For a while now, the Transformers franchise has been impenetrable to the point that watching it makes me temporarily question whether I understand or speak English. In the latest entry, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), head of the Autobots, is in search of something called a “transwarp key”, a vital piece of technology which, in the wrong hands, would allow a planet-gobbling robot Unicron (Colman Domingo) to set his sights on earth.
Among his special abilities, Unicron can possess other robots, including his chief henchman Scourge (Peter Dinklage). Thankfully, Optimus Prime and co find helpful allies in the Maximals, who are also robots, but specifically robots who transform into mecha-versions of various animals. One of these, a very big falcon, is voiced by Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh.
