Bumblebee (Review)
Bumblebee is Everything a Transformers Movie Should Be.
I have a bit of a conundrum because I hate the Transformers franchise, but I absolutely loved Bumblebee. Where all the other films in the series failed so miserably, Bumblebee manages to soar. It diverges from the garish trends we’ve seen in the other films and instead of banking everything on big explosions and cumbersome computer-generated robots (who are vaguely racist at times), it focuses on the heart and soul of a beloved robot and his new found human companion.
In an odd nod to the first Transformers, Bumblebee starts with a teenager, this time played by Hailee Steinfeld, who inexplicably manages to buy the titular robot in disguise (briefly voiced by Dylan O’Brien) as her first car on her 18th birthday. This prequel though takes place years before Shia LaBeouf got his hands on the Autobot. Fortunately, that’s pretty much where the similarities end to the other entries in the franchise. While the other films are visually noisy movies that thrive on chaos, annoyingly eccentric characters, and simply god-awful jokes, Bumblebee proves to be a film that has a lot of heart and is essentially about a robot helping a girl heal from trauma and get back to feeling like herself again. I know, it’s the last thing I expected from a movie based on a series of toys.
What really makes Bumblebee work though is that it’s set in the 80s. Because of this, director Travis Knight takes a more simplistic approach to the visual elements in the film, which is a huge step in the right direction since it actually allows the audience to actually follow what’s going on during the epic battle sequences. This time around you won’t be desperately trying to discern one churning mass of metal from another as the giant CGI robots duke it out. Instead, we’re treated to some of the best effects of the year and some incredible fights between Bumblebee and the Decepticons sent to kill him on Earth. Even though I’m far from a fan of Transformers in general, I couldn’t help but find myself cheering as the giant robot pulled some moves straight from the John Wick handbook to create some of the more memorable fight sequences I’ve seen on the big screen in 2018.
It’s not just the outstanding visual effects though that make Bumblebee such a great film. It benefits tremendously from Christina Hodson as the writer since she opts to focus more on the essence of the characters and their motivations over big explosions and terrible one-liners. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of bad jokes, but this time around you can actually laugh at them. Especially the ones made by John Cena who has proven himself to be an incredible comedic actor after Blockers earlier this year. However, it’s the fact that she treats the heroine like an actual human being and not just a piece of eye candy for guys to gawk over, like Megan Fox, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and so many female leads in the other films. In fact, you never even get to see her seductively lay across the hood of a car or use her feminine wiles to make some geeky lead drool. In fact, the lead pretty much wants nothing to do with romance, despite the attempts made by her co-star Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Hell, she’s not even reduced to a long kiss at the end before the credits roll. Nope, she’s a fully fleshed out character with her own thoughts, feelings, and badassery. Weird, right?
Of course, being set in the 80’s Bumblebee takes a nod from a lot of the pop culture of the time. This is probably most evident in the soundtrack and beloved John Hughes film tropes. More importantly, though it’s reminiscent of classic movies like Short Circuit and Flight of the Navigator where a mild-mannered person discovers an extraordinary robot that takes them on a grand adventure of self-discovery. It’s enough to even melt my icy heart and warm me up to a Transformers movie (a pretty huge accomplishment if you’ve ever heard me rant at dinner parties about the Michael Bay atrocities). It manages to embrace the quirky absurdity that was a beloved staple of the decade.
So many things go right with Bumblebee that it’s kind of mind-blowing. It certainly has its fair share of cheesy moments and cliches, but none of them are unforgivable. In fact, they all add to the 80’s aesthetic of the film. I found it to be a perfect movie to wrap up 2018, a refreshing break from awards season that’s sure to make a bundle at the box office and for good reason. It’s a surprisingly good movie that’s a lot of fun and will leave you wondering why none of the other Transformers movies were close to half as good. Despite my hatred for the franchise, I think I’ve found one of my new favorite robots in the giant yellow Autobot and I wholeheartedly suggest you give this film a chance in theaters.
