Weekend Watch: Transformers One, Agatha All Along

Robots before they were in disguise and a witch questing to regain her powers

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Robots are back in the past, while Kathryn Hahn looks to improve her present. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite

As I talked about last week with remakes, prequels are also a tricky format to get right. You risk alienating the existing audience who don’t need to know where the characters they already know and like came from, and those who don’t already watch the show or film might not bother with an origin story.

Yet if you find a compelling enough story to tell and –– in the case of animated outing Transformers One –– you add in enough good character detail and plenty of laughs, you can get away with it.

Directed by Pixar veteran Josh Cooley (whose last assignment was the herculean task of following Toy Story 3 with a fourth instalment), from a script by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, the new film about those robots in disguise makes the idea function well by turning the clock back to a point in time before any of the other shows or movies. Here, the robots we know as Optimus Prime and Megatron are Orion Pax and D-16, humble mine workers who must labour away to dig out precious Energon from the planet Cybertron’s core.

They live in a time when few of the citizens can transform, and live under threat from an alien race that their leaders, the Primes fought against, and lost. But as the ambitious, jocular Pax and the more wary D-16 dig into what really happened, some tough truths are revealed and it’s hardly a spoiler to say the adventure sets them on the path to become the characters we’ve known all these years.

What’s most impressive about this new film is how it layers effective entertainment on to a well-trodden path of finding a mysterious McGuffin and grasping destiny. The leads are both funny and heartfelt –– Chris Hemsworth is no Peter Cullen, but he’s not really trying to play Optimus Prime as Orion Pax is much more headstrong and wackier. Brian Tyree Henry brings layers to D-16, while Keegan-Michael Key is a fine fit for the chatty, slightly nervous B-127 (AKA Bumblebee).

Scarlett Johansson has less to do as Elita-1, who segues from our heroes’ committed boss to an ally, but has some decent moments. Also good? Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, the preening leader of the community whose apparently daring missions turn out to be something altogether different (trust us, you’ll guess it from the moment he appears).

Cooley and his team weave in Transformers mythology, but while there are real stakes (at least, as real as you can get when you know both the main characters will live to fight each other another day), it never loses sight of being fun. It skews young, but this is the most purely entertaining film in the franchise since the first Michael Bay live-action/CG outing way back in 2007 (though Bumblebee ranks a close second).

Transformers One is in UK and US cinemas now.

Image Credit: Disney+

If make a prequel worthwhile is one major accomplishment, following up one of the MCU’s best productions has got to be another. And not only does Agatha All Along need to follow WandaVision, but it also arrives at a time when Marvel’s output could use a serious shot of quality and entertainment, even given the existence/smashing success of Deadpool & Wolverine.

Fortunately, Agatha comes equipped with a few not-so-secret weapons, including the performance of Kathryn Hahn, the brain of creator/showrunner Jac Schaeffer, a compelling ensemble and a commitment to an altogether different style of show.

Agatha picks up Agatha Harkness’ (Hahn) story a few years after the titular witch was left trapped and powerless in Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) magically created TV-riffing small town. We’re re-introduced to the scheming character as she’s assumed the role of a detective in a Mare Of Easttown/The Killing (check out the hilarious nod to Scandi Noir in the opening credits). But just as you’re thinking that the new show will entirely borrow WandaVision’s concept of channelling TV, it switches track as Agatha is finally broken free of her mystical prison. Setting her sights on regaining her powers, she realizes she’ll have to gather a coven and complete a quest on the infamous Witches’ Road.

There are one or two other nods to TV shows down the line (I won’t talk about that, because… spoilers), but mostly this is about Hahn interacting with the various other characters, including witches played by the likes of Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata and Ali Ahn, who all have their reasons for joining the quest. And every single one of the leads is excellent, bringing their own style yet meshing well with Hahn’s infectious energy. Even a seeming plot device (Joe Locke’s mysterious “Teen”, about whom we will surely learn more down the road) works well.

If there are problems, it’s that the early episodes can be a little slow going at times, but that’s more than made up for by the performances. And yes, there are catchy songs to be found courtesy of “Agatha All Along” song duo (and Frozen Oscar winners) Bobby and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

It might not connect to the MCU in any real way (so far), but at this point, that’s a feature rather than a bug.

The first two episodes of Agatha All Along are on Disney+ now. New episodes will launch weekly on Wednesdays (in the US, with a simultaneous release in the UK on Thursdays). I’ve seen the first four.