On the planet Cybertron, there’s this guy named Primus who gave himself up so all Transformers—those shape-shifting robot aliens—could use Energon to grow and develop. Everything was going fine until a war broke out with the Quintessons, who wiped out most of the elite warriors known as the Primes. Sentinel Prime is the only one who makes it through and helps his people hide underground to survive. Since they lost something called the Matrix of Leadership, Energon stopped flowing like it used to. Now, miners—robots that can’t even transform—have to dig up whatever energy is left under the ground. Everyone’s counting on Sentinel to maybe find the Matrix above ground and bring back some hope for Cybertron.

Over the years, there have been tons of movies about Transformers filling our imaginations. Then came a cool spin-off aimed at teens called Bumblebee and kind of a prequel or reboot thing with Transformers – Rise of the Beasts.

Now, with Transformers One, we’re going back to good old animated movies—the way it all started back in the ’80s when Hasbro asked some sci-fi writers to come up with a story that would make kids want their toy robots more. This one’s really aimed at pre-teens so they can get in on watching Optimus Prime and Megatron face off once again in their never-ending battle between good and evil.
Alright, so here’s the scoop on this Transformers movie. It’s basically about the clash between Team America-style democracy (like Optimus Prime, who screams red, white, and blue) and megolomanic tyranny (looking at you, Megatron).

In Josh Cooley’s film—yep, he’s the guy behind Toy Story 4—you get the backstory of how it all began. Before they were enemies, Optimus Prime was Orion Pax, and Megatron was just D-16. They used to be pals working together until war and injustice ripped them apart.

Even if you’re not up on your Transformers lore, it’s pretty straightforward where these two are headed. Orion Pax is gallant yet selfless but often clashes with D-16. Beneath that armor of friendship, there’s heaps of resentment in D-16 that’s just waiting to blow up.

The plot doesn’t throw any surprises your way; it’s predictable enough that you’ll see twists coming from a mile away. And visually? The graphics feel kinda meh when you pit them against Spielberg’s epic CGI power moves from other movies. Love ’em or hate ’em, Michael Bay’s versions were ambitious—they really pushed the boundaries of what technology can do for storytelling in cinema.

These newer Hasbro flicks seem scaled down a bit—gone is Bay’s larger-than-life superhero vibe—but maybe that was bound to happen eventually.

You’ll notice plenty of nods to other franchises, too. There’s a character named Elita—voiced by Scarlett Johansson—who comes off as an unsuccessful Black Widow wannabe. And, of course, we’ve got our usual share of Star Wars parallels with characters that remind you way too much of C3PO and predictable swerves to the Dark Side.

Optimus Prime still has that iconic action-figure magic going for him, but when it comes to movies? They’re struggling to figure out what’s next unless they suddenly decide to switch things up big time.