The human characters have always been a disappointment in live-action movies. It got to the point that I would prefer a Transformer movie with just Transformers. We finally get it in the form of this animated prequel movie. Is this finally a worthy Transformers movie or another dud from Paramount?
One of the greatest things that this has over the other Transformer movies, is having characters with actual depth and personality. Additionally, it is a story that is actually interesting to watch. Before they were called Optimus Prime and Megatron, they were Orion Pax and D-16. Seeing them have this very brother-like friendship was incredibly wholesome. Chris Hemsworth gives a great voice performance as Orion. He provides a fun, comedic performance initially which is fine being a young Prime and all. However, when serious moments occur, Chris gives a performance that feels respectful to that of Peter Cullen (the original Optimus voice actor). Likewise, Brian Tyree Henry gives a terrific performance as the young Megatron D-16. He has incredible and believable chemistry with Chris that really sells the friendship between their characters. He also completely nails the dark moments when D-16 fully becomes Megatron. In terms of supporting characters, Elita-1 voiced by Scarlett Johansson is a big highlight with how her characters grows throughout the film.
It is an enjoyable prequel story with actual heart in it, even it if is a little predictable. We know that the friendship between Orion and D-16 will break but even despite that, the movie executes it really well and it is still incredibly heartbreaking to see. The movie knows exactly when to be serious and it doesn’t undercut the moment with a dumb joke. It does have a fair amount of action scenes and they are all entertaining and actually visible enough to know what is going on, unlike the Bay movies. The 3rd act is very entertaining while being an immensely satisfying conclusion to the story. It has great animation and a wonderful music score by Brian Tyler.
However, some of the jokes can feel a bit overused or comedic scenes go on for a bit too long. Most of these are around Bumblebee, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, who is mostly there for comic relief. Out of all the characters, Bumblebee is definitely the one that feels very lacking and I wish he got more to do than just be a comic relief character. It being a prequel, we know D-16 will become Megatron but his turn can feel a bit too sudden and quick. It definitely felt like his character needed more scenes to really justify his turn and how he would come into conflict with Orion who was practically a brother to him.
Overall, this is the best Transformer movie to come out under Paramount. It is such a shame that they marketed this movie so poorly. It isn’t just some dumb comedy movie for kids. It was a genuinely heartfelt tale with meaningful themes. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t do well at the box office and it is sad to see that it likely won’t get a sequel. I do hope that this is at least the start of better Transformer movies from now on.
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