The heyday of The Transformers may have been 1980s, but those who spent their formative years in the 1990s know the secret truth of the franchise: Beast Wars was a way better show. The 1996 CG-animated series, which focused on transforming animals instead of vehicles, had deeper characters, more complex storylines, and established a number of elements now essential to overall Transformers lore (the whole idea of a spark being a Transformer’s “soul” came from Beast Wars).
That’s why, when several Beast Wars characters finally showed up on the big screen decades later, there was reason to celebrate, even if some frustrating compromises were made to fit them into Michael Bay’s Transformers films.
And now that the movie will be free to stream on Pluto TV starting July 1, there’s plenty of reason to revisit it.
The 2023 film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was directed by Steven Caple Jr. It primarily takes place in 1994, technically making it a follow-up to Bumblebee (which takes place in 1987), and a prequel to Michael Bay’s first Transformers film from 2007. A debate still rages in the fandom about whether Bumblebee was a prequel or a reboot, but it really doesn’t matter either way as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts works perfectly well as a standalone film.
The movie begins eons in the future on the Maximal homeworld, which is being devoured by the planet-sized Transformer Unicron. The Terrorcon Scourge (Peter Dinklage) is the herald of Unicron. He faces off against Maximal leader Apelinq (David Sobolov) for possession of the Transwarp Key, a device that can tear holes in time and space, which would allow Unicron to accelerate his interplanetary destruction. Apelinq dies in the battle, but not before sending his second-in-command, Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), off with the Transwarp Key. Optimus Primal leads his fellow Maximals Cheetor, Airazor, and Rhinox to prehistoric Earth, where they hide the key until it is uncovered in 1994. That’s when Scourge recovers the key and Unicron comes to Earth. Now, the Maximals and the Autobots must team up to defeat him. Trust me, it all looks much cooler than it sounds.
To be clear, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts suffers from some of the same shortcomings as Bay’s Transformers films in that it has convoluted lore and so many characters that several get shortchanged. Rhinox, for example, doesn’t speak at all in the film, despite being the most soulful character in Beast Wars. This film is also more of a Transformers film than it is a Beast Wars film, as the Maximals take a secondary role to the Autobots. And it’s missing some of the best characters from Beast Wars, like Rattrap, Dinobot, Tigatron, and Tarantulas.
Despite all that, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is worth watching for the simple fact that the Maximals look awesome. As opposed to the animal-sized bots they are in the Beast Wars cartoon, the movie scales up the characters to allow them to reasonably interact with the Autobots. The falcon-like Airazor (Michelle Yeoh) looks like she stepped right out of Beast Wars and into the real world with a design is shockingly faithful to the 1990s cartoon in both Beast Mode and Robot Mode. Rhinox is a behemoth who is heavily influenced by his Beast Wars look, particularly in the face. The design for Cheetor (Tongayi Chirisa) is sleek and deeply reminiscent of his look from the Beast Wars sequel series Beast Machines (a deeply flawed show with some killer designs). The best design, though, is Optimus Primal, whose hulking Beast Mode is inspired by Beast Machines, while his Robot Mode is very faithful to Beast Wars (if a little light on colors).
These designs alone, and the chance to see them in action alongside the Autobots, are reason enough to revisit Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. It may not be a great movie, or even the greatest of Michael Bay’s Transformers films (that distinction still goes to Bumblebee), but it’s the one-and-only chance Beast Wars fans have to see these characters in a movie, and they were done faithfully enough to be satisfying. Sure, I’d love to see a proper Beast Wars movie someday, but Rise of the Beasts will do until then.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will be available on Pluto TV on July 1.
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