It just fell flat on it's face. All the personalities of the Autobots, the little we were allowed to see, was the personality of an obnoxious teenager - the apparent target audience Michael Bay made the film for.
There are so many little things that could have been done to make this movie passable...
I see Soundwave in the film, and I get excited. But, he looks like every other decepticon in the film. And his voice is wrong. How hard would it have been to digitize his voice a little more. And he just sits stuck to a satellite the whole damn movie. He should have had a larger part. Ravage, however, was one of the best parts of the movie. Why a satellite sucking robot fired out a panther-robot is beyond me (tho it makes sense in terms of the original series).
Starscream - again - they could have made the voice a bit better. His personality was ok, but they didnt show enough of it. Starscream being the treacherous right hand to Megatron was always a great part of the series. Here, he has such a minor role.
Megatron - Since when is Megatron a suckass, kissup pussy? What I find hillarious is after he is raised, he tears into Starscream, telling him that even in death, I lead. Then he turns to The Fallen, and kisses his ass. No, sorry, Megatron kisses no ones ass. The only time he ever served anyone was Unicron, and even then, he did it grudgingly, only out of his own need to survive. In this film, Megatron is a minion, and thats just sad.
Optimus - Sorry, he shoulda stayed dead. The movie is the Revenge of the Fallen, obviously part 2 in a 3 part series. Lucas had it dead on right with Empire Strikes Back - with the Empire winning the end of that movie, leading into part 3 in darkness. I assumed that what this would be. Dead optimus. Maybe dead Sam. Movie #3 starting in darkness and dispair... Oh well.
Where the hell were the other autobots? They were barely in this film. I saw Ratchet in the credits... I dont remember seeing him in the film but for a moment...
Oh, and how about Car Car Binks? Seriously? That was the most baseless, racist, pandering piece of crap I've ever seen. A ROBOT SOLDIER with a gold tooth and an autobot symbol on it? And it's ILLITERATE? And it grew up in the ghetto? And... wait... I have to go vomit.
I've loved the Transformers since they came out. I still feel the original movie was, and is, one of the best animated films of all time. I cant hear The Touch and Dare without getting chills. Walking out of the first TF movie of a few days ago, I'd have paid $100 then and there to see the sequel if it had been ready... I loved it so much. I'm glad I didnt. The sequel sucked.