Transformers

"If it's true that there's an 8-year-old boy inside every man, "Transformers" is just the ticket to bring the kid out. Big, loud and full of testosterone-fueled car fantasies, Michael Bay's actioner hits a new peak for CGI work, showcasing spectacular chases and animated transformation sequences seamlessly blended into live-action surroundings. There's no longer any question whether special effects can be made more realistic: The issue is whether disposable actors can be trained to play better with bluescreens..."

"Transformers boils down to a big, dumb, noisy movie: massive robots smashing stuff up. You know if it's your sort of thing..."

"You know you're in a Michael Bay movie when a bunch of uniformed guys walk across an airport apron in slow motion with the sunlight just so... somehow, Transformers has become a highly enjoyable popcorn film delivering high-powered animation that can make you believe a Kenworth can turn Kongbot just like that, dazzling action and engaging characters..."

"The way to do Transformers is to quite simply channel a 14-year-old boy, leave your brain at the door, and prepare to gasp, cheer and laugh your way through some astonishing animation and real action sequences in this testosterone-fuelled pure action blockbuster..."

"The ultimate effect is anaesthetising when it should be exhilarating... At its most inspired, Transformers calls to mind Terminator 2 or Starship Troopers. What we end up with is more like a gazillion-dollar version of Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla. This is precisely middle-tier Bay: below The Rock, Bad Boys and Armageddon, above Pearl Harbor, The Island or Bad Boys II..."

"Transformers might not be a brilliant cartoon/comic adaptation – it's not in the same league as Hellboy or Batman Begins – but it is a very competent, ridiculously entertaining and hugely enjoyable load of nonsense... I'll probably go and see it again..."

"Jon Voight plays the cardboard-cut-out Defence Secretary while John Turturro is relegated to a degrading role as an irritating secret agent from "Sector 7" – an agency so secret you've never heard of it. But we're not here for the plot, with its many, many holes. We wanna see stuff transform into other stuff, shiny robots and plenty of cool fights, and that's exactly what we get..."