Transformers(1984) is still the jewel of the Transformers franchise, but Transformers: Animated is not a bad show at all and one of the better recent incarnations, better than the Unicron Trilogy at any rate. Of the recent incarnations, Transformers: Prime may be the better animated and written show, has more depth and also has the advantage of having Peter Cullen and Frank Welker as Optimus and Megatron. But what Transformers: Animated does better is that none of the main characters are annoying(Prime had Miko), Bumblebee is much closer in characterisation to the original show, in Prime he was bland, and it is one of the better recent incarnations in terms of recreating the spirit of the original show. Transformers: Animated is not without its problems. The character designs do take some getting used to, in the action sequences they could have done with much more finesse and being less hurried-looking. The human villains could have been better developed and verge on bizarre sometimes. And some of the dialogue- mostly it's fine though- is a little stretched and slap-sticky sometimes, the humans' dialogue at times is not that much of an improvement on that of Prime. The colours and backgrounds though are very nice and detailed, the style is also the closest any of the recent series in the franchise have gotten to the original show too. The music is energetic with some haunting moments, enhancing the action sequences and any of the scenes that require any depth. The dialogue mostly is smart and thoughtful with some funny moments(getting even better once the show found its feet), while the stories are fun and engrossing, taking care also in fleshing out the characters and their back stories. Those for Waspinator and Blackarachnia are particularly well done. The action sequences are thrilling and fun to watch. Optimus and Megatron are still memorable characters, Starscream is a hoot and Sari is thankfully not another Miko, she's interesting and is far from useless. The voice acting is great, you do miss the original voices but these voice actors still do worthy jobs, actually sounding committed and involved in the drama. Standing out are David Kaye, Corey Burton(though these two did have big shoes to fill) and Tom Kenny. Overall, not mind blowing but highly entertaining still, while some of the complaints are somewhat valid Transformers: Animated is not really that deserving of the hate it's gotten. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Transformers: Animated
