It’s been a while since I talked about an animated film. The last time was three years ago during the summer. Looking back on it, I think it would’ve been better had I focused on one kind of animation instead of doing a quasi-exploration of the style. With the animation films of this year, it’s basically been dominated by Inside Out 2 and Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot. I was thinking about doing Pharrell Williams’ documentary Piece by Piece, but maybe at another time. That unorthodox LEGO documentary and Transformers One were some of the bombs that the animated scene had witnessed and I think it’s indicative of the potential downturn of the Hasbro brand.
1. Memories
Me and Transformers go way back. I didn’t grow up with the original 80s series, my very first exposure to them was with Transformers: Armada when it aired on Cartoon Network. Just the simple idea of a robot morphing into a car is cool, more so that any one of them can transform into a tank and what not. It ostensibly skewed towards the boy angle since the whole series has that playground fight feeling to it. Nothing seemingly complex but one side going against another in a continuous bout.
That fandom spiked with the release of the Michael Bay films that came out during the early 2000s and 2010s. Albeit, none of them are any good and one can say that the first one is the only tolerable entry prior to the future release. Maybe in the future I’ll talk about that live-action franchise since it did influence me with the special effects and, well that’s basically it. For the meantime, this is practically considered the best animated film of the Transformers.
Just before I talk about it, there already was a Transformers animated film that came out in 1986. Released during the peak popularity of the toy line and show, some regard it as the best Transformers film all around. I haven’t had the chance to see it, but I probably will include it in my hypothetical retrospective of the film series. One thing I will bring up is the fact that as an animated film, it didn’t hold back on the wanton violence that it had. Some consider it as an hourlong commercial, but it showed that the series can be mature albeit without going into a ridiculous degree of stupidity.
2. More Than Meets the Eye
I remember seeing the title of the movie as a soulless animated cash grab that Paramount Pictures was going to put out. This was when they had many films planned out back when Michael Bay was the director and I couldn’t believe that they were going to release an animated film. I think it was the hesitation of just questioning it and my reluctance to even watching it if I had nothing to do with my day. Inevitably, I saw that this entry was gaining great reviews and I fortunately watched it in the comfort of my home.
Since it does have One in its title, the film is basically a part one in a sense of the story between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Specifically, showcasing the brief friendship and rivalry between Optimus Prime and Megatron. Or as they’re referred to as Orion Pax and D-16, but just to make things easier I’ll refer to them as how we know them.
So yeah, story wise the film is mostly straightforward as we follow Optimus and Megatron as miners, they’re harvesting Energon since it’s the source of power for the autonomous robotic organisms. It’s established that an object known as the Matrix of Leadership helps the power source flow through the planet, but it’s been deemed missing which causes the miners to extract it. Bonus points is awarded since it’s both Optimus and Megatron that kick off the odyssey as they uncover a conspiracy.
I think what I like about the film is that it sets itself apart from the other entries since it does a lot of world building of how the fight started. Since the scope is big, it manages to make it personal between both Optimus and Megatron since they are the faces of the opposing belligerents. While it’s a shame that Peter Cullen didn’t make a brief cameo in the film, Chris Hemsworth tried his best to be Prime. He did good for the most part, since it’s tough to not be the token good guy but give him enough pathos were you understand who he is.
Even the supporting cast is great as it’s refreshing to finally hear Bumblebee have a voice that was muted for most of his appearances in live action. As well as Alita being the voice of reason when balancing both the main characters and Bumbleebee’s naivety. It works in a sense where it helps the comedy be good and lay down when the dramatic stuff is about to happen.
The same can be said about Megatron. Out of everyone, he’s the most interesting since we see just how he became the leader of the Decepticons. His whole arc is something to where we see that he has this adulation of a fallen leader and basically wears the deceased face as a symbol. When he inevitably learned how the leader died, it sends him over the edge where now he is full on aggressive with what he wants to do.
With how the whole origin angle that the movie has going for it, we see the tiny details of how the characters morph into how we know them. I think it adds into a layer of seeing where the icons of the two factions come from and seeing just what exactly they are fighting for. Like, it adds more and it makes it interesting where the whole thing is predicated on the current leader Sentinel Prime dealing with a supposed enemy.
I’ll go far as to say that the lines are blurred since we see that both the characters are faced with a predicament of how to deal with the revelation. Optimus wants to expose Sentinel’s crimes while Megatron wants to outright kill him. It’s deep as far as an animated film goes since it adds a layer of moral confusion since there really is no “right” way of doing what they just learned. And all of it leads into I think the best part, when it’s all lined up to the future.
Lastly, I’ll say that the animation is pretty good from Industrial Light and Magic. Everyone who knows that company knows that they mostly deal with special effects in most of the action and sci-fi films. This isn’t their first animated film, Paramount’s and Nickelodeon’s Rango was the company’s first foray into animation and it became an Award winner surprisingly. Most of the designs are inspired by the Transformers Generation 1 look and the action is good, especially in the moments that don’t involve transforming.
3. The Degradation of the Brand
I established that I watched the film in the comfort of my home, and I have those feelings where I feel bad that I didn’t give the film its due when it came out in theaters. The film bombed as it didn’t have enough of the financial legs to be considered a hit, even in the overseas market it didn’t fare much better. There are multiple angles to consider when any film bombs in the box office, sometimes the product is bad just by the look of it.
In some instances, the marketing didn’t do any favors for the film. While yes, it did market for kids but the way it went about it made seem like it was a buddy adventure film rather than an origin story of two friends becoming enemies. More so that the release just came out from another Transformers film that was a disappointing follow up to 2018’s Bumblebee. It was way too soon to have an animated film after a live-action one, muddying up a franchise that was in a middle of a reboot.
I honestly doubt that there may be a sequel where we see the fight in the planet Cybertron. It only makes sense that it focuses on the war, but the problem with the animated approach is the potential broadening of an audience problem that it may have. Would it be geared for children, teen oryoung adult audience where they’d even care with what’s happening? It remains to be determined what the potential sequel Paramount may do, since Hasbro isn’t financing any future films after this one’s box office bust.
4. Overall
Transformers One is an underrated animated film that does the series justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.