Movie Review - (TF6) Transformers Bumblebee

[optimus1]

I saw it in an early session on Saturday -

That first couple of Minutes 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
Just wow! That opening for me completely rectified all the shortcomings of the Michael Bay-isms.

We had to suffer to get this, but I'm so relieved it was done right.

I ended up watching it with my sis, she's a closet Transformers fan as well (we are both kids of the '80s).
She was excited to see Arcee! "SHE'S NOT A BIKE!"

This movie really did have heart, hopefully a sign of the way the universe can move.

It was also PG! Can actually recommend it to parents, I know of many out there not allowing kids to watch Transformers due to the violence and other graphic, non family friendly content 😢

[GoktimusPrime]

Yup. When I show Bayformers to my daughter I have to either...
* Actively "censor" parts by muting the TV when bad words are about to come on, skipping scenes or covering her eyes.
* If it's in the cinema, covering eyes and ears at certain scenes (I always watch it first without her).

I didn't even bother showing her The Last Knight. But Bumblebee is a movie that I want to take my family to see!

[klystron]

I really enjoyed this, more than I thought I would given TF4 and 5). Has a bit more kid-orientated appeal (which is fine), and a semi-decent (if somewhat unoriginal) story as opposed to the previous 6. The Charlie-BBee relationship managed to get some emotional investment from the viewer, which was nice.
Yep, as others have mentioned - it had heart.
I think the best thing I can say about this movie is that my 11 yo daughter actually wanted to see it, we watched it together, and she loved it. As far as I'm concerned, that speaks volumes.
I didnt really know who Hailee was, but she did a good job and is arguably the best hoomun character so far. (Ok, maybe tied with Simmons...)
Soundtrack was awesome. Looking forward to getting a copy of that!

The toyline is a bit of a let down compared to whats in the movie. We get tons of crap for the past few movies, but no decent figs for this so far? (Maybe theres some coming - I'm not really up to date with global TF toy news...)
Mind you, this movie has made me realise that I need a VW Beetle Bumblebee in my collection now.

I rank this equal first alongside the 2007 movie which, despite its flaws, had real impact as the first live action movie (and because Blackout).

[GoktimusPrime]

Someone told me that they weren't impressed with John Cena's acting and didn't expect much from him because he's a wrestler... but surely being a wrestler makes you an actor! Aah, wrestling... possibly the only sport where the professionals are fake but the amateurs are authentic.

And yes, I'm aware that pro-wrestling has never claimed to be authentic wrestling; it always disclaims that it is a form of entertainment.

[GoktimusPrime]

Took my family to watch it today (obviously my second viewing). Better (but ideally) behaved audience; some minor chatting but not overtly terrible behaviour as with my first viewing. This allowed me to pay more attention to certain parts of the film, such as:
* Noticing Judd Nelson
* Noticing Arcee
* Now I know what the hell Bumblebee's mission was
* Understanding how Jack Burns changed his mind about Bumblebee
* The reason why Charlie and Bumblebee had to part ways - very reminiscent of her G1 counterpart
* There's a scene where we see Memo reading a Gobots book. There are also 2 posters of the Fourth Doctor on his bedroom wall.
etc.
Most of these would be details that I would've picked up in my first viewing if certain audience members would've kindly shut the hell up and stop playing on their freakin' phones (and thus causing a distraction with the back light).

Something else I noticed but not sure about - in the scene where Bumblebee stops at the cliff where Charlie meets the bullies who dare her to dive into the water, there's a small hatchback parked next to Bumblebee. I couldn't make out the make and model of that car, but admittedly I'm not a real car person. it looks to me like it could be a Mazda 323 or possibly even a Ford Laser. If it's a Mazda 323 then it could be an Easter Egg reference to Bumblejumper. Or I could be wrong on either count - again, I'm not a real car person... just hoping that it might be an Easter Egg.

Other things that struck me as weird/funny:
* When Shatter and Dropkick land on Earth and wipe out the truck, neither of those rednecks bother to see if the driver's okay. The dude is solely concerned about his car and the lady is more concerned about herself.
* When the S7 guys returned to the base and wanted to enter the hangar where Bumblebee was holed up in... why did they blow up the door with explosives? Are they unable to open the door to their own base?

[Dan]

I'm a bit late to the party but I only saw it on Boxing Day (traditionally for me a day of getting a few friends along to a movie). We went to the Jam Factory, there's a Cotton On there, and I got the G1 re-issue Swerve for $7:50. It's is a peculiar experience to be in a busy fashion store and walk out with a nerdy toy at 1980s prices. And then I walked into the cinema and back into the 80s...

I very much enjoyed Bumblebee. Most of what I could say has been said already, and I appreciate how thoughtful so many of the reviews here have been. However I will add a few comments...

Some of my favourite G1 episodes, like Autobop or The Killing Jar, have small casts of both robots and humans, so I felt in advance that I would like Bumblebee, and I was right. This shows that sometimes less is more, even in an effects-laden action flick.

The result of that smaller scale, however, was that its universe somehow felt bigger. In contrast, most Bay-directed movies feel overfull and yet the universe itself seems strangely small and empty. Also, the San Fransisco area and those lovely coastal vistas helped give the whole thing a sense of grandeur beyond what effects alone can offer.

I still like one Bay-directed movie - Transformers from 2007. It has a few things that Bumblebee lacks. One is a sense of mystery - the alien robots are slowly revealed to us as the movie progresses.

Another is the sheer thrill of seeing live-action transformation for the first time. Of course that virtue would always go to the movie that was made first (in some ways I wish that the first ever transformation sequence I had seen in my life was the one of Bumblebee in the garage and I particularly love how it references the tendency of Transformers to have faces staring at the ground in alt-mode).

In many other ways, however, it is what Bumblebee lacks that makes it far superior to pretty much every Bay-directed movie, such as crassness, nastiness and messy editing.

I'm happy it was PG as this should be something imaginative kids are allowed to see by conscientious parents. To err on the side of caution, I would even substitute liquefying guns for the classic glowing disintegration ray effect, for the sake of the squeamish. Those two Decepticons would still have been menacing without grossness.

The heroes were great. Bee was heart-tuggingly pathetic at times but we understood why - this creature was traumatized and utterly lost. This made his lack of voice poignant rather than just cute.

Charlie was a sympathetic character but also a very useful one. Her contribution to the final battle shows how a small and overlooked ally can be vital to victory.

I left the Jam Factory feeling satisfied and even moved, as did my non-fan friends. Bumblebee is my favourite of this movie series to date.

[GoktimusPrime]

Comparing designs between G1, Bayformers and Bumblebee.

[Dan]

Comparing designs between G1, Bayformers and Bumblebee...

Thanks for those images.

I notice that all the Bumblebee movie characters share with the Bayformers a more detailed look, with some exposed mechanics, but that is to some extent what happens whenever more time and effort is put into the look of Transformers.

I noticed the other day, looking at the Transformers The Movie (1986) scene of Starscream's coronation, how much extra texture and hints of underlying anatomy Starscream has, just because they invested more into some scenes of the movie than in the cartoon.

Otherwise, the classic characters in Bumblebee owe much more to the cartoon than to what has come since, with the exception on Bee himself.

Bumblebee maintains the chest-bonnet transformation scheme of his future self, and that characteristic face, but he's been cleverly altered to more clearly evoke his G1 self. One thing I really like is his battle mask, which is rather insectoid, but also reminiscent of the mean G1 toy face.

An interesting question is which aesthetic Shatter and Dropkick belong to. They reminded me a bit of Age Of Extinction Lockdown, with a very human form. However, Lockdown gave me the 'uncanny valley' creeps, while these new Cons do not.

[jazzcomp]

Soooo... do people think it is really Optimus driving across the Golden Gate bridge at the end, or am I the only thinking it was just a visual easter egg for the fans... as Bumblebee just drove past him, and Optimus didn't appear to be on Earth until after that scene.

Actually... I think it would have been better to see the VW Bumblebee driving past that sort of truck just before he changed to a Camaro, to really be a really nice nod to Gen1.

Loved it. It definitely looked like G1 prime

The song "The Touch" is so nice to be inserted.

[GoktimusPrime]

Otherwise, the classic characters in Bumblebee owe much more to the cartoon than to what has come since, with the exception on Bee himself.

Bumblebee maintains the chest-bonnet transformation scheme of his future self, and that characteristic face, but he's been cleverly altered to more clearly evoke his G1 self.

Actually, the bonnet chest thing did happen in the 1980s due to some artists being more creatively liberal and not sticking to the prescribed design as closely as others. I used to have a colouring in activity book that I got in 1985 that had this image on it:

One thing I really like is his battle mask, which is rather insectoid, but also reminiscent of the mean G1 toy face.

Also something that was inspired by G1, as in evoking the original G1 toy. This was something that Dreamwave Productions first did, to explain why their Bumblebee had both the toy-accurate and showlike G1 faces. Michael Bay then emulated this in the live action movies and of course Knight has followed suit. But its an homage to Bumblebee's original G1/Microchange face.

Bumblebee's battle mask has always been a throwback to the G1 toy, but Travis Knight's Bumblebee mask is the most G1 accurate looking one in the movie continuity thus far. It's almost as if Bumblebee is a Transformers movie made by a fan for the fans.