Dog’s Movie House: “Transformers One” An Animated Sci-Fi Film With Heart!

“Transformers One” features the voice of Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax, an ambitious but accident prone mining robot on Cybertron. His best friend is D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) who follows protocol and is pretty straightlaced. The two are part of a crew of robots who mine Energon to keep the population of the planet alive after a war with an alien species has decimated the once bountiful supply of Energon. After a series of events, Orion and D-16 find themselves on the surface of the planet and discover a conspiracy involving their beloved leader Sentinal Prime (Jon Hamm). It’s up to Orion and D-16, along with fellow bots Alita (Scarlett Johannson) and B-127 (Keegan Michael-Key) to solve the mystery and grow into the Transformers they were meant to be.

The trailers lean heavily into the humor (ostensibly to pull in the kiddies), but “Transformers One” is much more than that. In fact, director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) and writers Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari have invested this film with more character development than almost all of the live action movies combined. There are a lot of moving parts in terms of story, but it’s fairly easy to understand and the animation is beautiful to behold. The idea of haves (those who can transform) and have-nots (those who can’t) makes for an interesting addition to the narrative. Cooley also does a fantastic job of orchestrating the action, with some cool transformantions and some very interesting camera angles to drop you into the middle of the action.

The heart of “Transformers One” is the relationship between Orion and D-16. Both Hemsworth and Tyler-Henry do sterling work in bringing the voices of two classic characters in their youth to life. Hemsworth in particular does a fantastic job of channeling the vocal patterns of the legendary Peter Cullen without sounding like an imitation. It allows the audience to believe that Orion Pax will eventually become the legendary Optimus Prime. Tyree Henry is just as impressive as D-16, whose betrayal by someone he’d been loyal to his entire life unlocks the unquenchable rage that results in his transformation into Megatron. It gives a potential one-note villain some welcome and unexpected death.

“Transformers One” is a wonderfully animated film that let’s it’s story breath with heart and humor. It may be a little intense for the kiddies, but older children and Transformers fans of all ages are going to love it! 4 Out of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

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