Random Movie Review - Bumblebee

A little while ago, I reviewed what is arguably the last Transformers film that Michael Bay will ever direct and many agree that it is the worst one of the lot which I agree on also (to an extent). So naturally many of us would be worried about this film given that its still made by Paramount, still has Bay on board in some capacity (though not as director this time fortunately) and was originally going to be part of the Bay series. Its good to know however that its since been known as a full on reboot to the franchise which allows Paramount to effectively try again but aiming for something that will tailor to long time fans of the franchise. So its a film about the autobot that has become a fan favourite for a few years so let's see how this plays out:

Starting off on Cybertron, a war is taking place between an Autobot resistance led by Optimus Prime (reprised by Peter Cullen) and the Decepticons (who this time we can actually tell who is who unlike the Bay films) with the former team at the verge of losing. Because of this and the Decepticons interfering with the evacuation of the Autobots, Prime has B-127 (aka Bumblebee, voiced by the Maze Runner himself Dyaln O'Brien) be sent to Earth via an escape pod to set up a base of operations for the Autobots the regroup. B-127 lands in 1987 California where he unknowingly interrupts a training exercise by a secret government agency known as Sector 7 (led by Jack Burns, played by John Cena) who at first see him as a hostile alien. B-127 escapes them as well as some pursuing Decepticons who manage to take out his voice box before becoming a 1967 Volkswagon Beetle. Meanwhile a teenager called Charlie (played by Hailee Steinfield) is having issues with the lose of her father and that her mum (played by Pamela Adlon) has moved on too quickly. She one day finds a Volkswagon Beetle (which turns out to be the same one that B-127 transformed into) and upon fixing it and learning of it being an alien, she soon starts to bond with B-127 and names him Bumblebee while remaining unaware that Sector 7 and a duo of Decepticons are after him.

There have been tons of problems with the Bay films. Long running times, orange tint, mindless violence, depictions of racism and women and even some unfunny dirty jokes just to name a film. Fortunately, Bumblebee has none of that. Instead it manages to give us a film that has a sense of wonder and nostalgia, good light hearted humor and doesn't  get itself caught up in too much of what we got in previous films. The story is familiar in that its all about how an alien came to Earth with good intentions even going as far to befriend a human, but other humans misunderstand and think he is a threat which other aliens manipulate them into thinking all of that. I also got to say that with WWE being largely wrestling but with a bit of acting, I misjudged John Cena and in the end, he did some pretty good acting. I also like that the director Travis Knight came on board with no history of doing any live action film before and did the franchise justice. I guess Paramount can learn that with the right people on board, they can make great films and I think this must be the first Transformers film they have done which is actually very good. Plus the soundtrack kind of gives Awesome Mix a run for its money. So yeah, a great film overall and probably by far the best Transformers film so far that isn't animated. 9/10