Transformers One review: a colorful, forgettable prequel

Transformers One is two movies in, well, one. It is both a straightforward animated blockbuster for the whole family and a collection of Easter eggs and references that will only matter to die-hard fans of its franchise. While its shape-shifting characters may find it easy to be multiple things at once, though, Transformers One struggles to do the same.

Set years before the events of its franchise’s previous films, the prequel tells the story of how Optimus Prime (voiced here by Furiosa star Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) became not only fierce warriors on their home planet of Cybertron but also lifelong enemies. Its supporting cast is littered with recognizable Transformers characters, including Bumblebee (Keegan-Michael Key), Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson), and Starscream (Steve Buscemi), and there are mentions of others as well. The film’s story, meanwhile, feels reverse-engineered to fill in blank spots in its franchise’s lore that, more often than not, don’t feel like they ever needed to be addressed.

Transformers One goes so far out of its way at times to explain certain details about its characters’ appearances and pasts that it occasionally feels less like an organically conceived film and more like a checklist. Some viewers may even go so far as to call it a colorful piece of Transformers-themed homework. Its unwavering devotion to referencing its franchise’s future often weighs Transformers One down, especially in its second half. That’s a surprising and disappointing fate to befall the film, which tries very hard to pass itself off as nothing more than a beautifully animated, lightweight action-filled adventure. There are moments when it convinces you that’s all it is, but they are too few and far between to save Transformers One from falling down the same well of mediocrity that its franchise has more or less made its home in over the past 20 or so years.

An origin story no one asked for

Transformers One begins beneath the surface of Cybertron in the ever-shifting, always architecturally evolving capital of Iacon City. There, we are introduced to Orion Pax, a blue-and-red robot who looks a lot like Optimus Prime — only smaller. He also, it turns out, can’t transform, because of his lack of a transformation cog. He isn’t the only citizen of Iacon who lives cog-less. The city is, in fact, divided into a clear hierarchy between its cog-less civilians, who are forced to contribute to Cybertron’s well-being by mining Energon, the planet’s dwindling energy source, and the few robots who were born with cogs and, therefore, the ability to transform. The entire city is run by Sentinel Prime (Mad Men star Jon Hamm), the last remaining member of Cybertron’s long-dead group of Prime Transformers, who makes routine trips to the planet’s surface to try to find the missing Matrix of Leadership.

Once the Matrix is found, it’s said that Cybertron’s Energon reserves will begin to flow and fill on their own again. That’s why Orion is obsessed with helping find it, even though his efforts to do so routinely get both him and his best friend and fellow cog-less bot, Henry’s D-16, into trouble. When a chance encounter in one of Iacon’s lower levels with an overly talkative former miner, Key’s B-127, results in Orion finding his best lead on the Matrix’s location yet, he sets off with D-16, B-127, and their workaholic boss, Johansson’s Elita-1, on a trip to Cybertron’s notoriously dangerous surface. This decision puts them one step closer to becoming their future, legendary selves and also sets them on a journey that will completely reshape their perception of Cybertron and its history.

To its credit, Transformers One moves at such a well-maintained, brisk pace across its 104 minutes that its lore-heavy plotting never becomes overwhelming or mind-numbing. This is largely a credit to screenwriters Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari, who streamline the film’s story as much as they can in spite of its many, Easter egg-mandated detours and tangents. By focusing so heavily on painfully-titled plot elements and MacGuffins like “Energon” and “the Matrix of Leadership,” though, Transformers One makes it impossible to miss the half-baked nature of so much of its franchise’s lore. Rarely have the Transformers’ plastic toy origins ever felt so thuddingly clear.

Transformers One doesn’t take itself too seriously

The film’s overly earnest handling of its most absurd aspects is offset a bit by its lighthearted sense of humor, most of which comes through in Key’s performance as B-17. Key is one of the film’s only cast members who manages to bring much life to his mechanical character, even though he isn’t doing much to alter his voice. Hemsworth, conversely, adopts a generic American accent here that’s not too dissimilar from the one he employs as Thor. The Australian actor proved in Furiosa that he’s capable of contorting his voice to great effect when given the chance, but his work as Orion Pax is too stiff to make Transformers One‘s pre-Optimus take on the character leave a lasting impression. Furthermore, the film’s few attempts to blend Hemsworth’s performance with Peter Cullen’s iconic Optimus Prime voice only make it even clearer how much the former pales in comparison to the latter.

Visually, Industrial Light & Magic’s 3D animation gives Transformers One a vibrancy and splendor that isn’t reflected in its storytelling or character work. The film looks stunning. Each frame makes the most out of Cybertron’s many jagged edges and showcases how the planet’s light reflects off its own metallic surfaces, as well as those of Transformers One‘s robotic heroes and villains. The prequel’s look is both modern and deeply indebted to the animation of 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie. Unfortunately, the film does a better job of aesthetically blending its franchise’s past and present together than it does in its actual story. It may be director Josh Cooley’s follow-up to his 2019 Pixar effort, Toy Story 4, but Transformers One lacks the synthesis of imagery and emotion that made that film more than just a cash-grab sequel.

In that sense, Transformers One isn’t all that unlike its franchise’s previous live-action installments. It packs a real visual punch and yet is hollow beneath its surface — providing a viewing experience that is sensorially exciting but weightless.

Transformers One hits theaters on Friday, September 20.