Before they were more than meets the eye

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, September 20th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming up on The World and Everything in it: arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino reviews this weekend’s new animated feature film, titled, Transformers One.

COLLIN GARBARINO: I remember when the Transformer toys came out back in 1984. My mom was like, “Oh, that’s nifty. It’s two toys in one, a robot and a truck.” As an eight-year-old child, I could merely shake my head in disappointment. She just didn’t get it. These plastic figurines weren’t about getting two toys for the price of one. Transformers was about the epic struggle between good and evil… order and chaos.

ORION PAX: It’s time to show ‘em that we are more than meets the eye.

Transformers developed an intricate lore through its toy lines, comic books, TV shows, and movies. Multiple story arcs and reboots take place across time from one end of the galaxy to the other.

Now the franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary with Transformers One, an animated film that turns back the clock to explore the origins of its most iconic characters. It’s the first animated Transformer film to hit theaters since 1986, and it definitely capitalizes on a nostalgic vibe.

ORION PAX: Transform and roll out.

The story revolves around best friends Orion Pax and D-16. They are humble Cybertronian worker robots who mine their planet for energon, the Transformers’ increasingly scarce energy source. Neither of them, nor the thousands of other worker drones, have the ability to transform into cool vehicles. That’s a privilege reserved for the upper classes.

But the impetuous Orion Pax isn’t content to remain the low robot on the totem pole, and he drags his reluctant friend into an adventure that will change the direction of their mechanical world.

D-16: If we survive this, I’m going to kill you.

ORION PAX: I accept those terms.

This adventure culminates with their transformations into the heroic Optimus Prime and the villainous Megatron, locking the Transformers into an eternal civil war between the noble Autobots and the evil Decepticons.

Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic handles the film’s animation. And the style will definitely appeal to Gen X fans of the franchise. The design owes much to the cartoons from the ‘80s, but everything is on a larger scale and coated with a digital metallic sheen. The film also boasts an all-star voice cast. Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry voice Orion Pax and D-16. But we also get Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm, and Laurence Fishburne.

ALPHA TRION: I see strength in you. Take these and access your full potential.

This story adds some nice twists to the Transformers’ mythos, and it’s bound to appeal to both longtime fans and their children. It’s rated PG for sci-fi violence and some mild language, and it contains plenty of action and humor. But the narrative gets a little clumsy in how it handles some of its themes and characters.

Cybertron is a world of haves and have-nots. Orion Pax and D-16 are definitely in this latter group. These little guys want to change the world, and to do that they’ll need to stand up to oppression.

ORION PAX: We need to hurry.

D-16: I still think we have better odds fighting than outrunning them.

ALITA: Wait! We have cogs we can transform now.

It’s hard not to think the film intends to communicate a message about American politics in its critique of tyranny. We see a bad guy relying on misinformation and lies. This bad guy oppresses others. He says the truth is whatever he wants it to be. It seems the filmmakers were casting some stones at a certain former president. On the other hand, the good guys champion freedom and personal autonomy. Everyone should be able to transform into the person they want to be. That sounds very ummm… liberal of them.

There’s a clunkiness in the presentation of these themes, as if the filmmakers didn’t trust the audience to catch a more subtle subtext.

ORION PAX: So… how long do you think we’ll be here?

D-16: I’m not talking to you.

More disappointing for me was that the characters’ transformations toward the end of the movie feel unearned. Throughout the movie, Orion Pax, longs for personal freedom, but he doesn’t exhibit any particular aptitude for leadership nor does he demonstrate the kind of concern for the community that would justify becoming the heroic Optimus Prime. The film never satisfactorily squares its celebration of personal autonomy with the individual’s duty to his fellow citizen. Likewise, D-16’s fall into villainy seems rushed and ill conceived.

ORION PAX: We could have built the future together.

D-16: I don’t think so.

The breaking of their friendship occurs because that’s what has to happen by the end of the movie, but neither their personalities, nor their actions up to that point, give the moment a feeling of authenticity. It’s as if both characters lost the ability to make rational decisions.

But these deficiencies probably won’t bother most Transformer fans. The movie adds a clever wrinkle to the 40-year-old saga that will leave nostalgia-addicted moviegoers asking for more.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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