Transformers

I took my 5-and-6-year-old grandsons to see “Transformers” Sunday. It’s the new release from Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures, and I’m ashamed to say, I never checked the “rating” of the movie. I assumed it was going to be rated G since it was based on the Hasbro toys that swept the nation in the 1980s.

I just thought, since the movie was based on toys, it would be rated for children and I never looked before we went. I didn’t even look at the rating while we were there. It was after the movie, when my daughter told me about the PG-13 rating, that I began to think about it and reflect on how I may have exposed my young grandsons to something harmful by not paying attention.

The movie had quite a lot of violence, but not so much it disturbed me. It was not bloody like so many war movies are. The story is about robots who come to earth in search of a box full of empowering energy for the transformer robots who are able to masquerade as a variety of everyday automobiles, 18-wheelers, planes and more; as well as toasters and boom box radios. The deceptacons, the robots who weren’t vehicles, expressed distain for the human race but the autobots reported they were sworn protect humans.

There are good and bad forces at work throughout the movie. The struggle makes me think of the fallen angels of the Bible and their fight over the souls of mankind.

I loved the movie and intend to see it again.

One of the things I found to be difficult was keeping the good robots separated from the bad robots in my mind. Whenever I wasn’t sure, all I had to do was ask my grandsons. They had no trouble in telling the differences and were happy to instruct me. When Megatron came to life and announced “I am Megatron,” Easton looked at me and said, “Now he’s the bad one.” As the movie progressed and my questions continued, finally, Liam, the younger of the two, said “all the planes are bad robots.” That helped me some and cut down on my questions through the movie.

I was disappointed that Hasbro would allow the movie to go with swear words. There weren’t many but they were there. My boys and I were both shocked when the first one came out. They both looked at me wide eyed and I told them we don’t ever use those words. That seemed to give them a little reassurance but the fact the words were included in a children’s movie was a shame. I don’t believe the movie would have suffered, even a little, if the harsh language had been avoided. Of course, this is why I should have consulted the ratings before going.

During one of the battle scenes in which Bumblebee, a yellow Camaro, had a large role, Easton turned to Liam and said, “This is so awesome.” Liam agreed with his cousin and I thought that, just maybe, I was becoming a cool gramma.