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‘Transformers One’ Review: Animated Origin Story Reveals There’s More to the Series’ Central Conflict Than Meets the Eye
An animated origin story, Josh Cooley's 'Transformers One' suggests there’s more to the series’ good-versus-evil conflict than meets the eye.
Despite the expert visual effects work done by Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain and others on the first five live-action “Transformers” films, ILM not only exceeds itself here in creating believable animated characters but makes a convincing case that photorealism is not the best aesthetic for bringing them to life on screen. In the midst of all of that philosophical complexity are some absolutely dynamite visuals, including a snakelike track that materializes in a fiendish loop-de-loop in front of the racers as they compete for first place, or the buttes and mountain ranges that spring up like geometric screensavers as Orion, D-16 and their fellow fugitives survey the surface of Cybertron. By enlisting Steve Buscemi as permanently-sniveling Decepticon Starscream, he also makes one of the single best voice casting choices since Orson Welles as Unicron in “The Transformers: The Movie,” though the remainder of the performers, from Hemsworth and Henry on down to Hamm as glad-handing Sentinel Prime, are all perfectly curated for their roles.
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