Going to the movies should be fun. Sometimes that fun is just a byproduct of a great film, expertly made, that blows you away with a deep understanding of human interaction and dramatic arcs. Other times the fun comes from sitting down in a darkened theatre, shutting off your higher brain functions, eating some popcorn and letting a movie sweep you away with action and adrenaline-fueled fun. One is not better than the other. They serve different functions. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON is the latter and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In 2007, director Michael Bay gave us his vision of TRANSFORMERS and it was fun. The plot was anemic, perhaps, but people didn’t go to see the next Oscar winner for best adapted screenplay. People went to the theatre to see cars transform into giant robots who would then fight each other to save human kind, in the case of the Autobots, or take our world for their own, Decepticons. The film delivered.

In 2009, he continued the series with TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN and missed the mark. Where the first film showcased the giant robots, the second merely pointed the camera at them – and frequently zoomed in too close to see anything clearly. The first film followed young Shia LaBeouf as he bought his first car, a robot in disguise, and was an action film with a coming-of-age twist. The second film had none of that characterization. No time was spent allowing him to grow as a person or even show how he was expected to grow.

Here, in the third outing, Bay has listened to the critics, overhauled his approach and returned to what works. In MOON we have action set pieces that are easily followed, the characters get much more screen time and motivation for their actions and even the new additions to the cast are good for laughs.

The new additions are noteworthy. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley replaces Megan Fox as LaBeouf’s love interest and aside for a couple of prolonged, unintentionally funny shots she slots in well. Patrick Dempsey, Francis McDormand and John Malkovich add some fun characters that really showcase the characterization that Bay is going for. The addition of sci-fi stalwarts Leonard Nimoy as the voice of Sentinel Prime and Alan Tudyk as Dutch really changes things. Tudyk steals every scene he is in and Nimoy’s vocal gravitas makes Sentinel Prime a character you believe in.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON delivers a summer blockbuster movie with some impressive set pieces that will make the action-lovers out there drool. Surprisingly not all of them are completely CGI. There is one scene in particular with men in wing-suits that, though infused with CGI was actually filmed in Chicago. Like the rotating hallway in Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION it seems all the more impressive for having been filmed.

This is not the best picture of the year, but it does deliver what it was meant to — somewhat relateable characters, a fast pace and, most of all, bigger and better fights between bigger and badder robots.