Who Doesn’t Love Dancing Robots?

Coming up with this week’s Fan Film Friday was actually pretty tough. There are plenty of fan stop-motion films out there in the webverse, but which one warrants more attention? It had to be the one that doesn’t acknowledge the new films, as Bay’s latest sequel ruins Transformers for any real fan, so we ultimately went with the easiest, a dancing Optimus Prime.

The original, done about 3 years ago by inspirational comedian Judson Laipply, goes down as one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time, with over 100 million hits. Check out Optimus’s version after the jump, and here’s the original Evolution of Dance, in case you feel the need to compare.

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Back in 2007, Michael Bay accomplished what seemed to be a miracle in the film community: he took a nearly dead property that was built off of a line of action figures, and made it into a highly successful–and one can even say decent–film for both old and new fans. Sadly, with Revenge of the Fallen, Bay and his team try to top themselves with a grandiose successor, and come up pretty short.

The plot follows Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), two years after the events of Transformers. Sam’s now off to college where he and blah blah blah…does any of this matter? Let’s face it, you’re going to see this movie for one reason, and one reason only: to see gigantic robots beat the crap out of each other. I’m happy to say, you get what you come for, but that’s about it. This movie is pretty much identical to it’s predecessor, now with 30% more character development, mass murder, and zany humor. Oh, don’t forget a brand new track by Linkin Park, which sounds exactly like the last track by Linkin Park.

There are some pretty embarrassing moments for a film of this caliber. One of which is the use of racism in the form of CGI robots. The racism isn’t very blatant, as it is overused stereotypes that are meant to be funny, but come out laughable, and not in a good way. Two characters, Mudflap and Skids, stand out above the rest. They are designated as the “urban” Autobots, donning two gold front teeth and illiteracy. There is also a Mexican ice cream truck at the beginning of the film that sets the bar pretty low. And those who say that Jazz in the original cartoon set a precedent for characters like Mudflap and Skids should know that Scatman Crothers, who originally voiced the character, transcends race.

A major downfall for the film, which seems to be a complaint across the board, is the massive 150 minutes of the film’s length. There is definitely a period where the audience, as a whole, glances at their collective watch. Without knowing the true story, I wouldn’t doubt that the film had a much darker first cut and the studio decided to amp it up with things like jive-talking sidekicks and robot balls (yes, there are robot testicles in the film). There’s definitely a dark film in those 2+ hours, and it would be interesting to see that cut someday.

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Over at MTV’s Movie’s Blog, they’ve got some brand new one-sheet promo posters for the upcoming sequel to Transformers called, of course, Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen. I’m not going to lie to you, these posters look pretty darn cool and depict some of your favorite Transformers, including Optimus Prime, the ever-faithful Bumblebee and the evil Starscream, in all their updated, ILM enhanced cinematic glory.

What more can I say, these are great images and this movie, based on what we’ve seen so far, looks to be even bigger, badder and louder than the first one. If you’re a fan of this kind of movie, love the Transformers and thoroughly enjoyed the first go-around, you should be psyched for the sequel. I know I am. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters on June 24th, 2009.

On the left is a smaller version of the Optimus Prime poster. You can see bigger versions of all three posters after the jump.

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