By George & Josh Bate
The famous robots in disguise made their big screen debut in 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie. The animated movie based on the Transformers television series underperformed, both critically and financially, but eventually developed a cult following and is still regarded by many as the best Transformers movie, a sentiment particularly shocking given the 38 years and 7 movies that have come since. Now, Transformers animation returns to the big screen in an era that has seen other live-action franchises like Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles successfully make the leap to animation in theaters. Unfortunately, the result of this effort falls short of its immense potential in a well-intentioned, yet flat and conventional origin film.
Transformers One winds the clock back over 3 billion years before the live-action Transformers movies to tell the origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Far before they became enemies, the two were originally known as Orion Pax and D-16 respectively and lived on the planet Cybertron, working as miners. All is well between the two best friends until they go on an adventure that sees them uncover a conspiracy on Cybertron and puts strain on their brotherhood.
In addition to its distinct status as an animated Transformers movie on the big screen, Transformers One stands out as an origin story. A contrast to the largely human-focused live-action movies, the new film centers exclusively on the titular robots in disguise and is set on the planet Cybertron. As such, Transformers One has a unique opportunity to add depth to Optimus Prime, Megatron, and others by giving audiences a glimpse into their beginnings, something that has been largely relegated to voice-over narrations in the live-action films. And, as an origin story, Transformers One is merely serviceable. The movie unfolds in a way that so overtly feels like the filmmakers already know the points of the story they want to end with and, in turn, make a number of narrative leaps and assumptions to eventually, predictably, and inevitably get to those points.
Things start on shaky footing as heavy exposition kicks in mere moments into the film and, from then on, doesn’t really let up for the duration of the film. Despite the seemingly endless number of times the film’s MacGuffin – the Matrix of Leadership – is referenced and explained, its true purpose never becomes any clearer. Coupled with convoluted references to Cybertron, Energon, Megatron, and a myriad of other points throughout, Transformers One struggles in the context of poorly explicated world-building, which hinder investment in the story and its characters.
At the heart of this story is the brotherly bond between Orion Pax (eventually, Optimus Prime) and D-16 (eventually, Megatron). Their relationship is framed very much like the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, friends who the audience knows will eventually become enemies. The first act of the movie oversells the bromance between Orion Pax and D-16, with the two fist-pumping and proclaiming they’re always there for one another in every other scene. The film makes it abundantly clear (over and over again) that these characters are close to one another and exhibits this sort of heavy-handed character development throughout. Thankfully, Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry do commendable work stepping into the gargantuan shoes of voice acting legends Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, with Hemsworth in particular doing well to transform his voice into Cullen’s as the film progresses.
Brian Tyree Henry, meanwhile, voices D-16 as he eventually turns to the proverbial dark side. What should be a change more akin to Anakin’s slow descent instead occurs so suddenly and without explanation. This inevitable moment that should feel far more monumental and organic than it does comes abruptly and feels out of character for D-16.
Disjointed plotting and character development aside, Transformers One impresses visually. Cybertron is beautifully realized and gives the movie a glowing and geometric aesthetic distinct from other animated movies. The movie teeters on the edge of being a bit too visually overwhelming, but a mid-way plot shift sees the film pivot to another location, which refreshes the proceedings.
Transformers One features spectacular visuals for its environments, although the details of the facial animation leave a bit to be desired. We commented on this point when we saw early footage of the film at CinemaCon earlier this year, and, while the facial animation has admittedly improved since that working footage was presented, a lack of detail and nuance to bring the faces to life persist.
The film also sports some great action sequences and epic moments, excellently brought to life by Paramount Animation and composer Brian Tyler respectively. The final battle in particular evokes the kind of epic moments the 1986 animated Transformers movie managed to achieve, with a pumping score from Tyler that gets the heart rate up to top it all off. The resounding ending then sets the stage nicely for more movies to come and taps into some of the motifs of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies.
VERDICT: 5/10
Transformers One attempts to do for the Transformers franchise what Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did for the Spider-Man franchise, but ultimately falls disappointingly short of expectations. Although the film is a nice palette cleanser for a franchise once defined by the lavish, crude, and unashamedly entertaining Michael Bay movies, Transformers One struggles under the weight of convoluted and predictable plotting, heavy-handed exposition, and jarring character development for Brian Tyree Henry’s D-16 (aka Megatron). More positively, Chris Hemsworth delivers a commendable performance, effectively stepping into the large shoes of Peter Cullen to take on the role of Optimus Prime, and the animation to bring Cybertron and its inhabitants to life is beautiful. Hopes were high as the Transformers franchise returned to big-screen animation for the first time in almost 40 years, but the end result sees the robots in disguise feature in a well-intentioned, yet ultimately flat and disjointed origin tale.