This movie barely rises above the lamer Michael Bay efforts.
Maybe it's the way that Unicron isn't voiced by Orson Welles anymore. He's been replaced by John Noble, who gives him a strange twist in dialect that just doesn't fit with him. Thankfully, the other voicework remains intact, complete with Peter Cullen leading the charge. I hope he never loses "the touch" – and yes, that's a Stan Bush reference.
The audio and video quality is about what you'd expect from a Prime product. It does make proper use of the Blu-Ray technology, with solid picture and audio, but you won't be going "ooh" and "ahh" compared to what Dark of the Moon offered a couple of years ago. And I mean the 3D version of that. (Don't laugh, it's actually presentable.)
As for extras, you really don't get much of anything. There's a ten-minute featurette that goes behind-the-scenes of Predacons Rising, but it barely dives into the details, outside of a few computer animation snippets. I would've liked an audio commentary or a retrospective on the Prime series myself.
Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters – Predacons Rising may appeal to fans of the animated series, or those seeking out another chapter in the ongoing saga. To me, though, it just feels like a side story, getting in the way of the better ones that are on the market. If you can, try to track down the Canadian version of Transformers: The Movie (I mean the animated one) instead. It's region free, and without many extras to speak of, but the sheer appeal will win you over more than Rising would.
Maybe it needed more Grimlock. Yeah.
(Blu-Ray review copy provided by Shout! Factory)
Score: 6 / 10
