It was the only honest one of the whole bunch. The rest were just drenched in Bay's style.

I think Shia, I can't spell his last name, acting was the weakest part, but outside of that I thought it did a good job by most accounts.

There is a pretty decent cast that does a good job hitting the comedic and serious tones for what is a ridiculous premise (advanced robots disguising themselves as vehicles). The plot also gives a somewhat reasonable explanation for why the transformers are on earth and links it to human history in a neat way. And I don't think anyone could argue for the action sequences, at least for the time it released.

Sure its no Oscar winner, but for what it's supposed to be I thought it hit most of the marks.

Now the sequels and future movies, those are all a mess.