Let's be fair. I wasn't expecting an exceptional, keep-you-guessing plot. I would've been happy with "there are some awesome car-robots that fight! LET'S WATCH!" followed by two hours of explosions. I was expecting cool-looking robots trying to blow up other cool-looking robots.
So what was the problem? They had enough dialog (and it wasn't even good dialog) to support one of those intricate, unpredictable plots. Sadly, they had it supporting one of those boring predictable plots. This means less screen-time for robot fights, and the explosion count suffered as a result. They also tossed about a bunch of plot devices for no good reason, which was just confusing and strange...
The special effects were great, of course. Though it seems whoever drew up the storyboards was only familiar with extreme close-ups, so while you'll get to see some really pretty detailed shots, don't expect to see anything else (or be able to tell what exactly is happening...)
Overall it wasn't a bad movie. It was just... boring.
I want it to be gooooooood! 
