Awesome film! Great fun. Really really enjoyed it. Sure you can pick holes in some of the plot, and there are times where some slightly shonky dialog is uttered ("there's more than meets the eye ... to you"), but its just such a lot of fun, who cares! It was certainly the funnest film I've seen in a long time. I saw this on the imax screen in the city, and it's freaking awesome! Definitely have to see it on the big screen, and the surround sound channels are all blazing away. There's more comedy in it than I expected, and we found ourselves laughing more than I have in some comedies I've watched lately. But the CG robots are fantastic - who cares if Optimus has flames on? - once again Industrial Light and Magic's effects are superb!

The story is pretty good, okay it deviates from the canon, but nothing too bad. It's very busy and there is a lot going on, so you will have to stay focused to keep track. I agree with some other reviews that a couple of characters are a bit redundant. Jon Voight's character in particular seems to be there just to spout exposition, and he doesn't seem very into what he's doing - he just phones in his performance. Jon Turturro was another character that seemed a little out-of-place - his secret government agent becomes crazier and more unstable the more you see him, descending into parody by the end. I know that's the kind of character he usually plays, but he seemed a bit loony to work for the government (or maybe that's the point?).

Just don't take it too seriously, and you should have a good time. It's giant freaking robots fighting - what's not too like! I might even see it again.

Plot Synopsis:

Somewhere across the universe living machines on the planet Cybertron are warring over the AllSpark, a device that can give machinery life. The AllSpark cube is lost in space, and ends up on Earth where it is pursued by Megatron.

At a US army base in Qatar, a mysterious helicopter enters their air space, and is forced to land at the base. The helicopter changes into a giant robot that destroys the base. It attempts to gain access to the military computers, searching for specifications and information. The soldiers attempt to oppose it, and it deploys another robot that burrows under the sand. Some of the soldiers manage to escape.

Sam Witwicky gives a presentation to his class on his great grandfather who was an explorer in the Arctic who eventually went mad. His presentation turns into a sales pitch so he can sell his grandfather's artifacts to make some money to buy a car. His father takes him to buy a car, and he ends up buying a crappy old yellow Camaro after all the other cars on the lot self-destruct.

The Pentagon is alerted to the attack in Qatar, but aren't sure if there were any survivors. Analysts are given samples of the data signals that were transmitted when the server was hacked. They try to figure out what could have caused it. The army believes it precedes an attack by foreign military powers.

The Camaro starts behaving strangely - helping Sam impress Mikaela, and helping to seduce her by selecting romantic songs on the radio. It eventually takes off during the night and Sam follows it. He sees his car transform into a robot, and send a signal into the sky. Sam calls the police, and is attacked by junkyard dogs. The camaro saves him, but Sam is arrested by police who arrive believing he's broken into the junkyard.

Aboard Air Force one, a small infiltration robot disguised as a radio, transforms and begins hacking into the computers on the plane. At the Pentagon, the team intercepts its break in, and as it starts to upload a virus, they disconnect the main servers. One of the analysts takes the data to her hacker friend, who discovers the words Project Iceman and Witwicky in the stream. They are then arrested by government security agents. The robot gets off the plane, and is met by Barricade, disguised as a police cruiser. They go looking for Witwicky.

The fleeing soldiers in Qatar are attacked by Scorponok in the desert. They manage to call in an air strike, and succeed in damaging the robot. They evacuate Qatar back to the US with some data on the base attack, and a section of Scorponok's tail.

Sams car eventually returns. Sam flees from the camaro, terrified of it. He runs into Barricade who has been searching for him. Barricade demands the Sam hand over his grandfather's glasses, which are the key to finding the AllSpark. Bumblebee intervenes and fights Barricade. Sam runs into Mikaela, and they are both pursued by Frenzy. They disable Frenzy and escape with Bumblebee, but Frenzy converts into a copy of Mikaela's cellphone and they inadvertently take him with them. Mikaela accidentally insults Bumblebee's appearance, and he scans a newer model Camaro and upgrades himself.

Bumblebee takes the pair to Griffith Observatory where they await four more Transformers that fly in overhead and crash to the ground. The protoforms scan in new appearances, and rendezvous with Bumblebee. Optimus Prime (semi truck), Ironhide (humvee), Jazz (pontiac solstice), and Ratchet (rescue vehicle). They introduce themselves, and Optimus explains what is going on. Sam's grandfather had stumbled across Megatron frozen in the ice and had accidentally activated his navigation system, burning the AllSpark's location into the lense of his glasses. The Autobots need those glasses to find the AllSpark before the Decepticons can, otherwise they will make all the machinery on Earth come to life and take over.

The Autobots return to Sam's house to search for the glasses. Lots of comedy ensues as the Autobots attempt to clumsily hide in Sam's backyard. Government agents arrive and take Sam and his family into custody. The Autobot's rescue Sam and Mikaela, only to be attacked again by a secret government division, Sector Seven. They capture Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee. During the fight, the glasses are dropped, and they are retrieved by Optimus Prime.

The group are taken to Sector Seven, based at Hoover Dam. They discover that the government has Megatron and the AllSpark stored away there for research. Frenzy escapes and releases Megatron, then summons the Decepticon forces.

An epic battle starts at the Hoover Dam and moves into a nearby city, resulting in the deaths of Bonecrusher (beheaded by Optimus Prime), Devastator (destroyed by Bumblebee and the military), Blackout, Jazz (torn in two by Megatron). Bumblebee is incapacitated when his legs are blown off by Starscream's attack.

Sam (Shia LaBeouf) takes the Allspark to the top of a building, where Megatron tries to take the AllSpark from him so he can it to transform Earth into a technological world and rebuild his Decepticon army. Sam signals the military to take the AllSpark from him but the helicopter is attacked and destroyed by Starscream. Megatron then tries to attack Sam, sending him off the building, where Optimus just manages to catch him as he falls. The three fall to the ground, and Optimus asks Sam to push the AllSpark into his spark, which would kill him but also destroy the AllSpark.

Optimus and Megatron engage in an all out battle to finish each other off. Sam forces the cube into Megatron, and the surge of energy wipes out the AllSpark and kills Megatron. All of the Decepticons are thrown by the military into the worlds deepest oceanic trench.

Bumblebee stays with Sam and Mikaela. Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Ratchet stay with their human allies. Optimus sends a message to the stars, hoping to reach other surving Autobots.

After the credits, Starscream is seen escaping Earth's atmosphere. Barricade and Scorponok are also presumed to have survived.