Sam Witwicky (Shia Leboeuf) is a geeky teen looking for his first car and, subsequently, his first girlfriend. A trip to the local secondhand dealership soon solves the first problem, and the battered Camaro literally does its best to help Sam solve his girl issues.

For this Camaro is no ordinary car, but Bumblebee, a Transformer sent to protect Sam and use his assistance to help the Autobots, a friendly race of giant robots-cum-cars, find a very important artefact.

However, the evil Decepticons want the artefact for themselves, for its ability to give life to ordinary household machines would be rather useful in their efforts to take over Earth.

It’s not long before the Decepticons' search leads them to Sam, whose fate, unbeknownst to him, is inextricably linked with that of the Transformers.

LaBeouf’s Sam works as a focal point for a plot obsessed with 25 foot machines, while his chemistry with Megan Fox provides plenty of room for Bay to manoeuvre when not working on the stunning effects shots.

Able comic support from Julie White and Kevin Dunn as Sam's parents is undermined by the over-hammed performances of Jon Voight, as the beleaguered Secretary Of Defence, and Jon Torturro as a shady government type. Both actors perform as though the target audience is way younger than the 20-somethings originally enamoured with the Hasbro toys.

The fight sequences are astonishing - in particular the opening, in which a military base is attacked by a rogue helicopter that lands, turns into a giant robot, and - in a fashion typical of the director - tosses tanks through the air like confetti.

Rich Phippen