Just like Optimus Prime, Transformers One stands above the rest with its fantastic animation and enjoyable story. Photo: Paramount Studios.
Okay, before I start, I am well aware that there are some people out there who absolutely adore Michael Bay’s Transformers movies.
I am not one of those people.
I think they’re poorly written, poorly acted, US military propaganda that spends way too much time on their human characters. In saying that, I absolutely loved the brand-new animated film Transformers One.
Unlike the seven, yes seven, live-action films, Transformers One is not based on Earth and instead is a prequel based on Cybertron, the Transformer’s home planet.
Following Orion Pax and D-16 before they become Optimus Prime and Megatron, Transformers One depicts how the two friends slowly descend into enemies and the war that follows.
Now, I must admit I don’t know the ins and outs of Transformers Lore; I was more of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kid myself, but what I really appreciate about this film is its back-to-roots approach. It puts its iconic robotic characters front and centre.
There are no whiney, annoying and cringy human characters that bog down the story with convoluted yet undefined motivations. Optimus and Megatron are the leads, as they should be, and the movie is better for them.
I was interested in these characters. I cared about their decisions and their relationships. Despite knowing the outcome, I was still upset to see the two former friends split and the sides that the supporting characters had to choose.
The writing was so much tighter and because of this, the performances from Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry are elevated beyond just sounding like the famous duo.
While I did enjoy the Linkin Park outros, with voice actor Peter Cullen giving us a message about hope, the writing of the live-action films left a lot to be desired. The less we talk about the Romeo and Juliet laws in Age of Extinction, the better. Fortunately, there’s none of that here.
I do think that Transformers One benefits from being animated, as well. I admit I did love seeing shiny Camaros and fighter jets transform, and if I have something nice to say about the live-action films, the CGI holds up. However, animation has a better ability to make things that could only exist in one’s imagination come to life.
I know that might be a controversial opinion, but several scenes in this film had my jaw on the floor. I couldn’t comprehend how someone could think of some of these ideas, let alone put them on the screen. It was stylised, pretty and imaginative. Several words I would not use to describe the live-action films.
The voice acting is pretty good, too. Some performances are better than others, but nobody does a lousy job.
Ultimately, Transformers One did something that previous films in the franchise have not been able to do. It made me leave the cinema smiling with joy. Following in the footsteps of the animated Spider-Man movies and the most recent animated TMNT movie, Transformers has taken to the stylised animation genre graciously.
If Transformers continues with its ‘back to the roots’ approach, I will continue to support this franchise, and I think tired fans will come back to this iconic IP, too.
Transformers One was a lot of fun and a perfect movie for families to see with the school holidays just around the corner.
Transformers One opens on 19 September in cinemas everywhere.
Original Article published by Jarryd Rowley on Riotact.
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