At the risk of widening the tangent and getting scolded by eytanz...
It also makes me wonder, what if the plot behind the Transformer movies wasn't garbage? What if it was somehow something so brilliant that it eclipsed Braveheart or even Julius Ceasar. Would the people that complained about plot weakness actually like the movies less in that case because the story was too good for the fighting robots that we all came to see? Is that actually an argument in favor of boilerplate plots in action movies?
The plot behind the Transformers movies was not garbage, it was rather elegant: Transformers are toys. Toys are for kids. Kids watch kiddy TV. But you are limited by the amount of commercials you can put in kiddy TV. So we make a cartoon series whose
entire purpose is to promote the toys. Kids watch the show, want the toys, beg their parents, Hasbro makes money.
Fast forward 25 years. (Or hop in the DeLorean).
The kids who bought the toys are now adults (not grownups, there's a difference). They loved the toys
and the show. They want to continue that love for their own kids, and also because they never grew up. So they make a movie, to sell more toys. Hasbro is OK with this.
Everything else is just bells and whistles.
As for that heinous comment about Star Wars being a standard wizard's coming of age story...
I sincerely hope you mean the prequel movies, which we don't talk about.
Because if you mean the original movies... I may have to take drastic measures. (which include ranting, links and the occasional animated gif).
For now, read
this[url].