Over time, it has become abundantly clear that if there is a product that could even feasibly become profitable as a film, Hollywood will spare no expense in finding a way to adapt it. Not only has the industry shown interest in taking works from every conceivable medium such as literature, theatre, music and television, but they’ve even crossed over into more unorthodox territory – and nothing is more peculiar than their efforts to make films based around popular toys, which has been a frequent occurrence for decades. One of the first examples of this comes in the form of Transformers, the extremely popular toy series based around sentient robotic beings with the ability to transform into more recognizable structures as they fight to defend the universe. It’s gloriously bizarre storytelling but has proven to be massively successful for nearly half a century. Yet, despite the extreme popularity of the toy series, we’ve never quite been given the definitive film version – the 1985 animated film has its defenders, and Michael Bay has been praised for kickstarting a franchise of films that have been mildly successful financially (but critically reviled for the most part), which everyone ultimately assumed would be the final word on the concept as far as film adaptations go. Yet, we’ve learned that the industry can never truly be counted out when it comes to innovation since Josh Cooley (who is mostly known for being the person behind reviving the Toy Story franchise, itself a contentious subject) has emerged as the most recent person to take a chance at bringing these characters to life on screen, which comes in the form of Transformers One, an animated film that serves as a prequel to previous adaptations. Not immediately clear in what it was attempting to achieve, but still valiant in effort and solid in execution, the film is a breath of fresh air in a cinematic landscape that felt like Bay’s excessive and somewhat thinly-crafted vision would be viewed as the most notable effort to tell this story.

The main allure of Transformers One is that it is formed as an origin story for the iconic characters that have come to be associated with the franchise. One of the primary flaws of the live-action films was the lack of focus on the elements that were most appealing to audiences over the years, with the priority being on the human protagonists, with the Autobots themselves being somewhat secondary, merely plot devices that offer a solid spectacle but don’t do much narratively. None of this is present in this film, since it is entirely vacant of human characters, and the focus is instead shifted to the Transformers themselves, with Optimus Prime (the de facto mascot of the franchise) being the central protagonist. The film tracks his journey, as well as a few other notable characters, as they come to form the group we now recognize as the Transformers. What is most impactful about Transformers One is that for devotees, this has a lot of meaning and proves to be very exciting – but for those who have only a passing interest in the subject, or perhaps no prior knowledge, we are never at a disadvantage as we may have been in the previous films, which seemed to require a working knowledge of the mythology of the franchise, which is far too large to expect anyone without that information embedded in their memory to learn. This is particularly important for younger viewers since it’s very likely that this film will serve to be their first proper encounter with the Transformers, and will likely spur generations of fans who will be wholeheartedly committed to these stories. Cooley is a strong storyteller, and his efforts to bring this film to life in a way that feels earnest and compelling, without depending too much on the pre-existing elements of the franchise, does give the film a considerable boost and allows it to be much more entertaining, as well as having more significant nuance as far as developing a relationship with a wider audience.

Transformers One may be a vast improvement on other recent voyages into this universe, but it is still quite clear that the material is still very weak, and that the distance between a toy series and a fully-formed film was much greater than a lot of other successful entries into the genre. Cooley had the challenge of not only making an entertaining film, but also interesting enough to hold our attention since the general belief is that audiences are attracted to these films for the spectacle rather than the narrative, which may have been true in the past, but has not necessarily been maintained as time has progressed. For all of its efforts to create a richer, more evocative narrative, the film does still have a few shortcomings – it does tend to feel quite overlong, and it becomes quite clear that the worldbuilding established over the years is not particularly strong, despite the viewer constantly being told that there is some depth to this story when in reality its quite shallow and surface-level in structure and detail. Mercifully, one element that is truly impressive without any caveat is the design of the film – Cooley has been working in animation for long enough to have developed quite a strong sensibility, and while it could not be further aesthetically from his previous work, some elements prove he is a very exciting voice in the industry. Arguably, he is at the mercy of Hasbro and its aims to keep everything quite analogous with their corporate vision, but he overcomes these minor obstacles by simply infusing this film with a sense of genuine wonder, which mostly emerges in the visual component. The film is beautifully animated, far surpassing the grimy and sometimes tacky look of the live-action films, which were far more driven by style than substance, and choosing to make this animated proved to open up the possibility for even more rich imagery. The character designs themselves are very strong, as are the landscapes in which they exist. Some may feel like an animated film does not do the material justice, but the sheer effort that went into every detail proves otherwise.

Visually, Transformers One is very well-crafted and makes for enthralling viewing, but it was obvious that Cooley had broader ambitions and was interested in making a film that carries some degree of weight in terms of its emotions. The only way to truly accomplish this is through proper characterization, which is done through casting the right actors to voice these roles. The original films made use of journeyman voice actors, mostly consisting of actors that had voiced the roles for years, and while that was a solid approach for films where they aren’t the focus, there was a need to do something slightly different here, which entailed a more star-studded cast, albeit one that isn’t defined by the names of the actors, but rather the extent to which they can commit to the emotions embedded within the story. The two central roles are occupied by Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, who serve as the focal points of the film, playing two close friends who deviate after some time and eventually find themselves on opposite ends of the aisle when it comes to the central crisis of the story. Scarlett Johansson is the voice of reason that exists between them, and Keegan-Michael Key is the comedic relief, the quartet being quite good at realizing the underlying themes that keep this story afloat. They’re joined by a solid supporting cast, including Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm, who have much smaller roles but still leave an impression. The rest of the cast is padded out with some journeyman voice actors, proving that Cooley wasn’t entirely against giving them a chance to participate in the film in a major capacity (and it is obvious that any voice actor could do exactly what the leads of the film did), but it at least allows these characters to be given a fresh perspective through the wonderful work being done by the new actors brought on to voice these roles.

By this point, it is clear that this particular concept does not lend itself very easily to film, and we may never have a clear masterpiece based around this franchise (although its very rare to find anything like this happening in toy-to-film adaptations, which simply do not have as much artistic bandwidth to make for truly great cinema), but Transformers One is by far the closest we are likely going to get to a truly great film based on the material, which is certainly not anything to begrudge. The most significant merit of this film is its accessibility – it honours the original works that have attained enormous groups of supporters, while still being strong enough to serve as an entry point for those with very little to no prior experience with the concept, being a good introduction to the themes. It also helps that it is tonally quite distinct, mostly blending humour and seriousness in very effective, meaningful ways, and ultimately proves to have more dimensions than most prior ventures into adapting these ideas into a film. Whether or not this will spur its franchise or stand as a singular work isn’t important, since it is clear that Transformers One is very effective all on its own, with the simple narrative approach combined with stunning visual aesthetic being more than sufficient to keep us engaged and interested, leading to a well-crafted, charming film that is wickedly entertaining and genuinely very moving at certain parts, something that felt nearly impossible for a film adaptation of a toy franchise, proving anything is possible.