Review of Bumblebee (2018) by Joel R — 12 Jan 2019

Here's the thing. When I was ten years old, I went to the movies and saw Michael Bay's Transformers. I enjoyed. It was visually entertaining and had some fun action sequences.

Looking back at them, I can say for sure that the movies are bad....I was ten. C'mon.

That been said, Bumblebee is the proof that maybe a fresh take or vision of someone else might be the right choice because this is the best movie since Transformers, might even be the best in the franchise. Granted, that doesn't say much. The Transformers franchise is the most successful awful movies ever, but Bumblebee feels like a fresh movie.

Travis Knight, you did it. You made a good Transformers movie. The unexpected happened. He directed a movie that screams fun all around. He already had one of the most beloved Transformers characters in Bumblebee, so it wasn't hard to make him sympathetic. But what he succeeded, other than the very well-done action sequences, is in the character of Charlie. Throughout the movie, you learn more about her character, and why she feels so connected to Bumblebee, and that relationship gave the movie a more heartfelt feeling, and made Charlie a more compelling character.

The movie can seem something that we've seen before. Given the whole storyline of an alien coming down to Earth and bonding with a human, while the military is trying to hunt the alien down. Movies like E.T., Super 8, or even Paul. They follow a pattern that Bumblebee also follows. Fun fact. These previous four movies mentioned are either directed, produced or voiced by Steven Spielberg.

I was genuinely surprised by Bumblebee. It was a fun ride from start to finish. It doesn't try to be a serious movie or tries to set up a sequel. It knows what it wants to be and succeeds because of that.