots and Decepticons. This well-made and surprisingly humorous movie will be enjoyed particularly by a male audience, adolescent and adult.
The main messages from this movie are that sometimes victory can only be achieved by true sacrifice and that people can have hidden depths and qualities. You might like to talk to your child about some of the values in this movie: loyalty, friendship, tolerance, female independence, strong family relationships, courage and facing your fears.
You could also discuss the real-life consequences of behaviour such as dangerous driving and showing disrespect to parents and people in authority. You could talk about your attitude towards using violence and aggression as a means to resolve conflict.