In the city of Iacon, Orion Pax and D-16, two Energon miners, stumble upon a clue about the disappearance of the Matrix of Leadership. Their search for this artifact takes them to the surface of their home planet, Cybertron, with B-127 and Elita-1. Unbeknownst to them, this journey will lead to them becoming Optimus Prime and Megatron, and eventually forming the Autobot and Decepticon factions.
Despite playing with the toys as a child, my interest in the *Transformers* saga has always been limited to the Michael Bay films, which are the real draw of the franchise. While the lore is seen as deeply important to fans—almost like Tolkien’s—it never truly captivated me. So, this animated prequel, Paramount and Hasbro’s new attempt to keep the series alive, didn’t initially appeal to me, but the unanimously positive reviews and my son's excitement made me give it a shot.
The story revolves around yet another predictable McGuffin quest, though it’s paced well with plenty of adventures that manage to fit into 1h44 without feeling overstuffed. It’s well-constructed. The film’s main strength, aside from its humor—which is genuinely funny and not overdone (even though I initially felt it undermined the solemn characters)—is its character development. The duo of future foes, Optimus and Megatron (before they take those names), is reminiscent of *X-Men: First Class*, though without that film’s gravitas or political undertones (despite hints at eco-friendly themes and some light reflections on identity). Megatron’s character arc is surprisingly well-executed.
The movie becomes more engaging in the final third, and the climax finally loosens up the action a bit. Still, it never matches the spectacle of Bay’s films, even though animation should have provided more freedom for dynamic scenes. Although Josh Cooley comes from Pixar, he’s no Brad Bird. Visually, I wasn’t very drawn to it. ILM does a solid job, but the choice to lean more into an animated style than photorealism left it feeling a bit flat, and the character designs, which are more like the cartoons, looked unattractive to me.
In the end, it’s enjoyable and clearly aimed at a younger audience but isn’t embarrassing. However, I don’t think it quite justifies the glowing praise it’s received.
