'Transformers' (PG-13)(out of four)

If it's action you're looking for, it's action you'll get with "Transformers." Get ready for some big wows while watching the big-budget action flick based on the icon toys of the '80s.

There's a lot to digest in the 144-minute film, such as who are the Autobots (good guys from Cybertron) and who are the bad guys (the Decepticons)? What are they after? (A cube known as the Allspark). Why did they attack a military camp in Qatar blowing it to smithereens? And why does a nerdy teenager with a name that no one can pronounce, Sam Whitwicky, possess a pair of glasses that the good guys and the bad guys want?

Whew! Probably the best thing to do is not to try to figure out the complicated plot, which is just window dressing for the real action. It's best just to ooh and aw each time the robots shape shift into cars, semi trucks, and fighting planes.

Director Michael Bay, who is no stranger to massive action pictures ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor"), and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, have the daunting task of making a film that has human actors and metallic robots co-existing on Earth.

What they do to make this duo work is pepper the film with fish-out-of-water scenarios, humans having a heart for the 'bots, teenage angst situations, and quirky cameos.

And these provide some of the best scenes. My personal favorite is when Sam brings the oversized Autobots home, they destroy his father's perfect lawn, but somehow manage to hide behind light poles and trees so as not to be recognized. By infusing the robots with human characteristics, moviegoers will root for the good guys.

Great cameos also give the human element of this movie some muscle. Bernie Mac is a shady used car salesman who can't wait for Sam to take a beat-up Camaro off his hands after it wreaks havoc on his lot. John Turturro is smarmy as an operative of the secret Sector Seven group. And Anthony Anderson is his usual self as a doughnut-eating computer warlock whose help is sought to decode strange messages for the Pentagon.

Shia LaBeouf carries most of the human part of the picture as the teenager in the middle of the fight for the cube. Being a male-centric toy as well as a movie, the girls in the film are posted for their hot chick factor, Mikaela (Megan Fox) as Sam's new hottie (frankly, even if it was the end of the world I doubt these two would manage a hook up), and Maggie Madsen (Rachael Taylor), who we're supposed to believe is one of the smartest systems analysts the Pentagon has. It doesn't hurt that she's blonde and has a killer Australian accent. Females are supposed to get their hunk boost from Josh Duhamel.

On the heavy metal side, there wasn't a better choice out there for the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime than Peter Cullen from the 1980s "Transformers" cartoon.

Of course, all of this is just penny candy because the real action sequences are what's worth the price of admission. The robot showdown is a veritable feast of CGI action, with background scenes shot on the streets of Los Angeles and Detroit.

Don't expect rocket science in "Transformers." It's definitely not a think film, but it most likely will be the blockbuster of the summer that will stick in moviegoers' minds long after the beach towels have been put away.