Bumblebee

Following the failure of Transformers: The Last Knight at the box office, the next scheduled film in the Live-Action Film Series, a prequel titled Transformers Universe: Bumblebee Bumblebee: The Movie Bumblebee, was set to be the last one while Hasbro rethinks the direction of the franchise. The change in Director from Michael Bay to Travis Knight, in addition to the trailers, had me curious about how this movie would turn out, since Knight’s directorial debut, Kubo and the Two Strings, turned out really well. Upon being able to see a recent early screening of the movie two weeks before its official release (in which it will go head-to-head with Aquaman), it turned out to far exceed my expectations in the best possible way.

As the war for Cybertron rages on, while the Autobot cast from the 2007 movie loads into escape pods, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) sends Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien) to Earth to establish a base of operations for the Autobots. On 1987 Earth, Bumblebee crash-lands, interrupting a military exercise. Following a battle with the Decepticon Blitzwing (David Sobolov), Bumblebee blacks out. Meanwhile, teenager Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) is facing challenges in her daily life, including not getting along with her family and holding a job at Hotdog on a Stick, wishing she could have her own car. On her birthday, she stumbles upon a yellow Volkswagon Beetle, which turns out to be Bumblebee in disguise. As Bumblebee starts to get along with Charlie, the Decepticons Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) are hot on his trail.

The story is written very well, telling a story that works (mostly) well as a prequel to the 2007 movie while being very easy to follow and able to stand up on its own. This is backed by some very good casting, especially on the parts of Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson and pro wrestler/internet meme John Cena as Agent Jack Burns, in addition to some very well-timed and largely tasteful humor. There are a number of moments between Charlie and Bumblebee that evoke The Iron Giant in a good way, taking a note from the Transformers: Prime cartoon, which feels better than the human/robot relationships in the other live-action movies. As a prequel, there are at least a handful of retcons that more observant viewers of these films may notice (such as, among other things, the origin of Bumblebee’s lack of a voice box and some backstory of Sector 7), though the story is overall good enough that these discrepancies can be overlooked.

One thing of note is the general design of the robot characters is different than in previous live-action films, though generally for the better. The designs are sort of a happy medium between the G1 cartoon and the live-action aesthetic, being much more heavily streamlined than in Age of Extinction and The Last Knight. On Cybertron, the robots (and the planet Cybertron) much more closely resemble the G1 incarnations while taking cues from the Fall of Cybertron game, whereas the Earth designs of the characters Blitzwing and Bumblebee take more liberties (the latter being a cross between G1 and the 2007 movie in robot mode) while new characters Shatter and Dropkick (the latter of whom isn't wholly original; it’s complicated) make use of the aforementioned streamlined “movie” look. As noted in a special behind-the-scenes video following the screening, they actively tried to give each robot a unique silhouette and color scheme, which, combined with Travis Knight’s animation experience and there being a much smaller robot cast this time around, worked out very well in the end.

Though there are a lot more quiet moments in this movie, the few action scenes are just as intense as ever, though improved by the shrunken robot cast. Bumblebee only ever battles one or two Decepticons at any time, making them much more intimate and increasing the tension of each fight. This is helped by the more conservative presence of explosions, making them feel much more well-deserved. The final battle with Shatter and Dropkick, who feel a lot more fleshed out than most other past Decepticons, is a true spectacle, as are flashback scenes to the war on Cybertron, thanks to more intimate framing that makes you feel like you're in the middle of the action.

Bumblebee is very solid and legitimately the best of the Transformers Live-Action Film Series. The change in Director to Travis Knight provides a much-needed change of pace and an overall much different feel from the other live-action movies; I would even dare say it’s what the 2007 movie should have been. Transformers fans, whether they enjoy the live-action movies or not, will find some entertainment in this movie, as it represents the best of what the film series has to offer (more die-hard fans will also enjoy some seemingly Easter egg references to other incarnations of the brand). Non-fans are likely to find some entertainment as well, as the movie is more accessible to casual viewers than previous films. The idea has been floating around that there is potential for this film to be good starting point for Hasbro to reboot the live-action films and/or use it as a starting point for a planned cinematic universe; if this turns out to be true, I wouldn’t mind either way.

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