Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Transformers | Tagged: Transformers One

Transformers One Review: The New Beginning This Franchise Deserved

Transformers One is another homerun for Paramount Pictures adapting toy commercials into fantastic movies, and proof that 2024 is going to be a powerhouse year for animation.

Transformers One is everything established fans want; it will easily court the next generation of kids and easily bridge the gap between people who only had the Michael Bay films and who never understood why anyone liked this stuff.

Director: Josh Cooley
Summary: The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

Transformers One: Turning Toy Commercials Into Art

Transformers fans have been fighting the good fight for a while now. They had the original animated series and movie that brought in that first generation of fans, but the live-action movies have been contentious from day one. The first film was a mixed bag, but by the time we got to movie five, they were almost universally hated by everyone. It was a true example of "How is this making so much money?" because no one seemed to enjoy these films. So when Paramount announced an animated prequel film in 2017, no one had much faith, and people likewise didn't have much faith when the first bit of footage for Transformers One dropped. The change in tone and the stylistic changes were very jarring to some, but between that first footage release and the film coming out this weekend, opinion on the film has turned around, and the public is welcoming it with open arms. Transformers One is the rare film that can help unite multiple generations of new and old fans, a line that is not easy to walk.

In terms of story, Transformers One is not here to reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination. They have a story we've all seen before, but they are putting shiny, new Transformers paint on it for all to see. The lore of the world is also easily explained, and the stakes are set up right away. The first scene of the film is quite literally an exposition dump under the guise of Orion Pax wanting to learn more information. There are several scenes where characters just learn things via visual flashbacks, but they are so beautifully animated that you find them completely engaging, and you don't realize that this is an exposition dump.

You get to see just how beautiful everything about the transformers and their world can be. Everything is lit with bright neon colors, and the world and the city are beautifully formed. We see what a planet built out of a transformer would look like and how everything is always in movement because everything is alive. The movie doesn't try to make anything dirty or grungey. The aesthetic of the Bay films is gone, but the simplicity of the original cartoons isn't here either. It's this beautiful melding of the two that gives way to a look that feels incredibly detailed without feeling too busy.

That is due to the animation style. Paramount Pictures has been putting out absolutely stunning animated films based on nostalgia properties for the last couple of years that have absolutely no business being as good as they are (go watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; I know enough of you didn't). If there were ever times to phone it in, it's on established properties like Transformers or the Turtles, but Paramount and Hasbro seem to realize that the real potential in these properties is handing them over to people who will push creative bounds and turn their toy commercials into art. Transformers One is a film that clearly has so much love put into it, but also, director Josh Cooley and the team he put together weren't afraid to say that they weren't going to make a good movie, but they were going to make a great one.

In terms of negatives, there aren't many for Transformers One. The film doesn't overstay its welcome and is well-paced, so it never feels like it's dragging. The story isn't super original, but the new coat of paint is the point, and when the paint is this shiny and pretty, it's fine that the thing on it isn't entirely original. All of the voice actors do a good job, with the standout being Bryan Tyree Henry as D-16, who has to go from a protagonist to the antagonist by the end of the film, a journey that is hard to convey and that he does a really good job of portraying. The other standout is Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, who brings that perfect level of pompous arrogance that you need for a leader. Keegan-Michael Key gets some great one-liners in, but they don't always land, and Chris Hemsworth and Scarlet Johansson are fine in their role.

Transformers One is another homerun for Paramount Pictures and a stand-out example of their ability to adapt toy commercials into fantastic animated movies. The established fans are going to get the big, beautiful, and moving Transformers movie they have been waiting for since the first animated movie was released. The kids in the audience are getting a perfect introduction to this world, and they are going to have so much fun getting into this fandom and this lore. As for those in between, who "got it" in terms of why everyone liked this stuff to begin with? This movie is the thing that can convert a non-believer. If nothing else, it's an excellent time at the movies and more proof that 2024 has been a powerhouse year for animation.

Transformers One

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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9/10

Transformers One is everything established fans want; it will easily court the next generation of kids and easily bridge the gap between people who only had the Michael Bay films and who never understood why anyone liked this stuff, to begin with.

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