'Transformers One' review: Animated origin story has the touch and the power

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows character Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, voiced by Chris Hemsworth, in a scene from "Transformers One." (Paramount Pictures via AP)

There is a mind-numbing thud that greets the arrival of each new entry in the live-action Transformers franchise, so it's a relief to say that Transformers One finds the robots back in their optimal, animated form.

As origin stories go, director Josh Cooley's breezy, action-packed genesis tale reintroduces Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest of the Transformers gang, without any pesky humans hanging around the edges of the frame to muck things up. Kids will dig it, and that's who this film is for; those who grew up with the toys and cartoons in the 1980s have their own memories of the Transformers of their youth.