As if the generally poor reviews weren’t enough (see “Transformers’ Midnights Tops”), Transformers:  Revenge of the Fallen now has a controversy as well.  The characters Skids and Mudflap are being attacked as racist caricatures.  E! Online, for example, said the characters’ “over-the-top, hip-hop-inspired vernacular and stereotypically black-sounding voices are, at best, racially and culturally insensitive and, at worst, grossly ignorant and offensive.”

There are lots of comparisons between the characters and that of Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars:  Phantom Menace, which was also attacked as a caricature at the time. 

Skids and Mudflap are voiced by Reno Wilson, who is black, and Tom Kenny, who voices Spongebob Squarepants.    

A lot of people are going to have the opportunity to make up their own minds about the characters; the film is already setting box office records and on its way to a blockbuster opening weekend.