Robots and Circuses
I wasn't planning to go see this movie. I was never a fan of the cartoon series (wrong generation, I guess) so I didn't have anything invested in the authenticity to loved characters. I went with a small group of people that started out as 2 and grew to number 7 by the time we took our seats. So the whole evening was set up as a big deal outing to the movies, to see a spectacle. I was not disappointed. I was entertained, I'll admit it. I don't think this is a very good move, but I laughed and I had a good time. At our theater the movie was interrupted by technical difficulties 3 times. This served, I think, to reinforce the presence of the theater crowd, the broader audience. It also gave us a chance to talk about the film before it was over. That was an unusual experience. I was also surprised by the level of anger in the crowd and the silly demands for them to "rewind" it. We only missed a few minutes (though a significant bit as the autobots are assembling-we got to see them introduce themselves) during one stoppage and missed nothing during the other two. Still, people got up in large numbers to leave, they yelled at the teenagers who came to the theater with no useful information to offer. Some of us made fun of the movie, made jokes about the total # of product placements so far etc. I think that attending in a big group of friends as well as the frequent breaks to interact with the rest of the audience really contributed to my experience of this movie as pure spectacle. I don't think I'd have liked it as much under other conditions. There certainly were many elements that bothered me - the reliance on stereotypes and the not exactly subtle American jingoism - and more of those things come to me as the euphoria of the experience wears off. But, I'm sticking to my initial rating, because I really did have a good time watching this flick.