Why So Blu?

Transformers One (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

When I was a kiddo, I was one of those kids that watched Transformers a lot. In between my watching Muppet Babies, Heathcliff and Inspector Gadget, I made sure to catch up on the gang of autobots on their many adventures. Funny enough, I even had a baby blue Transformers lunchbox.  I never had any of the toys, and I don’t remember much if any of the lore now, which is just a natural part of growing older.  When I heard news and saw the trailer for Transformers One, I knew somehow I’d be able to reconnect with the characters better than I was able to for the other Transformers films. More on that later. Transformers Oneis unique based on it’s being an animated film.  We haven’t seen that since the 80’s for this franchise.  So how does the property translate into family-friendly animation you ask? Find out inside the review.  While you read, try to remember – Which Transformer was your favorite?

Film:

TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON.  Better known as sworn enemies, they were once friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of CYBERTRON forever. The first-ever fully CG-animated TRANSFORMERS movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

Transformers One centers on the transformation of Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry) from close allies into sworn enemies. This emotionally charged arc is the movie’s strongest asset. While Orion represents idealism and charisma, D-16’s fall into resentment and radicalization makes him a tragically relatable villain.

As the film opens, Orion and D-16 are best friends, dreaming of life beyond the mines and heads full of curious ideas.  The pair have large feelings for each other, and it shows as they help each other through sticky situations.  Orion wants to know about the Primes and sneaks into archives to watch footage of them. In the Energon mines, an accident happens, and even though Pax and D-16 save their friend Jazz, the boss, Darkwing places blame on Elita, who is their superior.

Sentinel Prime then returns to Cybertron after searching on the surface for The Matrix of Leadership, which has stopped flowing, making Energon hard to mine for.  He holds a race to entice and encourage the community.  D-16 and Pax participate, using their wits to get them to the finish line.  They almost win but are stopped at the finish line by more powerful autobots.

Alpha Trion, one of the Primes, sends a message of distress signal home that is discovered by Pax and his new friend B-127 (Bumblebee, or BadassBee).  Pax, B, Elita and D-16 band together to rescue Trion, but are stopped when a tragedy happens.  At that moment, D-16 breaks from his friends and turns to the darker side of Cybertron.

Transformers One does an excellent job of covering the themes of leadership, betrayal and ideology.  The film keeps things simple to a point, creating a starting point and working its themes into a palatable narrative.  There are true emotional arcs for Pax and D-16 as they start so close and end so far apart.  For those who have been waiting, seeing Optimus Prime and Megatron in their relative infancy is a treat too.  We have been waiting since 1986 (my birth year!), and this film does prove it was worth the wait.

ILM has contributed to the animation of the film and their hard work shows in every frame.  Animation is flawless, beautiful and colorful.  The storytelling is still mature enough to get to the adults in the audience and for kids 8 and up, I think it provides a strong narrative for friendships ending, and times changing. The Transformers in the film change and evolve in both good ways and bad, however this is something that happens in life, therefore the fantasy of the characters is now given some humanity.

It helps that Transformers One also features a stacked voice cast.  It’s a joy to hear Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johannsson playing as some of our favorite autobots, and the rest of the voice cast gives the film plenty of depth as well.  As far as I am concerned, this is one of the best Transformersfilms we’ve been given, and even better because it’s a film families can see together.

Video

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-100

HDR: Dolby Vision

Clarity/Detail: Transformers One was directed by Josh Cooley, whose work on Toy Story 4 helped bring digital animation into a new frontier.  This sound work plays into the visuals of this film.  Using motion capture to help in the animation space has given a gorgeous texture to the images.  Looking at the film it’s as if you’re watching a very clean live-action film.  There is so much going on in the image and this 4K UHD Blu-ray falls into the flawless category.

Depth: Nearly 3D images pop off the screen.  Without being photo-real, the film works within the confines of animation to really flesh out the characters and the world of Cybertron.  It’s a thing of beauty to see the film so lovingly animated for a new generation of autobot fans.

Black Levels: Black levels are fantastically recreated overall with no crush.

Color Reproduction: Colors are beautiful in the film, with no end to the color spectrum for the whole 101 minutes the film goes on.

Flesh Tones: N/A

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:  English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics: Transformers One goes the extra mile in Dolby Atmos.  The audio for the film is fully immersive, full of surround activity and insanely deep bass.  This is a great sounding mix that you can vibrate some walls and floors with.

Height: Height channels bring the autobots and Cybertron to life.  Flying and driving overhead, you hear everything coming down at you and swirling around the room!

Low-Frequency Extension: Deep bass appears during chases, battles, races, and mine collapses, just to name a few.  The song that plays over the credits gives me the deepest bass I may have heard since Dune: Part II came to 4K earlier this year.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds keep the action going with more sound effects and music activity.  These channels do not stop during the movie and keep you right inside the action.

Dialogue Reproduction: Lines are delivered flawlessly.

Extras:

Extras for Transformers One are complimentary and add some depth to the overall package on this 4K disc.  This release comes in a standard slipcover edition and a beautiful retro Steelbook edition.  Either choice has the same reference grade disc inside along with a Blu-ray and digital code.  I will give higher marks for the Steelbook because its equal parts new and beautiful and nostalgic all at once.  I love how it looks.

Bonus content is detailed below:

• In The Beginning — Witness the origin story of OPTIMUS PRIME (ORION PAX) and MEGATRON (D-16) and the evolution of their relationship from brothers-in-arms to sworn enemies. Filmmakers discuss the vision for the film and how it was brought to life.

 

• World Building On CYBERTRON — Hear from director Josh Cooley, the production design team, and the visual effects team about rendering the colorful world of CYBERTRON in a way that fans have never seen before.

 

• Together As One — Meet the A-list voice cast for each of the TRANSFORMERS: Chris Hemsworth (ORION PAX/OPTIMUS PRIME), Brian Tyree Henry (D-16/MEGATRON), Scarlett Johansson (ELITA-1), and more!

 

• The Iacon 5000 — Behold the most epic TRANSFORMERS race ever as competitors vie for the ultimate prize!  Go behind the scenes with the filmmakers as they break down this breathtaking action sequence.

 

• The Battle For CYBERTRON — Cast and filmmakers take you through the film’s epic climax as OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON battle for CYBERTRON’s future.

Summary:

It’s a bit of a shame that Transformers One didn’t make a lot of waves in theaters.  The film has a lot of heart, its animation is stunning and immersive and the simple story the film tells is something anyone can understand.  Nostalgic folks like me will love this, while I see Dads showing this to their children with the same starry-eyed point of view they may have had as kids themselves. The voice cast is outstanding and learning all about the early years of Optimus Prime and Megatron is a blast thanks to them and the sound direction of Josh Cooley.  Flop or not, Transformers One is a must-see for fans of the franchise and newcomers alike!

Buy your copy of Transformers One HERE

Get the Transformers One Steelbook HERE