How ‘Transformers One’ Director Josh Cooley Created an Entire Planet That Can Transform

“Transformers One” is the first fully animated Transformers movie since 1986’s deeply traumatic “Transformers: The Movie,” which was notable for, among other things, killing off Optimus Prime. (Don’t worry, he came back.) In the years since, the series from Hasbro and Paramount was mounted as live-action features, with the latest, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” coming out in 2023.

Not that “Transformers One” is concerned with any of this. Instead of getting lost in the lore, it offers a fresh approach...