Transformers One Evaluate — ‘A valiant effort to make one thing new’

Attention-grabbing issues are taking place on the planet of the Transformers in the meanwhile. There’s the thrilling ongoing comic-book collection from Daniel Warren Johnson, and the promise of an upcoming challenge by acclaimed anime studio Set off. New big-screen challenge Transformers One, in the meantime, seems to be to the previous — three billion years up to now, to be actual — with one thing of a reworked origin story. This implies taking issues again to Cybertron solely: there’s not a human in sight all through Josh Cooley’s CG-animated movie.

Even with out earthlings to steer the emotional arc of this story, there are some enjoyable concepts driving Transformers One, particularly on the growth on Cybertron and the planet’s social construction, the place the groundwork for a revolution amongst working-class robots is constructing. Optimus Prime remains to be the principle character, however right here he’s ‘Orion Pax’: a plucky, upstart hustler, voiced with roguish appeal by Chris Hemsworth. (We’re not but on the Peter Cullen-voiced, gravitas-heavy section of the character.)

Pax works the mines of Cybertron, dreaming of one thing greater for himself, whereas searching for his good friend and fellow miner D-16. It’s no nice secret who D-16 seems to be — particularly on condition that Brian Tyree Henry voices him with a simmering undercurrent of rage — however the brand new origin level is humorous. Whereas the dialogue is typically too cute about its references (“You don’t have the contact, or the ability”), the broader concepts are attention-grabbing.

Whereas the movie’s plot rails in opposition to the glossy-surfaced lie of capitalism (or no less than the alien-robot equal), its personal floor leaves quite a bit to be desired. At a time when many CG-animated movies are boldly experimenting, the odd mixture of pure lighting and life like textures right here feels uncanny as a rule. The shiny realism clashes with the deliberately blocky, toyetic character designs.

A minimum of there’s usually a stable sense of comedian timing, with Cooley — whose final movie was Toy Story 4 — delivering some efficient humour. And even when its aesthetic choices maintain it again from greatness, it is a valiant effort to make one thing new out of Transformers lore: a parable about class warfare, made palatable for youths.