Transformers One

 And now for something pleasant.

After seven live-action movies, the Transformers roll-out in the animated prequel, Transformers One. This is the franchise's first animated movie since 1986, as well as one of its best ever. Let's transform and see why.

On the planet Cybertron, the robotic citizenry is divided between those born with "T-Cogs," which makes them Transformers, and those who aren't, which makes them miners. These miners dig for Energon, Cybertron's fuel, which has been scarce following the loss of the legendary Matrix of Leadership. In Iacon, the capital of Cybertron, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) both wish to prove themselves more than miners. They end up crashing the Iacon 5000 race, which impresses Cybertron's leader Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), but not the brutish guard Darkwing (Isaac Singleton Jr). 

Our heroes are demoted underground, where they meet the peppy B-127 (Keegan Michael Key). They also uncover the location of Alpha Trion (Laurence Fishburne), the last survivor of the thirteen legendary Primes. With the reluctant assistance of their former supervisor, Elita-1 (played by Scarlett Johansson), they set out to find him. Trion not only gives them their own T-Cogs but tells them that Sentinel is More Than Meets the Eye. This tests Orion Pax and D-16's friendship, up until it finally breaks, and they become Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively.

Yeah, pleasant.

Despite the forgone conclusion, director Josh Cooley and his writing team make a fresh path to that point. It's even morbid in hindsight when Orion Pax and D-16 proclaim themselves best friends early on. In fact, D-16's character development maybe the film's greatest spark. As voiced by Henry, he's quite a good bro bot for Orion Pax, which makes their friendship fun to watch. But when Sentinel is revealed to be a villain, D-16 is consumed with slow-boiling rage as he seeks vengeance on not only him, but anyone he sees in his way. It finally explodes with terrifying force when D-16 finally becomes Megatron. It's also quite interesting to see how Megatron restructures the former Cybertronian High Guard into the Decepticons, as it gives its commander Starscream (Steve Buscemi) a justifiable reason for his famous backstabbing.

That doesn't mean the future Autobots don't mean much here. Orion Pax is quite likable long before his climactic upgrade. His scheming is funny, but just as importantly, he proves his heroism when he saves miner and future Autobot Jazz (Evan Michael Lee) from a cave-in. His friendship-turned-enmity with Megatron culminates in a strong climactic battle. Meanwhile, B-127 (Bumblebee) is quite funny, Elita-1 is a good voice of reason, and Alpha Trion is a decent Obi-Wan type. I probably should make room for Sentinel Prime and Darkwing, even though they aren't heroes. Sentinel's nice guy act is quite believable, particularly when he praises our heroes for crashing the Iacon 5000. That just makes his true casual evilness all the more loathsome. Darkwing, meanwhile, is a typical bully, and his comeuppance is quite amusing.

Industrial Light and Magic animated this film just as they did the live-action movies. It's no surprise that everything about it, from the production design to the character designs, is amazing. Iacon is quite splendid, while the Cybertronian surface above it is quite fascinating. One of Iacon's most unique touches are the roads, which materialize as a bot drives through them. There are several franchise favorites among the massive crowd shots, and I'm sure you'll have fun spotting as many as possible. On an individual level, Airachnid (Vanessa Luguori), Sentinel Prime's right-hand bot, has an impressively creepy design. The sound effects are neat, but modulating Buscemi's voice into Starscream's famously scratchy one is a nice touch. All of it is accentuated with another great score by Brian Tyler, particularly its impressive opening theme.

I didn't think much of Transformers One when it was announced several years ago. Way to prove my skepticism wrong, movie. Its finale cements itself as not only one of the best films in the franchise, but one of the best prequels ever. I'm now intrigued for a possible Transformers Two to see how these Autobots and Decepticons brought their war to Earth. But that may only be possible if the box office picks up exponentially soon. Have the last few live-action Transformers film let you down? Give this animated film a try, it's more than meets the eye.

That's it for now.