When 2024's Transformers One hit theaters and was met with widespread acclaim, it showed that this franchise is at its best in an animated format. The '80s sci-fi TV show that popularized Transformers was a cartoon and the series has continued successfully through other similar projects and comic books. However, most modern fans likely know the characters and world from the live-action movies. 4p6v1r

Transformers Oneis an amazing addition to the Transformers franchise, but it's tantalizingly close to being even better with one key change to the soundtrack. Taking place in Cybertron long before the Transformers ever landed on Earth, Transformers One is easily the best Transformers movie made, at least since the original 1986 film Transformers: The Movie. However, that movie included a key element that Transformers One is bitterly missing, that being the original song made specially for the OST, Stan Bush's The Touch.

The two best Transformersmovies of the century have unfortunately not been the most financially successful. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, several critically acclaimed Transformers animated series were made. In 1986, a Transformers animated movie was even released. However, The Transformers: The Movie was unfortunately a box office disappointment, suggesting that the franchise was best suited for television. While this was the belief for many years, everything changed for the franchise in 2007 when the first live-action Transformers movie was released.

Chris Hemsworth's path to superstardom has been paved by franchise films. One of his first roles was playing George Kirk in the 2009 film Star Trek. The ing role was high profile and paved the way for other opportunities. Two years after he played that role, he made his Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut playing the titular god in Thor. Hemsworth would reprise his thunderous role in many MCU films, getting both solo and group features in the Avengers movies.

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Transformers One.

Brian Tyree Henry is hopeful about Transformers One's chances of a sequel, and is eager to explore the further foundational events in the coming war for Cybertron. The 2024 animated feature is a prequel to the Transformers movie franchise, exploring how miners Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Henry) rose to become the legendary leaders Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively. Alongside Hemsworth and Henry, Transformers One's castalso includes Scarlett Johansson, Keegan Michael-Key, Jon Hamm, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Buscemi as many of the key characters who would reshape Cybertron.

Transformers One opened up a whole new world of opportunity for possible animated Transformers movies, showing just how valuable the medium could be for the somewhat stagnated science fiction franchise in recent years. Transformers One finally tells the long-requested story of D-16 and Orion Pax's humble origins on Cybertron as close friends and Energon miners before falling out, taking opposite sides on an ideological divide as Megatron and Optimus Prime. This new side to the Transformers mythos opens up the door for new possibilities in the franchise's films.

The Transformers have been around as a live-action franchise since 2007, but when looking at the best movies in the series, there is a huge discrepancy when it comes to their success critically and commercially. For many years, it seemed the Transformers movies were critic-proof, meaning that reviews could remain overall negative, but the movie could still make a massive box office, with Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction each breaking the $1 billion mark (via Box Office Mojo). However, the popularity of the Transformers franchise doesn't mean the films are all good.

Transformers One is the best Transformers movie in years, and potentially the best film in the entire franchise, but the next movie in the series will likely be much different. Transformers One was the first animated theatrical Transformers movie since 1986's The Transformers: The Movie. Considering how successful the animated Transformers shows have been, it is shocking that there haven't been more animated films. While the film was not a huge hit at the box office, it has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 89% and an amazing audience score of 98%.

Chris Hemsworth was great as a young Optimus Prime in Transformers One, and now he might make the jump to live-action and appear in the Transformers 8. However, it doesn't seem like Hemsworth will be voicing Optimus Prime in Transformers 8, as some might have initially assumed. Since the next film in the series will be a crossover between Transformers and G.I. Joe, it is much more likely that Hemsworth will be a different character entirely, perhaps from G.I. Joe.