Bumblebee - Movie Review

Clapping.

That's one sound I never thought I'd hear in the theater after a Transformers movie, let alone a sixth installment in a franchise that seemingly turned to crap long ago. But nonetheless, there was clapping when the credits rolled, and I was part of it. Because, in all honestly, it was a legitimately good film, and a happy surprise.

Forget all the loud, explosion-filled mayhem Michael Bay filled his Transformers series with. Travis Knight throws that formula in the garbage, and rightfully so. What we get from Bumblebee is not a cliched CGI blockbuster, but instead a fun, sweet story that truly places a heart inside of the shell that the Transformers franchise once was. Hailee Steinfeld delivers yet another great performance, and her star rightfully continues to rise in the Hollywood landscape. And, rather than being completely generic and thin, the characters actually behave realistically. If this winds up rebooting the Transformers series, I will happily partake in any potential sequels, if this movie is any indication as to where this franchise will go.

Overall score: 8/10

Bumblebee is better than it has any right to be. If I could critique anything, it'd be the slightly underdeveloped villains, but they were still fun to watch. Other than that, it's just plain awesome, and has a little bit of everything: nostalgia, great action and CGI that's wonderful to look at. I recommend this film not only to fans of Transformers, but anyone who just wants to escape into a world of giant robots and 80s music.

But let's just hope Hailee doesn't become the next Megan Fox.

What did you think of this movie? Comment!

Another thing I liked was that Charlie wasn't either an insufferable Mary Sue, and while she was definitely pretty, she wasn't used the way Megan Fox was.

I'm glad the film is getting such good reviews. I had long stopped caring about the franchise, but Bumblebee looks like a good movie. I doubt I'll see this in theaters, but later for sure.

I saw it at an advance screening, which I was invited to because I have the Regal Cinemas App.

"I doubt this movie is good"

*sees 96% on RT*

Actually, I saw it before the review embargo was lifted.

I think it's smart of Paramount to be doing these early screenings. They need to let as many people as they can spread the word that this is actually not a bad movie like the other ones.

Yeah, I agree.

I actually liked they Bay films better, lmao. At least the first 3, I need to watch 4 and 5 again, but from my memory they were pretty messy, however they had more bad ass scenes than this one.

This film is pretty much a girl and her car, and the car can transform and do cool things every once in a while. Really not that much action, and there was a bit of comedy, but not nearly as much as the Bay ones. So if you wanted a heart warming tale of a girl's relationship with a transformer who can't talk, then this is for you. If you wanted cool transformer action, you'll get some, but nothing to write home about.

I saw it last night and loved it. Travis Knight confirmed that it is still part of the canon and that's why he had to opt out of using Megatron in the opening scene. They put a lot of things in the Transformers continuity that they put in this film.

Though there were two major retcons:

1) Bumblebee seemed to have arrived on Earth in 1987, completely retconning his WWII shenanigans that hardly made sense in the first place.
2) Optimus Prime arrives at the end of the film, when I'm pretty sure he arrived in 2007 in the current film when Sam and Mikaela were already with Bumblebee.

Those bugged me abit. The film still needs to work on the dialogue though. I still prefer the first movie the best. This is 2nd or 3rd best hands down! This one definitely had a lot more heart and soul over the rest. A lot more rich emotions.

@daisy_johnson: I agree, the continuity stuff was annoying. Either go full reboot or go full prequel.

Good to know it did good.

Maaaaan, as soon as this movie kicked off I was fanboy'n. Teared up and erthang lmao

As a big transformers fan I’m very happy to hear this. I’ve been burned in the past by the other movies so this is nice to hear.