On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow Volkswagen bug. There's more than meets the eye.
Bumblebee is the sixth live-action Transformers film, but the first to center around a particular Transformer and not be helmed by the explosion-obsessed "American auteur" Michael Bay (as Patrick Willems referred to him in his two-part video essay detailing Bay's filmography). Previously, each film was titled "Transformers: [insert vague, generic subtitle here]" and played almost exclusively to Bay's sensibilities by incorporating slow-motion, explosions, American iconography, obnoxious product placement, and plenty instances of crude, tasteless humor. While I wouldn't go as far to say Bumblebee excludes all these elements, those which remain are gratefully down-played. Bumblebee makes a conscious effort to differentiate itself from what came before but strangely acknowledges specific canon from Bay's series while also breaking that continuity. Needless to say, it was left unclear whether this was meant to merely be a soft reboot or hard reset on the franchise. I hope to see Paramount and Hasbro scrap Bay's series entirely and rebuild the franchise on this stronger foundation, but I suppose box office receipts will dictate what direction they choose.
"So what makes this go around so different?" you may ask. Simple, Paramount hired a director who actually cares about the human characters as well as Autobots. Travis Knight, who recently astounded me with his stop-motion directorial debut Kubo and the Two Strings, allows the franchise to take a breather in a smaller-scaled story. Though the fate of Earth is certainly at stake, the action takes a backseat to story and character (antithetical to Bay's five films). Christina Hodson's screenplay and story, which includes uncredited contributions from The Edge of Seventeen writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, are very Spielbergian and reminiscent of other genre films such as The Iron Giant or Spielberg's own E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. I'm not the first to make those comparisons, and I won't be the last! However, I feel that can be forgiven in lieu of Bumblebee being the first Transformers film to shine its heart from its headlights (If that makes no sense, I was trying to find a Transformer equivalent to "wears its heart on its sleeve").
Though Knight doesn't radicalize the series' action since most of it's essentially still robots punching each other, the Generation One-inspired redesigns make it much easier to differentiate the characters, and the action is shot and edited in such a way that you can follow what's happening. Additionally, the transformation sequences are much less convoluted and more aesthetically pleasing than Bay's nonsensical machinations. The visual effects were also quite good as Bumblebee and the other Transformers were convincing onscreen CG-characters.
However, it's the titular character that helps shape the franchise into a superior form. In my opinion, Bumblebee was always one of the better elements of Bay's Transformers movies, and I actually liked his relationship with Sam Witwicky, but that was always overshadowed by the spectacle, world-ending scenarios, and lots of lore before the character was eventually relegated to the background. Here, those storytelling devices are stowed in the trunk and carefully unpackaged in a bearable, easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, the central dynamic between Charlie and Bumblebee is given more attention, and the film's all the better for it! Bee's a charming character and source of comic relief, so seeing more screen time dedicated to him was a very refreshing change of pace from what came before.
In the lead role of Charlie, Hailee Steinfeld continues her streak of excellent performances and really sells Bumblebee's presence through her expressions and interactions with the Autobot. As I've touched on already, the bond between her and Bumblebee is really the film's selling point. Unlike Bay's protagonists, she's not necessarily shoehorned into the action (while she's sometimes around the explosions and bot brawls, she's never unrealistically fighting them like Witwicky and Yeager would). In fact, Bumblebee makes a point to keep her away from it for her own protection. Steinfeld imbues Charlie with a scrappy, go-getter attitude which makes her a very likable lead character. Acting opposite her, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. does a fine job as Memo I suppose. To be honest, I found his character somewhat obnoxious and he felt like a studio-mandated love interest/friend to Charlie so she wouldn't seem like such a loner.
Lastly, there's the military and Decepticons. I'll start off by saying the U.S. government was far too trusting and a bit dimwitted, to a cartoonish degree at times. John Cena portrays Jack Burns as the agency's head authoritative figure. While kinda cheesy, Cena sells his physicality as an intimidating antagonist of sorts and most of his humor lands. Meanwhile, Justin Theroux and Angela Bassett voice the two Decepticons hunting Bumblebee. They admittedly amount to little more than one-dimensional bad guys, but they serve their narrative purpose well.
Since this week is packed with new releases, I'll briefly offer my recommendation as to what you should seek first. Between Aquaman, Bumblebee, and Mary Poppins Returns, I personally preferred Mary Poppins Returns over the others, but enjoyed them all. If you like musicals or are a huge fan of the original 1964 Disney classic, I encourage you to see that sequel. Looking for a blockbuster with heart, watch Bumblebee. Want a superhero movie with loads of visual spectacle, I urge you to see Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse... Didn't expect that, did you? In all seriousness, Aquaman is going to make Warner Bros. waves of money regardless of whether you see it this weekend. With that in mind, I'd encourage you to watch the others first depending on what you're most interested in, as they're all going to cannibalize each other and the weekend box office projections of those films are rather puny in comparison.
Though derivative of many other "human and their otherworldly friend" stories, Bumblebee is quite charming and puts a fresh coat of paint on live-action Transformers. The little yellow fellow truly transformed this franchise for the better!
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