Transformers One is SHOCKINGLY Good. Here's Why!

It figures that the best movie Paramount's ever made from the Transformers franchise is animated. When I hit Comic Con in San Diego a few months ago, the folks behind Transformers 1 mentioned that by adopting an animated format for the first time in the history of the big screen franchise, not counting of course 1986's animated Transformers the movie, they were able to make a Transformers film without any human characters set 100% on Cybertron. Had this been live-action probably would have cost about 400 million dollars and indeed with no limit on the scope of the story being told for the first time we have a Transformers movie that can legitimately be called terrific. So this is an origin story set on Cybertron focused on the friendship between a young Optimus Prime played by Chris Hemsworth and Megatron voiced by Brian Tyree Henry before they become arch enemies. Folks are really in for a surprise with this one which is very much in the vein of recent animated films like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Spider-Verse movies. While it's definitely not as good as either Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse or Across the Spider-Verse, it comes a heck of a lot closer than you might expect given that it's a Transformers movie which hasn't fared all that well on the big screen so far. In it we get a deep dive into the history of the Autobots and Decepticons tracking how Optimus Prime and Megatron liberated Cybertronians from enslavement before being split into two warring factions. In this one the young Optimus here called Orion Pax and Megatron here called D-16 are two miners that don't have transforming cogs and exist on the lower echelon of Cybertronian society with them basically indentured workers who are lorded over by John Hamm's Sentinel Prime. Chris Hemsworth and Tyree Henry do a good job evoking the buddy movie chemistry needed between Orion Pax and D-16. A good chunk of the movie almost plays out like an animated version of Tango and Cash as the two embark on a mission that leads to their eventual transformation into the iconic characters as we know them. While it all sounds like you have to be pretty steeped in Transformers lore to appreciate what director Josh Cooley who previously directed Toy Story 4 and his writers are going for, the movie ends up being a lot more compelling than you might think. It starts off as your typical sci-fi adventure movie complete with a humorous sidekick Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee before he lost his voice and a robot love interest Scarlett Johansson's Alita. But eventually it takes a dark turn as the truth about Cybertron emerges and D-16's more ruthless side comes to the surface. You can't help but get invested in the brotherhood between the two robots. When they eventually turn on each other it feels pretty epic almost like this is an animated version of Ben-Hur. It's certainly helped by the voice work by Hemsworth and Tyree Henry. While many have issues with Peter Cullen no longer voicing Optimus Prime, Hemsworth works in a lot of vocal references to his predecessor paying homage to his iconic performance as the film goes on. Likewise Tyree Henry's vocal performance as he becomes Megatron begins to change and he imbues the character with a surprising amount of pathos. Also the film is just gorgeous to look at with the animation style fresh feeling with it making an effort to be distinctive while also paying tribute to the old cartoon show and 1986 film. It's also set in the same timeline as the modern Transformers movie but it's distinct enough that you really don't have to have seen any of them in order to enjoy it. So if you haven't seen a couple of the Transformers movies don't sweat it. One thing worth noting is that the audience I saw this with really really seemed to love the movie. They laughed and cheered throughout and when it was over the audience gave it a huge round of applause which is something you never really get at free screenings in my neck of the woods. There's a reason why Paramount's been doing so many word-of-mouth screenings for Transformers 1 as this has the potential to truly be a major hit for them. And again I have to say it's the best Transformers movie ever made by a pretty wide margin which is why I give it a very solid 8 out of 10. Even if you're not a huge fan of these kinds of movies you might be surprised by Transformers 1.