Transformers One is the eighth Transformers movie in the Michael Bay era (what an era it’s been), but first to be fully animated. Wisely, Hasbro hired an expert in animation to direct the Optimus Prime and Megatron origin story: Josh Cooley, the Oscar-nominated writer of Inside Out and director of Toy Story 4.
You can watch the trailer above.
Transformers One put together a solid voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita-13, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Will Transformers One be self-aware like fellow toy movie Barbie? Probably not! But at least we have Jon Hamm, in a less sleepy performance than Orson Welles’ Unicron, as Sentinel Prime.
“The Optimus Prime that you hear on the screen in the films is an older, mature… he’s been around for many, many, many, many years. This is the sort of origin story, so it’s the younger version of him,” Hemsworth told Collider about voicing the leader of the Autobots. “So there are sort of hints and colorings that hopefully resonate enough with the Optimus Prime we know, but it is a youthful version of him, and different. But he won’t be Australian.”
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
Transformers One slams into theaters on September 13.