So Bumblebee is the newest Transformers movie… but it’s not directed by Michael Bay and its not in continuity with the previous five films. It appears to be a reboot, though one that makes occasional references to the Bay movies… and to the original animated Transformers film. And it also happens to be an actually good film… it only took them six tries to make a good (or even decent) live action Transformers flick.
Based on the designs of the 1980s Transformers toys/characters (aka Gen1), this film basically does the exact opposite of the dude-bro, shiny glossy Bay films. I mean, dare I say it, I actually had a complex human emotion watching the flick. I cared about the characters. I could follow the action. The robot models made sense and weren’t a jumble of shiny metal spiky crap.
So the film reboots back to 1987 where Bumblebee crashes on Earth, loses his voice and memory, and winds up stuck as VB Beetle. Hailee Steinfeld plays the human grease monkey who finds him in a junkyard and wants to rebuild him. Meanwhile, evil but kind of forgettable decepticons arrive on Earth to track him down with the unwitting help of the US military (led by John Ceena).
What works so well in this movie is that it takes time to focus on Steinfeld’s character. They give her depth and an emotional background… they give her time to emote and scenes to explain why she’s unhappy and why this giant robot from space can help her emotionally mend. I actually felt sad for her… a genuine emotion. I liked her character and I like that they spent the time on her. Hailey Steinfeld basically makes this movie work. She is great in this flick.
The actual plot… well, it’s remarkably small in scale for this series but I suspect that’s intentional. It kept the budget down and allowed them to focus on the relationship between the girl and her car. Bumblebee, as a character, is fine – he can be adorable and cute and all that… basically he’s in an Iron Giant / ET fish-out-of-water comedy for much of it. Not particularly original but at least it works and its fun and funny. Someone actually made good, non-cringy jokes for a giant robot flick… and they remembered this is supposed to be a good time at the theater.
Action-wise, you can follow it. It makes sense. That’s partly due to the character models being comprehensible to look at but also the film making not being so jittery. It’s not fantastic action but its good enough.
Not everything in the movie is great… some of the plot or sequences really could have used some work. Some of the dialog or individual images can be a bit dumb. But these are relatively minor issues in an otherwise enjoyable enough movie. I’m not going to say its nearly one of the best movies of the year but its far better than it has any right to be, given the track record.
Score: 82