There's a cruel irony to "Transformers One," 2024's animated prequel film about the robots in disguise. Directed by Josh Cooley, "Transformers One" is the first great "Transformers" movie — yet we may never get a "Transformers Two."

I like the original 1986 "Transformers: The Movie." I understand why its rock-n-rollin soundtrack ("You've got the touch!") and epic moments -- from Optimus Prime's sacrifice to the planet eater Unicron revealing his enormous true form -- will burn into your brain if you see it at the right age. But the script is pretty slapdash, the animation is richer and more detailed than that in the '80s cartoon but still filled with careless errors, and the whole cynical purpose of the film is galling.

Meanwhile, all of the live-action "Transformers" movies directed by Michael Bay lie on a sliding scale of bad. "Bumblebee" is good, if slight, but then "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" was so boring.