***Film review only***

The cartoon of Transformers often had humans involved, but they tended to be background characters - Here Michael Bay makes them the focus of the film seemingly unaware that it's called "Transformers", not "Sam, a load of pointless characters and the Transformers". Admittedly, current blockbuster golden boy Shia Le-Boeuf has plenty of charisma and the comedic chops to make the character interesting. It's when we go any further down the cast list things get ropey - Megan Fox can not act. At all. Add to the fact her character has nothing to do but simper over Shia most of the time. Jon Voigt sleep walks his way through a limited role. Okay, Jon Tuturro would be entertaining just reading a phone book so his prescence is always welcome. But the Australian analyst? Pointless. Her hacker friend? Embarrassingly loud and obnoxious (the scene with the donuts is meant to be funny).

The film isn't a complete disaster though - and one of the things that works in it's favour is that it's light hearted. Yes I've complained above about the comedy relief of some of the characters but there is still stuff that works - Sam's dorky parents have some funny scenes, the Autobots themselves are funny at times too. There's also a bit of heart in Sam's attachment to Bumblebee. It's also a nice touch getting Peter Cullen back as the voice of Optimus Prime to keep us fanboys happy. And no one can do mindless destruction quite like Bay - yes there are occasions when you can't tell which robot is which during a fight scene but if nothing else it looks great.

The film whips along at a quick pace with the light heartedness diffusing the ridiculous concept of living robots fighting. It won't be remembered in 10 years time, but it's a Friday night with beers kind of film.