From Joshua Starnes' review of "Transformers," from ComingSoon.com:Once the Transformers do show up, though, they look fantastic, easily the best executed computer generated characters committed to film so far. They are completely believable.
From Tom Keogh's review of "Transformers," from The Seattle Times:"Transformers" quickly rediscovers its bearings in time for an extraordinary third act that sets a new standard for marrying visceral human action with thrilling computer-generated effects. Its climactic battle sequence recalls another Spielberg triumph, "Saving Private Ryan."
Awe-inspiring spectacle and practically flawless visual effects throughout...Read the full review.
The action is superb. Kicking off with a truly bone-shattering attack on a US military base in Qatar, sequences spice the film throughout which means the pace rarely falters.
ILM's truly jaw-dropping effects not only look practically photo real throughout, but also take into consideration the one thing that far too many films of this type ignore - the laws of physics. Giant robots have mass, intertia, and thousands of complex working parts - something the FX house not only understands but gets right. Shots like two robots falling off a raised highway or Optimus and Megatron in a death grip as they go flying through a building (the film's single most epic shot) feel very real which makes the action that much more intense.
From Eric Alt's review of "Transformers," from Premiere Magazine:The real draw here is the special effects, and they are as good as advertised... Transformers succeeds because of the truth in the film's advertising. It's a Godzilla movie with better effects. So grab some popcorn and make a pit stop, then sit back and enjoy it. You signed up for a movie about giant robots.
From Paul Arendt's review of "Transformers," featured on the BBC:The transformers themselves are charming creations, rendered in astonishing CGI and given soulful voice by, among others, Matrix star Hugo Weaving. And the action? Fear not, tran-fans: at around the two-thirds mark, the film becomes an explosive orgy of giant, fetishised weaponry, grinding metal and spraying lubricant - an automotive video nasty with a Fort Knox-sized budget. It's outrageous, stupid fun and you should see it on the biggest screen you can find.
From Sean Axmaker's review of "Transformers," featured in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:It's all about the sheer visceral charge of mechanics in motion. These living robots fold themselves like mechanical origami figures with break-dancing flair and eye-popping splendor, morphing in midflight from robot to vehicle and back again, and laying waste to entire cities in a full-on killbot death match. They may declaim in word balloons right out of cheesy comics and bad cartoons, but they are grandeur in motion, created with a detail of computer animation so impressive it's hard not to believe in them.
From Wesley Morris' review of "Transformers," from the Boston Globe:To find the cube, these guys are in a hurry for Sam to fetch an important planet-saving prop from his house. While the kid and his girl slip inside, the Autobots stand around impatiently, only halfway heeding Sam's instructions to stay hidden. Instead, they trample his parents' lawn and peer into the windows, barely avoiding an encounter with Sam's dad and tipsy mom (Kevin Dunn and Julie White), who are anxious to know what their son is doing in his bedroom.
This is a fantastic sequence. For one thing, the effects -- which are state-of-the-art throughout "Transformers" -- are put to brilliant use. Sure, Sam's Craftsman-style house gives us a vivid sense of the Autobots' scale and textures (the contrast of cold, gleaming metal against soft, dark wood). But crowding around it and stooping over to peek inside, they seem incredibly lifelike.
Read the full review.
From Phil Parker's movie blog from The Albuquerque Tribune, titled "Transformers: Best Special Effects Of All Time?":Do a movie's special effects acually serve its plot? They do in "Transformers." This is a movie about 30-foot tall robots beating the snot out of each other. It looks, no joke, like there are actual living robots as tall as buildings who are agile enough to battle like ninjas. There are moments during the final scene, which will go down as an all-time great, where I just stopped and thought "Oh my God, that was amazing." I'm not exaggerating.
From Terry Lawson's review of "Transformers," featured in the Detroit Free Press:Not only is it full of way-cool machinery, epic robot fights and mind-dazzling effects, it also has more than its quotient of actual wit and fun.
From Bruce Newman's review of "Transformers," in the San Jose Mercury News:The movie's first transformation by one of the Decepticons rocks, and it demonstrates how they can get inside the military's defenses by appearing as a mechanized wolf in a mechanized sheep's clothing.
From Peter Hartlaub's review of "Transformers," from the San Francisco Chronicle:[Director Michael Bay] got more than his money's worth with the visuals and sound, which provide a nonstop feast of coolness throughout the film.
...even more important is the special effects work from Industrial Light & Magic, which creates its most seamless visuals on a big budget picture since "Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World." The transforming effects are awesome.
From Roger Ebert's review of "Transformers," featured in the Chicago Sun-Times:The robots, created by Industrial Light and Magic, are indeed delightful creatures; you can look hard and see the truck windshields, hubcaps and junkyard stuff they're made of. And their movements are ingenious, especially a scorpion-like robot in the desert.
From Matt Sullivan's article in Popular Mechanics, titled "Transformers: The Best Special Effects Ever?":[It's] all in a day's work for the motor magicians at George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), who for the last two years have been juggling the limits of the possible (turning a real car into a fake robot and figuring out what the heck to put inside) and the demands of reality (studio budgets, GM sponsorship, the wrath of fanboys worldwide) to build the most painstaking — and maybe most believable — effects achievement in movie history: Transformers.
From Claudia Puig's review of "Transformers" in USA Today:["Transformers"] features some of the most spectacular action and effects sequences of any movie of its kind.... [the film] perfectly embodies the concept of a summer blockbuster with its simple good-guys-vs.-bad-guys plot, cheeky humor and flawless special effects.
From Deeson Thomson's review of "Transformers," for the Washington Post:"Transformers" has some of the best action sequences you'll see all summer, including a way-cool shootout between a tank-size, scorpion-tailed Decepticon and American soldiers in the Middle East Desert.
From Elizabeth Weitzman's review of "Transformers" in the New York Daily News:...be sure to buy the biggest bucket of popcorn you can, because you're not leaving your seat once the lights go down. Thanks to some of the best CGI work ever created, the Transformers you remember as toys and TV characters from the '80s have become massive, intricate affairs.
From Bill Muller's review of "Transformers," in the Arizona Republic:You'll find yourself rooting for computer-generated robots that magically transform into cars, trucks and fighter planes. It's selling the movie short to say the special effects are amazing - they are out of this world.Read the full review here.
...the one-sided battle [in Qatar] shows Bay in all his over-the-top glory. Explosions shake the base as sprinting soldiers flee the giant robot, which sets off firestorms and shatters vehicles with a plasma weapon it fires into the ground. As jaw-dropping as all of this is, it's just a snack compared with the feast to come.
"Transformers," a Michael Bay film featuring visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic opens in U.S. theaters today.
From Todd Gilchrist's review of "Transformers" in IGN.com:...the state-of-the-art computer animation is completely convincing. Moreover, few if any prior films have as effectively integrated CGI and live-action characters as they do here.
From Kirk Honeycutt's review of "Transformers" in The Hollywood Reporter:Two robotic races -- the evil Decepticons and the heroic Autobots -- hide out on Earth as cars, trucks, 18-wheeler tractors, Hummers, jets or even a boom box before grinding and expanding into their robotic essence. These are CGI-errific moments, courtesy of Industrial Light + Magic, that will have fanboys leaping from their seats.
