Bumblebee

The Transformers under Michael Bay's control seemed to have grown stale and overwrought, no one really cared about them anymore, but newcomer Travis Knight made Bumblebee a very enjoyable film. Bumblebee is 80's retro as fuck, with an excellent 80's soundtrack, the amazing Hailee Steinfeld, who is turning out to be a great actress and singer, and it was a delight to see John Cena as a soldier. Bumblebee himself is as cute as ever. There's not so much action though, the film is more intimate, fateful, emotional and atmospheric, yet when it comes to the action it's filmed clearly, briskly and confidently. The scene where Bee escapes from the garage to her apartment is one of the film's funniest. Not a huge hit, but the Transformers franchise is going in the right direction and it definitely works much better that way. 75% (12/20/2018)

I didn't expect to be able to sell Trasformers as a fairy tale to my daughter, but I did! Dumb Bumblebee with no memory won her over by being scared, dancing and spitting tapes of crappy music. Travis Knight returned the brand to its roots and instead of Bayhem, he offers a nice story about a young girl's relationship with her VW Beetle. Hailee Steinfeld is very good, so is John Cena, and the others don't really need to be mentioned, except for my friend Paul, who almost destroyed the planet with his trust in bad aliens. Great action, nice music, bring in the sequel. (01/22/2023)

After the very first film, where the direct influence of Steven Spielberg was clearly evident, and out of the whole foursome, this third installment is for me the most enjoyable contribution to the whole metallized saga. What I like most about Bumblebee, which only references Spielberg here and there, is that it has real soul. The protagonist is not only pleasing to look at this time, but she's also natural and believable, and well, the rather big news for me was that I believed that a friendship really did develop between her and the revived yellow Volkswagen. It was more important to me than the otherwise pretty ridiculous storyline about people falling for the bad guys (although Agent Burns, played by John Cena, very commendably trashed it whenever he could). The gimmicky scenes were kept down to earth this time, and it was a good thing (remembering the last time Michael Bay literally drowned me with them still makes me a little sick).The only disappointment was Dario Marianelli's score – I thought his involvement was a rather odd choice, and whatever I think of Steve Jablonski, I like hearing his main theme. (08/05/2019)

I had only seen the first film of the Transformers saga in 2007 at the time of its release, so Bumblebee was a return to the franchise for me after more than a decade. Thankfully, Bumblebee isn't cluttered with visual effects and explosions compared to Michael Bay's films, so it all feels more uncluttered and doesn't make your eyes hurt. Basically, it's a fairly straightforward film with a straightforward plot and a clear ending that is blatantly reminiscent of E.T. through the main characters and the 80s look, but it was still nice to watch, the plot flowed, the action scenes worked, there was the occasional laugh out loud scene and there was a modest amount of relationship and family themes. An unpretentious diversion for the whole family that surprises mainly because of how nicely and pleasantly it is filmed. (01/21/2019)

By far the best (and clearest!) Film of the Transformer Universe. Which, on the other hand, does not say much about the qualities, as it is still a reprehensibly dressed uniform “wannabe consumer mix of ETho / Iron Giant / Herbie", from which it is difficult (if at all) to recall a specific scene or emotions. So, beyond the philosophical inquiries of inquisitive children, is it not too late four days before Christmas to write / draw and deliver a new letter to Santa, because “The bumblebee from the best film in the world" has to be under the tree, that´s for sure. However, Santa Claus was counting on this, so he can confirm first-hand that even an adult will have more fun with a plastic Bumblebee than with those two hours of CGI footage. (12/20/2018)