Surprise Saturday: Rolling Out with "Transformers One"

What if you found out that two of the most iconic enemies in the Transformers universe started out as best friends? This special Saturday edition of Natey & Katy: At the Movies offers a thrilling solo review of "Transformers One," an animated film that dives into the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron. With an impressive voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, and Keegan-Michael Key, this episode promises to unpack the layers of this action-packed film set in the world of Cybertron. I discuss the complexities and nuances of the movie, from its stellar animation to its dynamic voice performances, particularly Hemsworth's evolving portrayal of Optimus Prime.

But not all is perfect in the world of Cybertron. The episode also tackles some glaring inconsistencies in the film's marketing, especially the confusion about its target audience. From kid-friendly trailers to unexpectedly mature content, I explore how these discrepancies left me puzzled and slightly disappointed. Nonetheless, I share why despite these shortcomings, "Transformers One" remains a fun and engaging watch, especially on the big screen. Tune in to find out if this animated adventure lives up to the legacy of its legendary characters and whether it's worth your trip to the theater.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Hey everybody, welcome to another surprise Saturday episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan, aka Nadya. Nady, of course, and today is a big surprise because I'm not doing a double feature I'm only going to be reviewing one movie, so this episode might be short, sweet and to the point. So let's hear a clip from the movie that I'm reviewing today.

Speaker 2: 0:42

Now, are you spies or just incompetent lackeys? We're not spies, but he is incompetent Scanning electrical impulses. He speaks the truth. That just means he believes himself like any spy would. Why is he gagged? He wouldn't stop talking Even when he was unconscious, especially when he was unconscious Enough.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Two options for you. One, we slowly dismantle each of you one bolt and screw at a time and really make sure you feel it. Or two, in exchange for a quick death, you give us intel on the Energon trains, access to the mines. Who exactly are you guys? The Cybertronian High Guard? I told you it wasn't tight enough.

Speaker 1: 1:39

I'm talking about Transformers 1, the newest Transformers movie, but this time it goes animated. But before I can talk about my likes and dislikes about this movie, I have to go over the synopsis, the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends, bonded bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. Transformers 1 stars Chris Hemsworth, brian Tyree, henry, scarlett Johansson and Keegan-Michael Key. So I saw the trailer for this and one of my biggest gripes about this movie from the onset Is that when I would go see a kid friendly movie, I would see one version of the trail, and then, when I would go see a slightly less kid friendly movie but they still decided to show this trailer, it would be more of a not kid-friendly trailer. I don't like when studios do that. I don't like when they try to sell it to kids, but there's content in it that's not for kids, and when I say that about this movie, in it that's not for kids, and when I say that about this movie, the language is what irritated me about this movie. There isn't a ton of bad language, but there are a few words here and there, and there's one in particular that's like played for laughs. I don't like it. It makes me wonder who are they gearing this movie to? Were they gearing it towards kids, because it's a cartoon? Were they gearing it towards teenagers or were they gearing it towards adults? I was confused. That being said, this is still a pretty entertaining movie. I had a fun time watching it. Don't get me wrong about the, the content and things like that. This was still a fun movie.

Speaker 1: 3:50

I was also hesitant, like I'm sure a lot of transformers fans were, when I heard that Chris Hemsworth was doing the voice of optimist prime. There's only been one voice of optimist prime ever, for like ever, and for someone to fill that place was kind of you know, something that people were hesitant about. But I thought he did a fine job and I like how, as the movie progressed, he sounded more and more like the original Optimus prime and how they used, obviously, voice modulation to do that. I thought that was really cool. There was a moment that I thought the original Optimus Prime voice was in this, but I don't think it was. I think that might have been like Lawrence Fishburne or something. But other than that, like I said, I thought this was a really fun, fun movie, kind of cool movie to see in the theaters on the big screen. I think I went to go see this in a Dolby theater so there was like surround sound and all that kind of fun stuff.

Speaker 1: 5:03

But you know, it's kind of like a a balance kind of thing. Do I do I trash it a lot because it's very misleading and very false advertising. Or do I say I can look past that because I'm an adult? I can look past that and appreciate the film for what it is, which is a fun time. But I still can't get past the fact that studios do this. You know it's happened with the movie. If that wasn't really sold as like with the content that was in the movie and again, that movie was all language basically too, but it was being sold as this kid-friendly, cartoony kind of movie and then you go see it and it's not that at all. So I just don't like that studios in general do that. But I am going to try to not let that affect what I thought of transformers one. Obviously they're leaving it open for another one, especially since this is supposed to be an origin story how Optimus Prime became Optimus Prime.

Speaker 1: 6:17

I thought it was pretty epic. I thought the fight scenes were cool and it actually gave us what we always wanted in a Transformers movie no humans. That's always been a big thing for me With Transformers movies King Kong movies, godzilla movies, all those different Big monster robot movies I don't need humans in it and if I have humans, make it very minimal. But this movie did Exactly what I've always wanted no humans at all. The focus was on Transformers and the different characters in there.

Speaker 1: 6:56

I do think it's cool that this had a pretty star-studded cast too. It had Steve Buscemi, like I said before, lawrence Fishburne, john Hamm, john Hamm just a bunch of really well-known. James Ramar, who played Dexter's father in the serial killer show Dexter, you know, you just had an all-star cast in this and their voices were fit really well with the characters. I think it was kind of funny. Steve Buscemi plays Starscream, which if you watch the original Transformers, his voice is very high pitched and they did that in a really creative way. And, yeah, I just enjoyed it. I really did. It was just a fun movie.

Speaker 1: 7:44

I just don't like the way studios advertise these films. If it's not a 100% kids movie, don't sell it as a kids movie. That's just my opinion, that's my soapbox. That's my rant for this episode. So that is my review of Transformers 1. I would give this movie probably a 4.5 out of 6. I thought it was a really fun time, but I am going to hold it against the fact that the studios just don't know how to advertise movies and they try to advertise it to the wrong audience. I just don't like that. I don't like it. So you can listen to Katie and I's first episode of October with a special guest talking about Full Metal Jacket on Nadie and Katie at the movies.

Speaker 2: 8:44

Thanks, for watching.