Review of Bumblebee (2018) by Kj P — 21 Dec 2018

The live-action Transformers franchise that has been running since 2007 is incredibly divisive at best. Although many people still continue to praise that original film, it's also disliked just as much. As far as the sequels go, it's really a matter of how much you find them annoying. Personally, aside from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, I think the sequels continued to get worse and worse. Transformers: The Last Knight was the final nail in the coffin for me, as it was easily one of the worst big budget films I've ever seen. When the first pieces of marketing landed for this new Bumblebee film, I was very optimistic about where they had decided to take this series. While I can say that most people will be able to agree on the fact that it's easily the best film to come out since the original and is possibly even superior to all of the previous movies, it still didn't do much to impress me either.

Taking place in the late 1980s, Bumblebee follows the Transformer known as Bumblebee as he is sent to Earth after a devastating event on their home planet of Cybertron. Followed by two Transformers who have a completely different agenda, they make life difficult for him on this planet, as well as the humans they encounter. A young woman in Charlie Watson discovers that an old car from the junkyard is actually a transforming robot and they form a bond that sets the heart of this story in motion. Many viewers will watch this movie and probably be moved by the relationship these two share and while it does have some fantastic moments, I just thought this story was far too similar to other films, without much new to offer.

In terms of storytelling, Bumblebee strips away the overly complex narratives that this franchise gave us throughout the last decade and truly makes a very simplistic story between a girl and her robot, and what consequences may arise from that. Comedy is subjective, but I sadly felt some of the same dumb humour very present here. Although the action is much more visible and the emotions are real, they're undercut by some cringe-worthy lines of dialogue. Not that this ruined the movie for me, but it did take me out of the experience at times.

As far as the cast goes, Hailee Steinfeld continues to act circles around each and every cast member that she has to work with. Whether it's her devoted performances in movies like The Edge of Seventeen or her fun attitude throughout the Pitch Perfect movies, I've always enjoyed her on-screen. This may be her best performance yet, but this is not the point I'm trying to make. With a central character as well-performed as Charlie, the rest of the cast definitely falls by the wayside, with a big asterisk on John Cena. While I like him in comedies, I just don't believe he can pull off real drama. As the head military officer, his dialogue was either meant to be cheesy and laughable or serious, which I felt came off as more comedic than dramatic. I know that this is the tone they were obviously going for, but it really didn't work for me.

In the end, fans of Transformers will get a kick out of the action and average moviegoers will more than likely be able to latch onto the human characters and actually care about them this time around. This familiar story makes for a much stronger film in the Transformers franchise, but it doesn't feel all that original. Although I enjoyed watching this movie for the most part and can recommend it to all ages, I don't think many risks were taken to spice up this stale story. Bumblebee has some great moments throughout, but as an overall film, it didn't impress me enough to warrant a glowing recommendation.