I didn’t know anything about this movie before watching it, except that it looked colorful; my husband watched a trailer, and I got a glimpse of it. In particular, I didn’t know this was an origin story about Optimus Prime and Megatron. It took me waaaay too long to figure that out! However, I’m proud that on my own I identified the voice of Laurence Fishburne (who played Morpheus in The Matrix).
Characters
Orion Pax (a younger Optimus Prime) is curious, brave, and loyal, but I wouldn’t choose him for a friend. He has about 500% too much spontaneity for my taste. D-16 (a younger Megatron), his best friend, is sadly lacking in resilience, it turns out. Elita-1 is ambitious and hardworking, and somehow gets tangled up in Orion Pax’s drama in spite of her strong preference for doing things by the book. B-127 (a younger Bumblebee, or as he calls himself, “Badassatron”) is awkward, energetic, and irrepressibly talkative.
Setting
The story takes place on Cybertron, a whole planet of transformers. Orion Pax, D-16, and Elita-1 work in the energon mines. B-127 works sorting trash, also deep below the city. The dynamic, metallic surface of the planet is home to some robot-like animals, some ruins, some actual green plants, and a colony of outcasts. And it’s visited by aliens from another world… Why?
Premise
Cybertron was defeated in an interplanetary war, and its guardians, the primes, were all destroyed, except Sentinel Prime, who periodically leaves the city to search for the Matrix of Leadership, an important object of power that was lost in the war. Orion Pax is looking for it too, because he dreams of being a hero; he feels his potential is being wasted.
Theme
There’s a very explicit theme: a rejection of “Might makes right.” Subsidiary messages have sensible things to say about the importance of friendship, truth, and self-actualization.
Style
It’s a PG-rated animated science-fiction action/comedy with a slick, bright neon color palette that manages to suggest the 1980s.
Overall?
I hope we get more of these! I was so disappointed with the Michael Bay series (I think I only watched the first two), for their trashy tone, meh choice of lead actor, and loud chaotic action. Therefore, it pleases me that someone has, uh, transformed the source material in a manner appreciably more watchable.
