The Transformers franchise has been one that has gotten a lot of flack over the years. This franchise started strong in fans’ and critics’ eyes. Up until Bumblebee in 2018, it hasn’t been very good as far as critics have been concerned, but the films kept making money so Paramount kept making movies with Michael Bay who fans equally didn’t like. Things changed with Bumblebee and now we have another installment in this long-running franchise called Transformers:Rise of the Beasts.

Like all of the previous Transformers films, they feature human characters that help drive the plot forward. In this movie, there are two main humans both from New York City. One of them is Noah (Anthony Ramos, In the Heights), a struggling young Latino who helps look after his younger brother while his mother goes to work. He looks for work himself but his background has caught up to him. When he resorts to crime he inadvertently gets more than he bargained for when he steals a Porsche that has a mind of its own, named Mirage, (voiced by Pete Davidson). The other main character is Alena (Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah) who works at a museum. She finds a secret item hidden in a statue that is the key to the entire story featured in the film. A McGuffin if you willan item or device that keeps the plot of a movie moving forward. These two characters’ lives interconnect at the hands of the Autobots led by Optimus Prime.

This Transformers movie has a lot of moving parts though. There are several groups of robots in disguise to follow along with and they have famous actors voicing them. As the title suggests this is the Rise of the Beasts and the Beasts have Ron Perlman, and Michelle Yeoh, among their voice cast. While a couple of the bad guys are voiced by Peter Dinklage and Colman Domingo among many others. One of the fun things about this movie is trying to figure out who is voicing the characters and this voice cast for the film is stacked. They all complement the story nicely.

When you have a Transformers movie you know there is going to be a lot of CGI and this one has quite a lot of it because there are so many Transformers in it. The visual effects were pretty amazing. Along with the visual effects was the cinematography. Where this movie was set in South America and various jungle locations gave the film a beautiful look. There was a lot of lush greenery, mountains, and other natural areas that brought out the beauty of the cinematography. It’s a very beautiful film despite all the GCI in it.

A lot of the time the story in the Transformers films is a bit ridiculous but we as viewers don’t care because where there to see giant robots fight other giant robots and also transform into vehicles and other things. In the case of this movie animals like gorillas, hawks, rhinos, and cheetahs. All of this transformation has to serve a purpose and the writers Joby Harold, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber create a compelling story that is wrapped around all of this CGI mayhem. A story that I liked quite a bit. With characters, I could get behind and care about. 

The human characters in these films more often than not are just there to serve a purpose for the story but usually they are a waste of space in these films. Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback are both pretty amazing in this movie. Their characters play an integral part in the overall story. I cared about them whereas in the past I didn’t care about some of the human characters. Hailee Steinfeld and Shia Labeouf are excluded though. These two had me worried about them from the time they came on screen. That’s pretty good writing if I do say so myself.

Fans of the popular IP are going to get what they came for. Plenty of robot-on-robot action. A compelling story that makes the human characters worthwhile in the overall story of the film. Plenty of great voice acting by a who’s who of Hollywood, and some laughs to go along with it. The main thing this film has going for it is its fun entertaining summer fare for the whole family. It brings something for fathers and sons and doesn’t try to be anything too special and for that, it succeeds on all levels. This is one of the better Transformers films because they stuck to the basics of why people watch these movies.  

Dan Skip Allen

4 ½ stars