Reel Impressions: Transformers One

Reel Impressions is The NewsHouse’s weekly film review. Contributors Francesco Desiderio and Travis Newbery cover everything from new releases to trending classics. 

Transformers One is a surprisingly strong film and a refreshing entry for the tired franchise. After 7 live-action films, with few good ones, this film brings new life to the series due to its beautiful animation and storyline. Getting rid of annoying human characters, this film focuses on the origin relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron, the two feuding leaders of the opposing transformer factions. Seen in the live-action films as mortal enemies, this film tells the story of how they started as friends – brothers, even. 

The Transformers, initially a toy line from Hasbro, got their screen debut forty years ago in a 4-season animated TV show. Since then, the characters have been most recognizable from the live-action films beginning with Michael Bay’s Transformers in 2007. This was a monumental achievement in computer-generated imagery (CGI), wowing fans and the general public to see these massive robots look so lifelike. However, the issue with that series was not the CGI, but with the writing and acting. 

Thankfully, Transformers One, which was released on September 20, delivers stunning animation, raw voice-acting performances, and a captivating story. In my opinion, this franchise flourishes in animation. The vast alien world landscapes and atmospheres, sleek and faithful character designs, and fluid action sequences are, frankly, jaw-dropping. 

With recent advancements and risk-taking in animation, such as the amazing Into The Spiderverse (2018-2023) series, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022), this film solidifies itself as a pillar in this new age of animated movies. 

Another impressive aspect of this film was the star-studded cast and subsequent fantastic voice acting. From major to minor characters, a big-name actor is voicing them. My personal favorite, and obvious show-stealer, was Brian Tyree Henry as D-16/Megatron. He gives an emotional and powerful performance as a common worker who is suddenly bestowed with great power and slowly sinks into madness and obsession, turning on the ones closest to him. 

The friendship-turned-rivalry between his character and Chris Hemsworth’s Orion Pax/Optimus Prime is the driving force of this film and it becomes a struggle when deciding who to root for as the plot thickens. 

The trope of brothers-to-enemies is a popular one throughout the history of storytelling and is often one of the most heartbreaking to watch. Especially since this film is a prequel, we go into the movie knowing the long-standing feud between these two characters, but for the first half of this film, we witness a true friendship that will make the impending split all the more sad to watch. 

My main gripe with this film was the sadly miscast lead character. Chris Hemsworth is a phenomenal actor who I am a big fan of, but in my opinion, in this film his voice simply did not fit the character. Unfortunately for Hemsworth, he had to fill the shoes of Peter Cullen, whose iconic deep baritone has been the voice of Optimus Prime in countless movies, series, and games spanning forty years. 

For the duration of Transformers One, all I could hear was Hemsworth’s usual voice, and it took me out of the experience. Especially towards the end of the film, once Orion Pax had gained the title of Optimus Prime, Hemsworth tried to do his best Cullen impression and to me, it fell a bit flat and seemed forced. 

However, this is an origin story and a cocky, younger, more enthusiastic voice was needed for this role as opposed to Cullen’s satisfying, weathered, commanding voice. Hemsworth’s star power alone is enough to sell tickets, so I understand why he was cast for this role but I very much prefer Peter Cullen’s Prime. 

An emotional, inspiring, and original film is becoming increasingly rare nowadays, so it’s very important that this film be seen in theaters while it is available. At the time of writing, the film has been released for only nine days in the U.S. yet has nearly made back its budget of $75 million, a fraction of the budgets most theatrical films and streaming series released in the last few years receive. I will definitely be rewatching this film as soon as possible, if only just for the mesmerizing and giddy grin-inducing final 20 minutes. 

Transformers One was a wonderful surprise despite the film being poorly marketed as a goofy, animated kids’ movie. Although rated PG, this film deals with deep and serious themes such as belonging, betrayal, and political and individual corruption and if adults are willing to see past the animation and sometimes corny dialogue, they are in for a real treat. I expect this movie to receive at least one Oscar nomination this awards season, but many more are deserved across multiple categories. This is the Transformers film that fans have been waiting for, and this is a movie that will surprise and inspire any audience.