On the planet Cybertron, Primus sacrificed himself to give all Transformers, these shape-shifting robot aliens, the power of Energon. This was cool until a big fight broke out with the Quintessons, who wiped out almost all of the Prime warriors – except for Sentinel Prime. He’s now leading what’s left of his people underground to survive. Without the Matrix of Leadership around, Energon doesn’t flow as it used to. So, they rely on robots that can’t transform anymore to mine whatever’s left beneath the surface. There’s this glimmer of hope that if Sentinel can find the Matrix again during one of his trips topside, things might get better for everyone on Cybertron.

After loads of Transformer movies took over everybody’s screens and minds, they tried something new with a fun teenage spin-off called Bumblebee. Then came a kind-of prequel/reboot thing with Transformers: Rise.

Transformers One brings us back to animated films just like in the good old ’80s when Hasbro first had sci-fi writers cook up stories to sell action figures to kids. Now they’re aiming at younger audiences again so that new fans can learn all about Optimus Prime and Megatron and get right into their never-ending battle storyline.
The flick takes us back to when it all started. Yup, before they were enemies, Optimus was called Orion Pax and Megatron was D-16. They were pals once, helping each other out until things went south because of war and injustice.

Even if you don’t know much about Transformers, it’s pretty obvious where these two are headed—Orion is cocky but has a big heart, getting into squabbles with D-16. But under that buddy act, D-16’s got some serious grudges brewing.

The story’s pretty straightforward and predictable though, which might make it hard for viewers to really get into it. Plus, the graphics don’t exactly pop either—not like those jaw-dropping CGI effects you’d see in Spielberg productions. Love ’em or hate ’em, Michael Bay’s Transformer movies aimed high with their flashy visuals and mind-blowing special effects that seemed to set new standards for how tech could influence filmmaking.

In this new crop of Hasbro movies though, they’ve dialed back that over-the-top feel a bunch—which some might say loses that grandiose vibe without hitting those big epic heights Bay always went for.
Transformers One kinda feels like an extended episode of some 80s cartoon, just with extra flashy graphics. The whole good versus evil storyline? It’s a bit worn out, and remembering all those complicated names and tiny details gets tiring fast. It doesn’t really leave you with anything meaningful.

You’ll notice nods to stuff like Marvel—especially with Elita sounding a lot like Black Widow, voiced by Scarlett Johansson—or Star Wars, featuring yet another chatty robot similar to C3PO. Plus, you’ve got the usual journey over to the Dark Side. Probably Optimus Prime toy fans will stick around forever, but honestly, it’s getting harder to see where the movies are headed unless they shake things up big time.