Anthony's Film Review - Transformers One (2024)

This Transformers movie is very good, better than I expected...

It's been four decades since the world was introduced to the Transformers, a 1980s television cartoon marketing Hasbro's robot-themed action figure toy line of the same name. We now have a Transformers animated film, Transformers One, that simultaneously continues Transformers fandom in the 21st century while sort of paying homage to the original Transformers that fans came to appreciate. Transformers One is a prequel telling an origin story. It will please die-hard fans while also giving newbies something to appreciate, whether or not they become Transformers fans themselves.

Let me first talk about the visuals. As far as I know, Transformers One is the first-ever 3D computer animated Transformers movie. It's a new format after audiences were treated to a 2D-animated Transformers movie in 1986 and several live-action/CGI hybrids from 2007 to 2023. To me, 3D animation is the perfect format for a Transformers movie in today's time. While watching Transformers One, I couldn't help but marvel at how sleek yet gorgeous the numerous robot characters and their home planet of Cybertron appear on screen. While I have enjoyed the live-action Transformers movies, I can totally understand anyone who says that this 3D animation should've been the way Transformers movies were made from the beginning.

While the visuals can certainly suck people into the movie, I am also happy to report that the story and main characters do, too. They're developed quite well so that we pay close attention to what's going on. The plot centers on two robots, Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry), who work in the depths of Cybertron as miners extracting Energon, the energy source for the planet and its inhabitants. Orion is idealistic, wishing to seek a missing legendary artifact that could allow abundant Energon to flow through Cybertron. In contrast, D-16 is reluctant to break protocols, worrying about losing his livelihood. Nevertheless, these two friends go on a wild adventure thanks to Orion's bravery of exploring the unknown.

Transformers fans do know that Orion Pax will become the heroic Optimus Prime and D-16 will become the villainous Megatron. But before any of that happens, we're treated to a pretty cool and intriguing story. Orion discovers a mysterious radio transmission related to a war fought in the past. Together with D-16 as well as two other robots, Elita-1 (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), Orion makes a shocking discovery about the history of Cybertron that everyone thought they knew. Suddenly, destructive conflict becomes a real possibility.

As expected, this is also an action movie, not just a science-fiction movie. Simply put, the action is pretty cool to see. But that's not all. It avoids the mistake of throwing in action for the sake of action. Here, all of the action sequences have a purpose. In other words, they stem from the story and characters. The writers made the right move: focus on plot and character first, then let the action naturally flow from them.

This brings us back to what I mentioned earlier: the transformation (excuse the pun) from Orion Pax to Optimus Prime and from D-16 to Megatron. How do these two quickly go from close friends to bitter enemies? I won't go into specifics. I'll just say that the reason is fairly simple yet still sensible. Again, the writers put some real thought into the script. While I'm at it, give Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry credit for their vocal performances in this part of the story, especially the latter of the two.

On my scale from 1 to 10, Transformers One certainly held on as a solid 8 for me. But the second half got even better, hovering near a 9, so I'll bump my final rating up to that. I went into this movie thinking it's a cheesy and more kid-friendly portrayal of the Transformers. I was wrong. This is an exciting and even, at times, intense Transformers movie. It definitely exceeded my expectations. I'm even surprised that Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, the executive producers of the live-action Transformers movies, are producers for Transformers One. If I could say one thing to them, I'd say stick with 3D-animated Transformers movies, because that is the best medium for those films, just based on Transformers One alone.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Transformers One, visit the Internet Movie Database.