Why can't we have another animated or FoC-style Transformers movie?

[GoktimusPrime]

Ok, here's my 2c regarding live-action vs animated TF movies. I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that another live-action TF movie, with humans, is a big "Yes" from me. I wouldn't mind seeing an animated one too, but there's things that a live-action can do that no other format can. For example, the real human actors is a great idea and the way they interact with live action Transformers in a real world setting, to me just can't be beat. If anything, the previous 3 Bay TF movies proved that.

I agree. There's nothing necessarily wrong with having human characters in Transformers per se, it's just that human characters shouldn't be developed at the expense of the Transformers. The Transformers should also be treated as characters. Humans are important for the general non-fan audience as an 'anchorpoint' for them to relate to. Look at G1 for example, characters like Buster and Spike Witwicky were developed (Spike's still being developed in the current ReGeneration One series!), but not at the expense of the Transformers themselves. The thing I have with the Bay movies is that the Autobots feel more like accessories for Sam Witwicky. Here comes Sam, all cool and suave, oh - he needs to lay the smack down - BUMBLEBEEEEE!!

Have the human characters, fine - but don't forget that the Transformers themselves should be characters too. Otherwise they just end up being set pieces or one-dimensional caricatures.

BUT... it can be difficult to appreciate that unique sense of real world Transformers in Bay's movies, simply because the screenplay, over the top humor and bad characterizations, for both humans and TFs, gets in the way. However, I cannot fault the visuals/CGI as it really does look outstanding (not necessarily the robot designs - that's a mixed bag for me) and the unique sense of greatness and awesomeness that a TF live-action movie can bring.

^Agree. Visually the films were spectacular. But a lot of it seemed based more on "WHHOOAAAA!" rather than a deep emotional impact. If you look at Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy; that had a lot of great adrenaline pumping action scenes, but also massive heart-wrenching emotions too. That's the kind of balance you want - the proper mix of action which is used as a vehicle to tell a good story. A story shouldn't exist as a vehicle to showcase action.

If only it can be made with an outstanding script, no shaky, confusing camera work, and no silliness from humans (though we need humans in it because it opens up a whole new dimension to the movie that you just wouldn't get otherwise - only give them more important roles to justify their existence!), then I think we'd really have something.

I agree with most of that, except for the shaky camera work - I liked that. It's more realistic looking. If you've ever seen a real fight (either IRL or on TV etc.) it's very messy and chaotic - and it's over in seconds. If you were watch that and you were an ant, it would look even messier and more chaotic and blurry -- you'd just see giant limbs flying everywhere. Dark of the Moon used more long distance shots and had 'cleaner' looking fight scenes though -- that was because the studio wanted to shoot it in 3D where they prefer longer shots. But it took away some of that 'magic' in the first movie where we saw everything from low angles and really portrayed the Transformers as "Giant Effing Robots." Very few (if any) other Transformers series/films before Michael Bay really conveyed that incredible sense of physical awe and scale. What you watch or read other series, especially in the absence of humans, you can forget scale and size. Heck, for the entire first series and most of Season 2 of Beast Wars I didn't really appreciate just how small the Maximals and Predacons were until we saw Megatron enter the Ark where he was just dwarfed by the slumbering Autobots and Decepticons (because Mainframe wanted to portray the G1 TFs as "Titans" in the eyes of the Beast Wars TFs). Heck, when I play Fall of Cybertron, I don't feel gigantic (only when I play Bruticus in campaign mode). With the first Transformers Bay movie, at no point are you allowed to forget that these are freaking giant robots!

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

So what do people think - could the powers that be be convinced to go down this road?

Fairly unlikely for reasons noted by UltraMarginal, and a few besides. For example...
Bay keeps raking in the money with his boobs+butts+toilet humor+US Army+explosions=success formula, so the films are succeeding in every way save actual artistic merit...and to be fair, that's always been a minor consideration (if even that) in Transformer animated media. To be even more fair, I like boobs and butts and explosions, so I'm not totally opposed to the formula - except for the satire-, style-, and strong-female-leads- parts Bay could probably do a big-screen Western version of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt quite well.
Similarly, animated movies just don't seem to be as big a drawcard as 'live-action' stuff. Aside from a few Disney and/or Pixar works I'm hard-pressed to think of one animated movie that's been 'big' in a cultural sense, there seems to still be a mainstream idea of animation automatically = 'just for kids'.

And is it a good idea in general?

Yes, it really is. For starters, the heavy lifting is already done. The character models and a hefty amount of the background design is already planned out and/or made, the basic plot is already done (with plenty of room for standard episode spin-offs/subplots should the movie be successful), there's a tie-in game and toyline already there - it's pretty much a no-brainer. The possible benefits far outweigh the effort involved, even allowing for a less-than-best-case scenario.
But then again, there's already a heap of media out there, and that big 4th movie coming up, and everyone knows that kids are too dumb to maintain awareness of more than one variant on the same media franchise at the same time and that 'the fans' aren't really worth catering to in any big way (and to be fair there's a certain amount of truth there), and there are all those other franchises to worry about as well, so maybe don't hold your breath while you wait.

[theheretic]

I love the live action movies but the original animated movie is far better than those. First time I saw it has a kid (and possibly a few more screenings) I cried web Optimus died. I still get shivers when OP says "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost" and then the music starts and he beats down ALL the decepticons! So good. I'd love a FOC movie like this!