Robots

When I was a kid, my sisters and I each had our own special placemats at the dinner table. Whilst theirs were usually floral or pink and covered in feminine icons such as Barbie, mine was a faded and yet treasured piece of lino. It was simple in design, a bold slogan next to a picture depicting the heroes of all boys born in the 80's.

TRANSFORMERS

Fast forward to 20 years later and the little boy has now grown up (or has he?) The hushed crowd sit in silence as the Dreamworks logo is enveloped in a mechanical sound effect which is so familiar to a generation of children. The screen goes black and the electronic voice begins to tell the story of Cybertron, a world devastated by war which has offloaded it's warfare to the peaceful planet called Earth.

2 hours later I sit stunned. It is almost the same kind of silence experienced after attending the Star Wars III midnight premiere. A lost part of my childhood brought to fruitition thanks to ILM* and the silver-screen. Words cannot do justice to the art that befell my eyes.

Perfectly crafted steel transforming into human-like robots on a quest to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. Dialogue that flowed so smoothly and brought the cinema to rapturous laughter. A soundtrack that pulsated life into the drama and events. A storyline that stayed so true to the original that its minor flaws are irrelevant.

Sweet childhood memories of playing with Transformer toys. The tinny 80's stacatto theme song. I ended up seeing in twice in 24 hours. It left me with a long lost piece of my upbringing and with a joy that I haven't felt since the 80s.

Transformers... more than meets the eye!

* Industrial Light and Magic - the special effects company started by George Lucas to push the boundaries of what can be done on celluloid. Home of lightsabers and all things cool.