Transformers

I managed to catch Transformers on friday night with the Girlfriend at Lido. Just in case you were wondering, she agreed to watch it of her own volition and was actually quite keen to see it. She was amused by but declined my offer to watch Nancy Drew with her in exchange (she wasn't interested).

Having watched the cartoon and played with the toys as a kid, I was definitely looking forward to the movie. All in all it was definitely great fun, with fantastic special effects, particularly the seamless blending of live action and CGI. Gone are the clunky block like shapes of the cartoons - these transformers look frighteningly real. There were of course the usual plot holes but overall the movie did itself a favour by not trying to take itself too seriously. That provided lots of laugh out loud moments particularly one involving the Transformers trying to hide themselves from a teenage boy's parents (despite being over 10 metres tall) by secreting themselves around various parts of his house. There were also numerous digs at the internet age, eBay and your usual awkward adolescent jock vs geek moments.

Purists will complain about the fact that Bumblebee is not a Volkswagen Beetle (due to sponsorship deals between the studio and car manufacturers no doubt) and Optimus Prime seems to mysteriously have lost his trailer. But then again, MI6 seems to provide James Bond with a different car each time, depending on which car manufacturer bids the highest. Besides, the original transformers cartoon was a thinly disguised excuse for Hasbro to sell toys. All in all, this was good brainless entertainment, which is what you would expect from a summer blockbuster. In that sense, it does follow the spirit of the original cartoon to the letter.

I also had the chance to meet up with Tim and Vanessa for dinner (along with the Sister), although I made the big mistake of suggesting Orchard Road on the last day of the Great Singapore Sale. I tried booking a table at Ichiban Boshi at Wisma, but they refused reservations. In the end, after waiting for half an hour, we gave up and tried Wheelock Place where the queues were even longer.

The Sister suggested Far East Plaza, where after a short detour to Sunny where I bought the latest sequel in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series and I bought Murakami's latest novel along with Mark Haddon's (of The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time fame) latest for the Sister. We soon found almost every restaurant completely full, including the random kopitiam style eateries on the fifth floor. In the end, half starved, we found a random Thai place and I finished dinner just in time to make my 9.45pm movie (this after meeting at 7.30pm for dinner).