Transformers One

“It’s time to show him we are more than meets the eye.”

Energetic, youthful and rejuvenated, Transformers One is a refreshingly engaging and visually stunning relaunch for the classic franchise that builds on the previous lore whilst also introducing new elements with fantastic fluid animation and a story that rises above its conventions and exposition to still entertain and enrich.

Discussion Points:

I had very low expectations for this. The first trailer featured the most generic and exposition filled dialogue imaginable and I was seriously expecting the whole film to just be lore dump after lore dump with thin characters and a cheap story. Instead what I got was a really rich fun character driven story that both revered the lore of the franchise but felt young, fresh and youthful. Genuinely refreshing to watch. And visually stunning as well. The animation from Industrial Light & Magic is stellar, and the character designs feel unique yet recognisable and never get lost in visual noise. The celebrity voice cast and humour are a little more hit and miss, but honestly I found most voices to fit well, and the characterisations felt befitting the story and demonstrated clear creative direction and intent. No surprise that Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley was able to take beloved fan characters and continue to explore different aspects of them to create more multifaceted stories. A great step in a fun direction for the franchise. And a strong story about leadership, responsibility, trust and commitment. There was definitely more here than met the eye!