Title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
MPA Rating: PG-13
Director: Steven Caple Jr.
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins

What It Is: It’s the mid 1990’s in New York City. Noah Diaz (Ramos) is struggling to help his mother make ends meet. To make matters worse he has a sick little brother, Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez) making things very…expensive. In an effort to make some money he attempts to jack a Porsche. This car turns out to be a Transformer named Mirage (Pete Davidson). And on we go with another adventure.

What We Think: With this franchise you typically don’t get a lot to write home about. Some explosions, a couple stupid jokes that inevitably miss their mark WAYYY too much CGI and then the credits roll. What we get here instead is a more personal story in this universe. It’s a story of friendship, family and the length we’ll got to protect ourselves and those we love. Anthony Ramos is a great center to the film. Even when it gets a bit too ridiculous Ramos does a fantastic job of getting us back into this thing. Peter Cullen is in full voice as Optimus Prime. Dominique Fishback is pretty good here as well. All the voice acting is aces here. From a plot perspective it’s fine. That’s always going to be the hard part of these films.

Our Grade: C+, This might be the best of the films in this franchise. Director Steven Caple Jr. does a great job of reigning in what is sometimes an unhinged and crazy franchise. Instead of losing focus he wraps it up with an actual plot and a nice bit of emotion that will keep you right where you need to be. Listen you know what you’re in for here and it was a pretty fun time throughout. Check it out!