DIRECTOR: Travis Knight
STARRING: Hailee Steinfeld, John
Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon
PRODUCER: Lorenzo di Bonaventura,
Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy. Michael Bay
SCREENWRITER: Christina Hudson
BASED ON: Transformers by Hasbro
MUSIC: Dario Marianelli
GENRE: Sci-Fi Adventure
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures
COUNTRY: United States
LANGUAGE: English
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
Technical
assessment: 3.5
Moral
assessment: 3.5
CINEMA
rating: VA
MTRCB:
G
The
Autobot is about to lose the Civil War against the Decepticons. In an effort to
live another day and continue the resistance, the Optimus Prime, their leader,
dispatch a scout to Earth to set up a base where they can regroup. However, the
scout is mistaken as a hostile invader by the military, led by Col Burns (John Cena)
and attacked by a Decepticon scout who destroys his voice box and memory in an
ensuing battle. Before the Autobot scouts loses consciousness, it takes the
form of a 1967 yellow Volkwagen Beetle. Meanwhile, a teenager Charlie (Hailee
Steinfeld) is very unhappy because her mother and younger brother have quickly
moved on from the death of her father. Moreover, she dislikes her new
stepfather, feeling he is constantly overreaching. She impulsively buys (actually receives it a
birthday gift) the rundown yellow Beetle and attempts to fix the car. She wakes
it up and accidentally activates its homing signal which alerts Decepticon
rangers. Unable to speak, the Autobot uses high pitched sounds prompting
Charlie to nickname him Bumblebee. Charlie finds a friend in clumsy but
endearing Bumblebee. She gets into trouble when her mother blames her for the
destruction caused by Bumblebee’s clumsiness. With the government and the
Decepticons chasing Bumblebee, Charlie decides she is the only person who can
help her friend. A struggle takes place with Bumblebee saving Burns and
defeating the Decepticon. The film ends with Bumblebee taking the shape of a
Camaro and Charlie letting him go as she realizes “Bee” has a greater purpose.
Bumblebee is a brilliant
choice for a solo movie since his character was the most endearing and iconic
of the Transformer franchise. Providing him with a backstory was a sure
blockbuster—if only the storytelling was as strong and tight. Thankfully,
Steinfeld brought life to the movie. She was energetic and enigmatic enough to
stand Bumblebee’s clumsy gentle giant persona. However, after a few cutesy
moments together—one begins to feel the weight of an overstretched scene. After
a while, it gets dull and repetitive. The conflict was predictable yet the
action packed sequences with the robots transforming from one machine to
another effortlessly did not lose its magic—even to non-fans. No doubt the editing and CGI effects were
enough motivation to watch the movie. It tried to be an “E.T.” with the
friendship and heart-breaking goodbye—but it just did not get there. Overall, Bumblebee
would have been more effective as a short film. Without the need to stretch it
into a full length feature, it could have developed more focus and tightened
the narrative.
The movie, like its
predecessors, talks about love and sacrifice as a powerful motivation to go
through pain or death, if need be. It shows how one will do anything and
everything to protect the ones they care about—human or machine. Bumblebee also
shows how real love pushes us to protect and save people who are out there to
harm us. And with such action, the original hate transforms into gratitude and
love. There is also an underlying theme of being attentive and sensitive to the
needs of others, especially our family. Charlie’s feelings were constantly
neglected by her family causing her to find solace in Bumblebee. Fortunately,
her “friend” provided positive influence. Otherwise, she could have been
another troubled rebellious teenager.—PMF
