Transformers One

image for Transformers One

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Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 12 (violence, themes, scary scenes, language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Transformers One
  • a review of Transformers One completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 24 September 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 10 Not suitable due to violence, themes, language and scary scenes.
Children aged 10–12 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, themes and language.
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Transformers One
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild crude humour, science fiction themes, animated violence and coarse language
Length: 104 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Orion Pax (voice of Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (voice of Brian Tyree Henry) are cog-less co-workers in the underground caverns of Cybertron. They mine the elusive ‘Energon’ that once flowed freely on their planet when the Primes were in power, but since the Primes were killed the energy force stopped and the workers must go ever deeper to find the substance they seek. Meanwhile, Sentinel (voice of Jon Hamm), a trusted assistant of the Primes, continues to search for the Matrix of Leadership (an item that will restore power to their planet) while shouldering the responsibilities of Cybertron and basking in the adoration of all the citizens who worship him.

Unable to shake the sense that he has a different purpose in life, Orion Pax is determined to show the social-class obsessed dwellers of Cybertron that the miners, treated as second-class citizens or slaves, are just as capable as anyone born with the power to transform. When he and D-16 nearly win a race, they gain Sentinel’s notice and the admiration of every miner and cog-less citizen. A chance encounter with B-127 (voice of Keegan-Michael Key) leads them to find a message from the Primes, along with a location at which they hope to find the Matrix of Leadership.

Orion Pax, D-16 and B-127, along with the unwitting help of a former miner called Elita-1 (voce of Scarlett Johansson), head to the surface where they not only discover the location of the Primes but also that they have all been betrayed by the one they trusted most, and that he has robbed them of their birthright and is selling their hard-earned and increasingly precious Energon to their enemies. D-16 is filled with a rage he has never known before and wants nothing more than to take his revenge, while Orion Pax wants to free the people and fight the injustice that has been forced upon them before their enemies destroy them all.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

War; Deception; Social-class prejudice; Betrayal; Revenge; Greed; Power.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • One character punches another in the face, saying: “I’m gonna smash you!”
  • Two guards are smashed in the face by a grate.
  • Orion Pax falls through the sky, bashes into flying vehicles and buildings, and crashes into a bar.
  • There is an explosion in a mine and a tunnel collapses around various miners. Orion Pax saves one that is nearly crushed.
  • A transformer is punched in the face and head.
  • Previous devastating attacks against the inhabitants of a city are repeatedly mentioned, as are the deaths of the Primes.
  • Characters are shot at in a race.
  • Characters get hit, kicked and blasted apart, and some nearly fall off the ledge during a race.
  • One character throws Orion Pax and D-16 in the trash.
  • One character says that he wants to kill another character and later that: “I want him to suffer and die in the darkness.”
  • Soldiers shoot at an old, injured Prime who transforms into an animal and attacks the soldiers by biting them in half.
  • A spider-like transformer attacks another, stabbing him repeatedly in the chest.
  • Characters try to transform but they are shot and chased, eventually blasting into the creature shooting at them.
  • A Prime is stabbed in the chest after a knife is held to his throat.
  • A bunch of characters are suddenly shot and electrocuted, while others are held at gunpoint.
  • D-16 head-butts a rebel leader. They punch, pound, slam, kick and try to kill one another with a gun.
  • There are massive explosions as a rebel base is attacked.
  • There is a gun battle during which robots explode and are killed or crash to the ground.
  • Sentinel admits to killing the Primes.
  • Sentinel brands D-16 with a Megatron image, burning it into the metal of his chest, as D-16 screams.
  • D-16 is nearly shot in the head.
  • A transformer discovers he has sword hands. He beheads characters and slices them in half.
  • D-16 shoots at Pax, punches him in the face and then accidentally shoots him through the chest.
  • D-16 shoves Sentinel off the stage and tries to kill him.
  • D-16 rips Sentinel in half with his bare hands.
  • D-16 tries to destroy a city and all of Sentinel’s followers.
  • Optimus Prime and D-16 fight each other: punching, shooting and smashing each other as they blast each other backwards.
  • D-16’s gun arm is sliced through and rendered useless before he and the Decepticons are banished.
  • B-127 accidentally stabs two of his fake robot friends with his sword hands.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Some characters have glowing red eyes and menacing features.
  • Various characters transform into other types of machinery. The Decepticons are specifically devious and brutal in their transformations.
  • There are scary-looking alien ships that look like creepy creatures with glowing eyes and crab-like legs. Other creatures have evil, menacing, bug-like bodies with octopus legs.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • D-16 shoots and kills Orion Pax, his eyes begin to glow red as he lets his former friend fall into a dark abyss. D-16 attacks all the transformers trying to get to Sentinel, while Orion Pax continues to fall in slow motion with a gaping hole in his body. Instead of dying, he is soon transformed into Optimus Prime.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • ‘Energon’ is served at a bar.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Rust buckets
  • Orion Pax indicates that he is about to put his middle finger up at a superior robot.
  • B-127 dubs himself, “Bad-ass-atron.” A name he repeatedly uses.
  • Idiots
  • Holy Primus
  • Traitor
  • Shut up
  • Stupid
  • Pathetic little twits
  • Incompetent lackies.

In a nutshell

Transformers One is an animated, fantasy adventure and a prequel to the Transformers films. Set before Optimus Prime and Megatron existed, audiences will learn how these two influential characters came to be created. Due to frequent violence, themes and scary characters the film is best suited to audiences over the age of 10.

The main messages from this movie are that we are not defined by our outer appearance but by the way we live our lives; that some transformations are permanent; and that if we want to be in control of our own destiny we have to fight injustice.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Determination
  • Bravery
  • Loyalty
  • Optimism
  • Unity
  • Honour.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Holding on to anger and resentment and refusing to forgive.
  • Subjugating others for the sake of personal gain.
  • Deceiving or betraying those who look up to you or those who trust you.
  • Believing that you are better than others and treating them as second-class citizens.