After the glut of Transformers live-action films in the past decades, it is a refreshing twist to get an animated version. Not only that, but this is the origin story of the Transformers on Cybertron itself. The lack of live humans means that any gory effects that would scare children can be eliminated and so this is a family-friendly picture.

We start off in Iacon City, below the surface of Cybertron. The Transformers had a war with the Quintessons. Many of their leaders were killed off.

Now, Sentinel Prime (voice: Jon Hamm) leads the search above-ground for the lost Leadership of Matrix. Without the Matrix, Energon, needed for Transformer life, is not readily available.

The now-necessary extraction of Energon is done by non-transforming miners. These lack the cog necessary to become fully transforming. The mining of Energon can be dangerous.

Orion Pax (voice: Chris Hemsworth) is one such mining robot. He always is pushing the boundaries of what is permitted for someone in his class. He sneaks into an archive to find out as much information as he can about the war and the lost Matrix. Needless to say, he is detected and pursued by guards in an elaborate chase scene.

Orion’s best friend is D-16 (voice: Brian Tyree Henry). D-16 saves Orion from the guards. Later, in the mine, a cave-in occurs. Orion stays behind to help save another robot. This results in his no-nonsense supervisor, Elita-1 (voice: Scarlett Johansson), to be demoted.

Sentinel Prime comes back from the surface. He declares a holiday highlighted by the Iacon 5000 race. This event is barred to cog-less Autobots. Of course Orion gets D-16 involved in unwittingly entering the race.

Sentinel is impressed and promises that they will be treated well in his private quarters. However, they are dumped into a deep abyss where trash is collected. There they meet B-127 (voice: Keegan-Michael Key), a hyper, talkative individual.

While there, they discover a chip from Alpha Trion (voice: Laurence Fishburne), an assumed-dead Prime. It reveals a map to the Matrix of Leadership.

Sneaking onto a waste transport headed to the surface, Elita-1 is inadvertently added to their adventure. Reaching the surface, they are stunned by the metallic beauty of their planet.

Their quest, however, exposes them to the Quintessons. Evading this danger, they eventually enter a cavern. Lo and behold, Alpha Trion’s corpse is there, along with the other Primes.

Reviving Alpha Trion, he ends up becoming a mentor to the quartet. However, he reveals some dark secrets that stun the group. Giving them cogs, he tasks them with seeking justice.

What are the dark secrets of Cybertron? What happened to the original Primes? What is it like to finally have cogs to transform?

“Transformers One” is a very enjoyable film from start to finish. Of course this all comes back to story. The screenwriters have done a masterful job of creating an alternate world completely divorced from the Earth-bound Transformers.

While some traditional tropes, such as the battle between good and evil, are used, the visual depiction of both the sub-surface Cybertron and the surface world is extremely detailed and nuanced. Down in the mines, you see signs that the metal is rusting or is poorly maintained. At first, this shocked me as I thought “wouldn’t these robots do a better job keeping up appearances?” But then as the plot progressed, it all made sense.

The visual coup de grace, though, is the surface world. Its bright colors and changing landforms are something to see. I especially liked the metallic deer with glowing ears. The production designers outdo themselves with the intricacy and conceptualization on display.

Facets of the story I liked included the need to mine Energon, which resulted in a lower class of Cybertronians who could not transform. Likewise, the idea of needing a cog to transform was intriguing. I also enjoyed the climactic battle and aftermath sequences, which I will not discuss due to spoilers.

The design of the Transformers themselves seemed like the least interesting aspect of the visuals. It is true that the animators were able to create distinctive differences between the characters. But frankly I was disappointed by the lack of transformations which I saw in the characters. I really wanted more automotive action.

One drawback of the battle sequences is that you cannot really tell who is who. Autobots just attack each other in a chaotic mess of action. The exceptions are the occasional focuses on one-on-one action.

There is not much to say about the actors doing the voiceovers. No doubt this is a stellar cast, but I didn’t particularly recognize any famous actor’s voice during the film.

As in most of these stories, you think that you are reaching a conclusion only to have the movie drag on. At an hour and 44 minutes, this is pushing the attention span of little ones to the limit.

The lack of humans significantly reduces the gore factor. Losing robotic parts in battle is not as disconcerting as seeing human limbs go flying. This brilliant decision allows the picture to be marketed to younger children.

As far as that goes, there are some very intense sequences which may stress or frighten some children. But on the whole, the “good guys” are suitably likeable and engaging to compensate for this fact.

The themes of good versus evil, the boundaries of friendship, impulse control, and making good decisions also are learning points for younger children. There is a lot that families can discuss besides how cool the movie is.

So definitely a good film. If you are a Transformers fan, this is a must-see.

Four out of five stars

In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm
Directed by Josh Cooley
Story by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Screenplay by Eric Pearson and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Based on Hasbro’s Transformers™ Action Figures