The Post-Gazette reviews movies from a family perspective:

'Transformers'

Rated: PG-13.

Suitable for: Middle-schoolers and older.

What you should know: Based on the toys, comic books and animated series, Michael Bay's live-action, effects-driven "Transformers" transports alien robots -- good Autobots and evil Decepticons -- to Earth, where their conflict puts our world at stake. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are teens who help Autobots such as Optimus Prime (voice of Peter Cullen), along with military support from Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson, plus Jon Voight as the defense secretary trying to make sense of it all. The movie runs roughly 144 minutes.

Language: Occasional profanity used mostly in the first half of the film, including the s-word.

Sexual situations and nudity: Much is suggested among the teens but nothing happens, not even a kiss.

Violence/scary situations: From the opening, when an American military base is destroyed, this is one loud action-thrill ride that kills -- literally but not graphically. Machines and people are battered, bashed and blown up. One soldier we come to know slightly is seen wounded. Perhaps the most graphic scene is an evil robot flicking a human like an insect.

Drug or alcohol use: Parents drink wine at home and get tipsy. Use of drugs is discussed but played for an appropriate laugh.