Film Rev: Ratato-weee! vs. Trans-bore-mers

Ratatouille

We saw Disney's Ratatouille last weekend and i believe Disney has finally done it again! This is the best Disney animation since Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin! Well, except that in spite of it all, rats are still considered pests. The animation appeals to every one's weakness--food. There's no singing or a grandeur musical production in the movie, but one thing that will move you is how the screenplay appeals to the viewers as human beings, wanting to belong and longing to be appreciated. Ratatouille will bring you warmth and a light feeling in the end. It occurred to me that had it been my mom to see all those rats in the kitchen, she would have scrammed and fainted at the same time.

Transformers

Now, the Transformers. Yes, we saw the advance screening in front of humongous white wide screen of Hollywood Theaters last night. I was excited to see it because it has been showing in Asia since June 28. I grew up with the Transformers, as matter of fact, I have the VCD animation movie with me here. However, the movie really didn't live up to an avid Transformers fan standards.

Comments about the movie:

1.Director Michael Bay didn't recover from Pearl Harbor's loss. So much similarities with that movie--slow motion scenes, boarding pilots with sunset as background, music and scenes that reminded me of Armageddon with Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck displaying romance et. al.
2. Screenplay is terrible. Sorry, but it's overly written. Optimus Prime trying to be poetic with his lines? So many trying-to-be-funny lines.
3. Annoying parents of the lead character Sam (Shia L.), annoying FBI characters--again trying to be hilarious despite the seriousness in the scenes
4. Hold on, Megatron transforms into a high-powered gun as far as I recall, but in the movie he's an aircraft like Starscream.
5. Totally altered story.
6. I can't believe the robots went to earth to look for an eyeglass? c'mon!
7. Robots were made in utter details that during fight scenes, you won't recognize the robots fighting due to fast paced battle scenes. All you'd see are pieces of metal hurling each other.
8. Bumblebee and Sam didn't have that much scenes to show their affinity with one another but director Michael Bay tried to make it like a King Kong, Mighty Joe Young or Free Willy type of drama. Nice try though.

I guess the movie has a better audience with 8-years old and below. For us adults, it's just a nostalgia.

This movie has a lot of commercial sponsors in it. Panasonic memory card (they really have to show the brand!), Nokia phone (mentioned its origin), Mac and so on! That's why it has to be promoted well. During last MTV Movie Awards, Transformers the movie was the official sponsor. The movie was even given an award, "The Best Movie You Haven't Seen Yet."

I believe when you're movie is like this one, you really have to invest in so much marketing it.

What am I saying? I'd still buy a DVD copy of this--it's Transformers for god's sake!

The Reveler