Time Well-Spent and Other Time....Not so Much...

Today was my first day of Summer vacation, so I decided to celebrate by heading to the IMAX in Seattle (the real one, not the LieMax blogged about earlier) to see Transformers 2. Actually, I went into Seattle yesterday to buy the ticket, to ensure myself a seat in the 1pm show.

I wanted to like Transformers 2. I really did. I was excited about it! I was. What a lame movie it turned out to be. It is full of stupid one-liners, unfunny comic relief characters, cliche plot devices, a complete disregard for the laws of physics, a 90-minute story pointlessly stretched to 2 1/2 hours, and a blatant (and completely laughable) rip-off of Battlestar Galactica.

Transformers 2 is a prime example of what you get when plot development and carefully crafted characters take a backseat to big budget effects and CGI. The filmmakers were so in love with their special effects that all care and attention went to that more than anything else. I can sum up the story in once sentence: A lazy villain robot sends his minions off to gather his needed supplies to blow up the sun while the good guys run around trying to figure out how to stop it. All of this is wrapped up and tied together with a love story even less believable (and interesting) than the one George Lucas crafted in Episode 2.

I'd say by the hour mark I was bored with the film and really didn't care what happened. They even threw in the "uninformed" military cliche who accidentally aids the bad guys with his anal-retentive attention to military protocol. Frankly, I think President Obama would be embarrassed to have this guy in charge of anything. It seemed like the writers got bored with him, too because he gets dumped in the middle of nowhere and we never really find out what happens to him. It got to a point where all the machines started looking the same and I stopped caring about any of them, too. In huge fights, the viewer can't really decide who they should be rooting for.

The only interesting human characters were Sam's parents, but they ended up just being another tired plot device - and a poorly structured one, at that. I actually like Shia LaBeouf, but there was so little for him to do in this, that his talent was wasted. That's a sad statement to make about the main character of the movie. He was much more interesting as Indy's son. In fact, half-way through the movie I wondered if they were working on another installment of the Indy story, hopefully giving Shia something better to do.

As for the IMAX experience? Well, lets just say that I much more enjoyed the Star Trek showing in the fake IMAX theater than I did this. As I mentioned before, the filmmakers were in love with their CGI creations so the only portions of the movie blown up to IMAX proportions involved fights between robots. Unfortunately, they didn't think it necessary to IMAX-size the entire scene, with the result of several shots within one scene shrunk back to the smaller format right in the middle of the action. Since the director favored quick cut editing for action sequences, the switching between formats is glaringly annoying.

Okay, one more thing, then I promise I'll stop bitching about this movie. Parents...PLEASE DO NOT take your children to movies like this! This movie is NOT for kids! I was stuck between two kids under the age of ten, and both of them got bored with this thing even sooner than I did. The kid on my left started shaking his soda cup for thirty minutes and then suddenly found the noise made when a straw is pulled through the lid fascinating for another thirty. The girl on my right found her candy wrapper more fascinating than the movie for the last 90 minutes. Oddly, I found the fact that their parents were clueless to their actions more interesting than the movie.

After the lame attempt at film making was over, I wandered over to the Experience Music Project to check out the Jim Henson exhibit. I am a huge fan of the Muppets and I was hoping to save my day by getting lost in the world of Jim Henson. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. Not only were several of the Muppets on display, but they also had Fraggle Rock characters and characters Henson created for commercials in the 50s and 60s. They also had MANY original Henson sketches hanging all over the exhibit with a fascinating look at Henson's creative mind. Yes, they had the Mahna Mahna guy and his backup dancers on display, too. I got a picture of them on my cell before being rushed by a security guard who told me that pictures were not permitted. I also got pics of Rowlf and Kermit!

They had a stage area where you could go behind a set and perform with Muppets to one of many songs played to the audience. It was a great way to get an idea how difficult it can sometimes be for Muppet performers to get a character just right. The exhibit will be here through most of the summer - until about mid-August. If you're in the Seattle area, I suggest checking it out!

After checking out the Muppets, I headed to the Sky Church, the large room just outside the EMP. There is a huge jumbotron that lights up to music being played. They had set up a tribute to Michael Jackson there. On display was the jacket he wore when he performed the Moonwalk for the first time while singing Billy Jean along with, naturally, a shiny white glove. His music was playing and they had tables set up with frequently replaced paper so people could write down their thoughts about the King of Pop. Thankfully, most of the messages were kind.

I was getting tired of hearing people bashing Michael Jackson since the announcement of his death yesterday. People kept writing him off as a freak and pervert and criticized the media for caring so much about his death. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Michal Jackson left a huge imprint on music history. A friend of mine commented that he was the Elvis of my generation and I would have to agree. Is it, then, so shocking that his death would be covered like this? Personally, I think Michael Jackson was one of the most talented performers that music has and ever will see and I was sad to hear about his passing. I just hope that people will stop remembering MJ the freaky pervert and start remembering the talented guy who contributed to the life soundtracks of so many children of the 80s.