Bumblebee Review

It feels really strange to be genuinely excited for a new Transformers movie. I think I speak for just about everyone when I say that I've grown tired of these movies. Not only is a frustrating that they are so awful, but it makes it worse that Michael Bay doesn't even care. No matter how much people complain, he keeps making the same awful trash over and over. Why? Because he thinks with his bank account and not with his brain. Despite what everyone was saying, people kept showing up for his movies. Even though there was continued diminished returns domestically after the second movie made $402.1 million, international numbers kept going up as the third and fourth movies both made over $1.1 billion worldwide. I mean, who cares about quality movies with the same pile of trash keeps making money, right? Luckily for all of us, this philosophy eventually came back to bite Michael Bay in the butt as last year's fifth installment, "Transformers: The Last Knight," not only completely crashed domestically with just $130.2 million, but it also only made $605 million worldwide. People were officially done. Paramount needed to do something or else it was just going to get worse. And do something they did. That something is this rebootquel "Bumblebee."

Why was I excited for "Bumblebee" when I didn't even see "The Last Knight" in theaters last year (I watched it on Google Play in December -- I never even got a full review out)? Well, OK, I can't say I was excited from day one. But I was certainly intrigued. Cautiously optimistic, if you will. This because Michael Bay was NOT back to direct this movie. But not just that. He was being replaced by Travis Knight, director of "Kubo and the Two Strings." Now I don't know if this was Michael Bay ditching the franchise or if it was Paramount finally telling him to get lost after the failure of "The Last Knight," but either way, could this mean that someone else might come in and actually treat the franchise with the love and respect and deserves? Because remember, this is a franchise that people actually care about. The Hasbro toys this whole thing is based off of are still a huge hit among kids today and the cartoon was a beloved part of many people's childhood. It was painful to watch Michael Bay continue to take a dump on this whole thing while showing the middle finger to the fans who just wanted to see a faithful adaptation of the series they loved. The answer is yes. Travis Knight HAS come in and finally delivered us a Transformers movie we've all been waiting for.

The law of contrast for "Bumblebee" here is an interesting one. Had the previous five Transformers movies all been good movies that people enjoyed, I'm not so sure people would've take well to this "Bumblebee" prequel. It may have been seen as an unnecessary deviant that added nothing to the franchise and been deemed ultimately forgettable. But given that the five previous movies were mostly atrocious, it was such a breath of fresh air to be watching a Transformers movie that was actually enjoyable. The opening sequence of this movie takes place on Cybertron with the war breaking out (or perhaps continuing -- I'm not an expert on my Transformers lore) between the Decepticons and Autobots, the latter of which are seen as the rebellion force who needs to be exterminated. Watching this simple sequence take place was heaven. This is what SHOULD'VE happened from day one. But since Michael Bay just didn't care, it never did. Thus the idea of a proper Transformers setup became a mere dream in the hearts of fans that many thought would never take place. But Travis Knight made it happen. Thus sitting here watching it take place felt surreal. It's like I had entered into an alternate dimension where Transformers movies were actually good.

After this initial battle on Cyberton, Optimus Prime realizes that the Autobots aren't strong enough to overcome the Decepticons, so he sends Bumblebee off to Earth, a remote planet where Bumblebee can lay low and establish a base for the Autobots to eventually build up their forces until they are strong enough to win the war. Things don't go quite as smoothly as planned, but Bumblebee is eventually able to disguise himself as a yellow VW Beetle and disappear from all the commotion. Thankfully this is not a movie with Transformers testicles. It's not a movie with dogs humping each other or parents telling dirty jokes. It doesn't double as a Megan Fox photo shoot made for immature teenage boys who love watching her run in slow motion with revealing shots. We don't see Transformers peeing on people or legendary actors making a fool out of themselves as if they lost a bet and were forced to let Michael Bay push them around as he sees fit. We don't see endless amounts of fireworks-style explosions and other overly long action sequences that only please Michael Bay and no one else. We're not subjected to a three-hour movie with a paper thin plot full of uninteresting characters who serve no purpose and experience no character development. All of those Michael Bay-isms are completely removed and we are left with an actual movie that feels professionally done.

Yes, it's been pointed out about a thousand times that the plot of this movie very closely resembles "E.T." or any other movie about an alien who crash lands on Earth and befriends our main character. Because of that, that derivative plot did not bother me at all. I prepared myself to enjoy watching this relationship play out between Bumblebee and Hailee Steinfeld. And that's exactly what I did. Again, if this were a Michael Bay movie, Hailee would've been oversexualized with tons of skimpy outfits and unnecessary closeup shots. But that's NOT what happens. She's a normal teenage girl with an emotional backstory that immediately makes her worth caring. She's had a rough time trying to deal with the sudden death of her father and she hasn't come to terms with her mother's new boyfriend (or husband?) and thus has no one to turn to for emotional support. She's also an extremely handy girl who's great with cars, because working on cars is what her and her dad did. On her 18th birthday, she stumbles on a beat-up yellow beetle and convinces the owner of the junk yard to let her fix it up and bring it home for her birthday. And, well, you guessed it. Hailee becomes rather surprised when that yellow beetle turns out to be Bumblebee.

Watching the two of them grow together in this movie was touching. I didn't care of that storyline had been done a thousand. I love Hailee as an actress. And I have ever since she completely owned it as a boss 14-year-old girl in the 2010 "True Grit" remake. Her music career has gone in interesting places, but she's always given it her all when she's on screen in a movie and she yet again brings a lot of emotional gravitas to this film. In real life, she just barely turned 22, meaning she was 21 during the filming of this movie, which is certainly not too old to be playing an 18-year-old troubled teenager. I honestly felt bad for her character and I wanted to jump on screen and give her a friendly hug in order to help her feel better, especially since her family didn't seem to be doing anything to help her out. And that's why I was so glad to see her run into Bumblebee, who was also lost, alone and confused, having had his voice and memory get shot during his escape from the Decepticons. A lot of his scenes were also legitimately hilarious as he innocently tried to figure out how to adapt to this human world as if he were a simple pet. A giant, heavy, metal pet that could accidentally cause a lot of trouble as he fumbled around through the house or innocently sped away from the police.

Eventually you know you were going to get some action sequences in this movie and when they happen, there's actually some emotional weight to them. The Decepticons have tricked John Cena and his military forces into thinking Bumblebee is the enemy, which wasn't that hard to do since John Cena had a bad first encounter with Bumblebee anyways. Knowing that Bumblebee wasn't quite strong enough to take on everything by himself, I was genuinely worried and afraid. I cringed every time he got attacked and cheered every time he succeeded in a battle. I appreciated Hailee Steinfeld's in all of this. She wasn't just a useless human running around amidst the danger. She had a purpose in all of this and became a very strong female character as she battled to help Bumblebee. I also appreciated the specific action sequences. The Transformers actually transformed like the toys do. They aren't just robots that magically turned into cars and vice versa. When they go into robot form, you can see all of the individual car parts, like the headlights, the tires and whatnot. And the visual effects of the transformation were actually spectacular. Travis Knight, in his first experience in live action, proved that he knows how to properly construct an action sequence and it was beautiful.

At the beginning of this review, I referred to "Bumblebee" as a rebootquel. That's because I really have no idea if it is either a reboot or a prequel. It's set in the late 80's and properly leads into the main saga of films like a good prequel should. But at the same time, they also have the potential to simply wipe the slate clean with this movie and pretend that Michael Bay's movies never existed. Thus the movie would also perfectly act as a reboot. Quite frankly, I hope that the latter direction is where they go because this franchise has always had potential. There's many stories that can be told and a lot of fun to be had. They just need to make sure that from this point on, Michael Bay never steps back into that director's chair. Keep Travis Knight on board and let him steer this franchise. Or bring on other acclaimed directors who respect the source material and know how to properly construct an action movie. Whatever it is they decide to do, I hope they can learn from the success of this movie and build upon it. If so, I can be excited for this franchise moving forward as we usher in a new era of Transformers movies. I know this holiday season is primed to be a busy one, but I'd encourage you to make time for "Bumblebee" as I'm going to give it an 8/10.