I actually thought the order was the other way around. I'm sure some of it has to do with whatever mood we're in when we watch them. I found the first one kind of boring (I thought the beginning was too slow), liked the second one better, and like this one the best. I thought all of them had some cool scenes, though.
Yes, there were some cool scenes.
Whenever I turn to my wife and say, "This movie was marketed towards kids" I just know I'm going to have a bad time.
That and the duologue gets corny and the movie formulaic.
I had the exact same feeling with the Transformer series.
Edit: As my hypothetical Asian father in law would say, "I am disappoint."