Bumblebee

Bumblebee is a prequel to Michael Bay's Transformers series. Set in 1987, Cybertron is under attack and Optimus Prime sends Bumblebee to Earth to find a safe place for the Autobot faction to recoup. When Bee arrives on Earth, however, he is attacked by humans and Decepticons, leaving him in dire need of recovery. It is then that Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) finds this beat up VW Bug in a junkyard, and takes it home to return it to its original glory. What she finds instead is unlike anything she ever could have imagined.

Critics and moviegoers alike are raving that this is the best Transformers to date. They are thanking Travis Knight (the director) for returning Transformers to its original glory. Micheal Bay is out, Travis Knight is in...or is he? My opinion? It was good, but just good. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the best one ever. I'm also not a Transformers franchise person. I've seen all the movies, but that is as far as my Transformers knowledge goes, and I did enjoy this movie. I just didn't love it.

I couldn't get past the fact that the Transformers looked really...sorry to say it...fake. When the movie starts, we are on Cybertron watching the battle take place. I felt like I was watching a cartoon. From there forward I couldn't stop seeing the unrealistic nature of all the Transformers. One thing Michael Bay did right was make the characters feel real. They weren't a cartoon character stuck into our world next to Hailee Steinfeld. When Optimus Prime picked up Shia Labeouf, he looked like he was picking up Shia Labeouf. He was real and he was there. Bumblebee was so opposite of that that it brought my whole experience down a couple notches.

 

Other than that, the movie was simply OK. I don't have any other major complaints. The story was good, and I was glad to learn about Bee's past. You see how he lost his voice and how he learned to live without it, and you see two beings learn how to be happy when they feel like all is lost. It is a beautiful story, I just don't see it continuing from there. Unless they remake the whole series, this one ends where the first one begins. I don't see Travis Knight making a sequel unless it has to do with other prequels. I guess, we will see?

IMDb rating:  7.3/10
RottenTomatoes:  79%
Hayley:  6-6.5/10, cute doesn't cut it for me these days, especially when I prefer Shia over Hailee...