Transformers One is a breath of fresh air, or at least tries to be. In the movie era we live in today, most movies are inclined to look appealing rather than have a good story. With the trend of superhero movies hopefully near its end, Transformers One should be compared to a light at the end of a tunnel. That is to say, Transformers One is a solid movie; however, does it do the brand of Transformers justice? Even without the original voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen?
The movie takes place before the respective faces of Autobots and Decepticons become leaders of their representing side. The film shows them as unimportant characters who are destined to live out their lives without deviating from their jobs. That is until the Autobot known as Orion Pax decides to mettle and change destiny with his friend, D16, tagging along for the ride, literally in some cases. They go on an adventure to find the Matrix of Leadership, which is the most important thing in the Transformers Universe that gives life to the planet they live on, Cybertron. Shown as best friends forever at first, their friendship is tested and eventually broken during their journey when D16 wants revenge, whereas Orion wants to change things through peace. This difference eventually puts them both at a crossroads where D16 betrays Orion and officially becomes Megatron. Hurt but not broken, Orion is given the Matrix of Leadership as proof that he has what it takes to be the leader of all Transformers. He awakens and becomes Optimus Prime and then faces Megatron in battle. Being who he is, Optimus defeats Megatron and banishes him from their home. Inspiring others himself, Megatron, now defeated, rallies his Decepticons and leaves the city to regroup, thus ending the movie and eventually sealing the fate of Cybertron to its doom.
Transformers One does a great job of making Transformers feel like people. That is to say, the movie humanizes them, making people able to relate to the struggles and hardships the transformers endure. Most variations of the shows and movies regarding Transformers do a really good job of doing this as well. The character’s personalities also match with the stories and previous iterations of Transformers as a whole. One major downside of this movie was the amount of action that the camera tried to keep up with. The explosions and fast-paced fighting made it hard to know what to focus on. Some fights were better than others, but overall, the movie does justice to the character’s origins. One big worry about this movie was whether or not the new voice of Optimus Prime would be as good or better than the iconic voice of Peter Cullen. The answer is surprising. Chris Hemsworth took the role and was made to make Optimus sound young and immature. Since this technically is a movie made for younger audiences, Chris did well to make Orion appease the producer’s target audience. Having said that, Chris did a phenomenal job switching from Orion to Optimus Prime. Though there was still a hint of immaturity and inexperience in being a leader of the Autobots, Chris delivered in making Optimus Prime sound hopeful and ready to face the challenges ahead.
Does Transformers One appease fans of the show, comics, and movies? This reviewer says yes, it most certainly does. Given that besides a few games, there were no previous iterations of Transformer movies or shows that delved into Optimus Prime and Megatron’s origin. What this reviewer would have liked to see more of was serious moments and a slower change from D16 to Megatron. The movie cannot be as long as the director’s cut of Lord of the Rings, but this reviewer craves emotion. The quick change from best buddy to enemy was so sudden that there was no depth. D16 went from wanting to follow the rules to annihilating all oppressors with a figurative coin toss. This reviewer does believe that the movie would appease more popular culture rather than be viewed as high art. This is due to the little things that go against the telling of the original story that only die-hard fans would know.
Most reviews of Transformers One are positive, except for the few more radical reviewers. Others did similar reviews regarding the story and the quick change from D16 to Megatron. Again, this movie was made for a younger audience with the bonus of appeasing fans of the series. This movie does just that, but this reviewer hopes in the future that, should another movie be made, maybe regarding the War for Cybertron, we will see more gritty and heartfelt scenes. Where Optimus Prime goes from a goody goody two shoes to THE Optimus Prime we fans know and love. Ideally, this reviewer would want the war to make the voice-over change to the original voice actors of Optimus and Megatron, possibly after a dramatic fight that would shake both sides to their core. Regardless, overall, Transformers One is a movie worth seeing if you are a fan of Transformers, no matter the age. There was a scene I was shocked was put in such a movie made for young audiences that other reviewers commented on, expressing a similar shock as well. I guess public executions are okay in movies today if they involve robots and not humans. All in all, this reviewer would rate Transformers One four out of five stars and would recommend fans of Transformers to go see it.