In a Year of Sequels, This Prequel Movie Deserved My 10/10 Rating

2024 has been one of the most eventful years for theatrical releases. However, the highlight of 2024 was the release of multiple sequels. Sure, there were some rotten apples in the basket but overall, the good overpowered the bad. Even though 2024 was mostly about sequels, the highlight of this year for me was a prequel, you ask which one? The prequel was none other than the one featuring the origin story of one of the most admired leaders in the world, Optimus Prime. If you have not guessed it, I am talking about Transformers One. So, now you may wonder what makes me think so. Let me tell you all about it.

2024 Came up with Some of the Best Sequels

As I said, 2024, brought us some of the best sequels we have seen in a long while. First off, the highlight of this year was a sequel, Deadpool 3. This movie not only was the most anticipated movie of 2024 but also stood strong on what everyone expected it to be. Deadpool 3 became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. It amassed a global revenue of $1.34 billion just from theatrical earnings and also had a strong OTT debut generating a total of 19.4 million viewers.

Talking of highest-grossing movies, 2024 was the year when an animated movie took the cup home. This year, Inside Out 2 not only broke earning records for 2024 but also became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, generating a total global revenue of  $1.699 billion while the total budget of the movie was $200 Million.

These were just the big names but looking at other projects, Gladiator 2, the sequel to the original 2000 movie, had a profitable run with a revenue of $400 Million while Moana 2 had a super successful run and currently has a revenue of $790.2 Million.

Among other sequels released in 2024 are Joker 2 and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which were not received well by the viewers but were highly anticipated.

So, looking at these numbers I think it is pretty justified to say that 2024 was indeed the year for Sequels. Even though the prequel we are talking about, Transformers One, did not achieve any such benchmark, for me, it still tops everything released this year, and let me justify that.

Even Though Not a Sequel, Transformers One Stole the Show

So, as I mentioned above, Transformers One might not have done the best in making money but if you have watched it, you know that this movie might be the best animated flick to come out this year. Now you might wonder, if the movie was this good, why did it not make enough money? Let me answer that. When Transformers One came out with its first trailer, the quality of the animation was not up to par and it felt as if it was made using clips from the movie’s first draft. This threw off a lot of people and for good reason.

However, even though the later trailers were good and well-made, there was little to no effort from Paramount to promote the movie to the extent it should have been promoted. There were minimal promotional events and it felt as if Paramount treated Transformers One as a side project resulting in a significantly lower viewership. So, now that we have talked about the reasons for this movie’s underperformance, let me tell you why it is probably the best Transformers movie to date.

1. Storytelling

First off, Transformers One not only brings us a well-rounded tale of the rise of Optimus Prime and Megatron, but it also gives us a lot of context regarding the relationship they both have shared as Orion Pax and D-16.

This movie also gives us what most Transformers movies failed to do, the true essence of what made Optimus Prime the kind of leader he is. The story Transformers One brings forward is probably the best writing I have seen in a long time. Even though this movie is just a little less than 2 hours, every minute of it seems to have been written with extreme precision.

2. The Voice Acting

While making an animated movie, no matter how detailed and magnificent an animation one creates, what breathes life into it is the quality of the voice acting the movie brings to the table. In the case of Transformers One, not only did they nail acting, but they ate and left no crumbs. When Chris Hemsworth was announced to be the voice of Optimus Prime, I was not sure how to feel but after hearing him it all changed in a split second.

If you listen to Chris speak as Orion Pax, his voice is carefree and eased out but as soon as Primus turns him into Optimus Prime, his voice turns stern but still gentle, and his demeanor changes completely. Trust me when I say it, you have to witness it to know just how well done it is. Not only Chris Hemsworth but the transition from the friendly and soft voice of D-16 into Nightmare Fuel as Megatron by Brian Tyree Henry is *Chef’s Kiss*. This is just the lead but every single character was perfectly done which is not easy to achieve.

3. Respect to the Franchise’s Legacy

Transformers is one of the longest-running franchises and has seen multiple adaptations be it animation or live action. However, one of the most loved and watched adaptations of the franchise was the 1986 Transformers animation series. In Transformers One, the animation style of this series was reimagined and was brought to life with the thought of what if it was made in 2024. This just showcases how much love and thought the creators put into the movie.

Considering all the above-mentioned pointers, it is evident how peak the quality of this movie is and I am pretty sure 2024 has not seen any release with such quality and thought. Sure, there were multiple ultra-successful sequels released this year but this prequel outran all of them by miles when it comes to a well-rounded and precise execution whether it be storytelling, acting, care for the franchise, and of course, Animation. So, if you have not watched Transformers One, you really should and if you have, let me know in the comments if you agree with me or not.

Why Is Transformers One an Important Movie?

Now, if you think Transformers One is just another Transformers movie, you are highly mistaken. This movie serves a much greater purpose and plays an important part in the fate of this franchise. When the first Transformers movie came out in 2007, it took the world by storm and ignited a new love for the franchise among a lot of people worldwide. However, after the first three movies, the quality and presentation started deteriorating with Transformers: The Last Knight being the final blow to the franchise’s armor.

After this movie, the fanbase thought the franchise was dead and had zero to no expectations of anything new. This changed with the announcement of Transformers: Rise of The Beasts but the movie failed to impress a majority of fans and people had complaints about the portrayal of Optimus Prime, the overall story as well as the VFX work done in the movie. Because of the quality of this movie, even the reveal of a Transformers and GI Joe collab by the end of it could not raise much hype.

Transformers One is the messiah of this franchise since the amazing quality and the overall work done on the movie managed to reignite the hype for Transformers and bring the fanbase back to life. Now even though this movie did not make a lot of money, it has paved the way for Transformers to start fresh, and courtesy of Transformers One, the hype for the upcoming Transformers X GI Joe is now alive again. So, let’s hope this franchise becomes what it used to be again.

2024: The Year of Animated Movies

2024 has given us multiple amazing releases along with some not so amazing. However, this year was dominated by Animated movies and shows. This is evident by Inside Out being the highest-grossing movie of 2024 with a total revenue of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars also making it the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. There were multiple live-action releases and some of them were pretty hyped as well.

However, a large majority of the hyped movies like Joker 2, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Venom 3, were unable to impress people as much as they were expected to. Sure, they made good money, but this is the public impression we are talking about. On the other hand, animated movies like The Wild Robot, Moana 2, Sonic 3, and Garfield were widely loved and appreciated, including Transformers One.

So, 2024 was the year of animation with Transformers One being the people’s champion. What do you guys think about this? let us know in the comments and stay tuned with us for further updates!