Same reason you have a ton of movies tailored to make a PG-13 rating. Box office draw, plain and simple. Contrast that with film release ratings from the 70's & 80's and the change started in the 90's.

Because ****ing DINOSAURS!!!!!!!!! Giant aggressive meat eating predators. Maybe more interesting than a cassette player or a construction crane? I grew up loving dinosaurs way before Transformers. Little stupid package of plastic shit dinosaurs and I was fascinated and had to know every one. Transformers + dinosaurs was a childhood highlight. I enjoyed the shit out of that as a kid. To see that played out in Hi-Def, even with a cheesy story, will be an awesome feeling.

Seriously. It's ****ing dinosaurs, dude. You don't question it; you just roll with it.

I used to love me some Beast Wars too. Optimus Primal, Rat-trap, cheetor, black arachnia, dinobot, waspinator.. Ahhhh, memories..

The dinobots were the best episodes of the old cartoon when Grimlock and company betray Optimus then realize Megatron is a dick and then join the good guys. I still remember those episodes to this day. I wonder if they'll make them talk like they did in the old cartoons, "Me Grimlock!"

probably at first (pure animalistic rage like a werewolf)then they'll make Grimlock into an Optimus Primal type after he can transform into a humanoid bipedal variant.I assume, because Grimlock was comedic relief back then.

Anyone care to explain the dinobots in a nutshell?

Why are they dinosaurs? Do they transform into anything else? Are they as intelligent as regular transformers? Are they more powerful?

About 90% of this board like the smell of their own shit too (probably the same ones).

New protoforms were shuttled in the ark, and they wanted something to combat the constructicons who trned into the combiner Devastator, and they found a deposit of dinosaur fossils and allowed the protoforms to scan them to create the Dinobots

In the comics, it was because the Ark landed on Earth millions of years ago when dinosaurs were alive, and the Ark created the five Dinobots (using the forms of the planet's natives) for its defense before it ran out of power.

It was, of course, a comic book, so the fact that they were from different epochs was irrelevant.

This summation is the continuity of the Beast Wars TV series

Not sure, it was a kids cartoon to start off with and kids love dinosaurs

Easy, toy sales

Like others have said....

It's giant ****ing Dinosaur robots that **** shit up.

How can anyone not enjoy that?

Dinobots were the shit. This is the type of movie you smoke a bowl to and go, "Whoa, that explosion was AWESOME"

On a side note I'm hoping the Ark ( the massive ship shown in the trailer)will some how turn out to be Omega Supreme

I was just about to add this. 80's cartoons were notorious for a constant cycle of New characters so they could sell more action figures and accessories. Plus, constantly 1 upping a certain character, so they'd have an updated look and outfit to go along with some increased power or New special ability.

It really was a $$$ grab, and back then with the absence of widescale computers and video games, there was a goldmine to make off this cartoon swag.