I saw TransFormers Revenge of the Fallen tonight and it was a BLAST! Some of my favorite characters were given props in some really great action scenes and the most intense battles the silver screen has ever seen. But in all the hype and huff of the Hollywood-ization, one critical factor has been forgotten: The kids.
I remember my first fascination with the robotic warriors. It was 1984 in a K-Mart store on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News. The toy was the coolest looking car I had ever seen, a Lamborghini Countach. The box displayed a sleek and stylish robot. I didn’t wait to get it home. I opened it while sitting on my bike in the parking lot. Transforming it was even more challenging than a Rubix Cube. And once I had my toy in robot mode, I read over the character story on the back of the box and imagined a distant world of transforming machines. Thus began my interest in cars, robots, puzzles, mechanics and science fiction writing.
It was kids that the product was marketed towards and it was kids that drew deep and almost unexplainable inspiration from the toys and characters in those colorful boxes. But here we are, more than 20 years later, and the biggest homage to the classic property is wrapped in layers of foul language, crude humor and adult sexual content. Really? And Hasbro wants parents to buy these toys for their kids? This movie made some fathers near me stir uncomfortably in their chair as their 5 year old… their FIVE YEAR OLD… was glued to the screen with wide eyes watching a girl in her underwear straddle a guy and attempt to make love to him. Yes, bringing a 5 year old to a rated PG-13 movie reeks of bad judgment. But in their defense, the movie is TRANSFORMERS! You know… the toys your kids are begging for? Who in Hasbro thought it was a good idea to try to combine ‘daddy please by me that’ opportunities with ‘oh, baby look at that rump’ scenes???
When do we get the movie that parents AND kids can both sit and enjoy equally? I can promise that if a movie earned my trust by mixing my childhood toys AND safe and exciting fun for my kids, I’ld have the entire collection in my house. But sadly the decisions are not made by me. They are made by horny, greedy, self-absorbed 40 year old adolescents who make movies for themselves.
If you are a responsible parent or if you WANT to be a responsible parent, PLEASE either do not take your kids or, at least, go see it by yourself first. Do NOT take your kids to a PG-13 movie without doing your research. These kids will one day set the standard for decency and morals. It’s your job to guide them before that time comes.
Ok, I’ll step down from my soapbox now.
Oh… but the movie really does rock! MUCH better than the first!
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I was disappointed in the direction Michael Bay took in making the movie more catered to an “adult” crowd. Definitely recommend screening movies before you let your kids see them (even rated “G” movies for the really young ones).
But I too, loved the movie (and the first). Loved hearing Soundwave do his thing, even if it was a relatively short blip here and there.