The bots are back in arguably the year’s biggest animation surprise.
Over 17 years, we’ve gotten seven live action Transformers movies. So, it comes as a bit of a shock that it has taken this long to finally see this franchise get an animated film for the big screen with Transformers One. But what’s even more shocking is the quality of this film, which stands among the year’s best animated films at the time of this publishing. Fun, bright, and quite humorous, One puts a new spin on this familiar IP that’s enjoyable for people of all ages. And yes, that too is another surprise with this film – it’s enjoyable for more than just kids.
Transformers One tells the origin story of the two most well-known robots in disguise, Optimus Prime and Megatron, long before they were enemies. In fact, we see them as best friends working on Cybertron mining resources, having yet to gain the ability to transform into the formidable robots we’re accustomed to seeing. Taking place entirely on the robot home of Cybertron and before any of these mechanical beings ever interact with humans, Optimus Prime and Megatron aspire to be more than just mining bots on the planet. And when a threat to Cybertron is unearthed, the friends must join others to stop it once they’re given the ability they have lacked for so long: transform. However, once they transform, cracks in their friendship begin to show, and their relationship slowly unravels.
You already know where the film is headed as far as the friendship of Optimus Prime and Megatron is concerned well before the film’s climax. But how they eventually turn into enemies is part of what makes this origin story (which is also a tragedy) unconventionally good. As you see these friends begin to divide on the direction the world of Cybertron and its bots should take, the exploration into their friendship provides a good message about how friends come and go throughout our lives. In addition to the quality of the film’s unconventional origin story, the film features beautiful animation and a surprising amount of humor and one-liners that’ll make you chuckle throughout. Also, the absence of human characters in this film is a bonus, as they seem to be the crux of almost all the live action Transformers films.
Perhaps the film’s greatest strength is its voice cast, which is stacked. Providing a new voice for Optimus Prime is Chris Hemsworth of Marvel fame, who does such a commendable job that it would make legendary voice actor Peter Cullen proud. Another actor from Marvel fame that is good is Scarlett Johansson, who voices the no-nonsense Elita-1. Providing the film’s best humor is undoubtedly Keegan-Michael Key, who voices Bumblebee. Smaller voice roles that you will be surprised to see pop up in this universe include Jon Hamm and Steve Buscemi, who are both great additions as Sentinel Prime and Starscream. But the film’s best voice role comes from Brian Tyree Henry as the voice of Megatron, who goes above and beyond as the friend of Optimus turned enemy.
Paramount distributing one of the year’s best animated films was not in my Bingo card for this year, but I should not have been surprised when upon deeper consideration I see that director Josh Cooley, a well-respected animator, helmed this project after directing Toy Story 4. Thanks to Cooley’s direction, combined with the strong origin story and excellent cast of characters, Transformers One breathes new life into the theatrical landscape for the IP overall. And where this new iteration of the franchise goes from here is exciting, as the film leaves a tease of what’s to come at the very, very end of the credits.
RATING: ★★★★
(out of five stars)