Hmmm… Rebooting Transformers… I wonder, why would someone do that? I hope you get the sarcasm because this is a spoil… I mean review about Bumblebee.
Let us begin. The war rages in the planet Cybertron. The Autobots lose the battle from Desepticons. Coming very early, the first “what the f@&%” lies in the appearance of Optimus Prime. Why and how does he have the appearance of a firetruck when earth is too far away and “hidden” from their planet and we assume that mankind is not yet discovered by the Transformers race? However, plus one point for bringing a female soldier in the front-line.
So, Autobots’s leader, Optimus Prime, sends our protagonist and soldier, Bumblebee, to earth in order to protect the planet until Autobots arrive and establish a base. When Bumblebee arrives he fights with an enemy Desepticon, so we assume that the enemy soldier sends a signal and earth gets discovered by Desepticons as well. No? Alright movie, lets continue.
Everyone who starts watching such a movie knows that Transformers, well… transform. Mainly they have automobile transformations. The disguise of Bumblebee when he arrives at earth is a SUV and then a beetle. Not very bad-ass for a fighter but a sweet transformation nonetheless. This is the reason for the connection of our second protagonist, a young and troubled teenager girl. Ok girl, you do not like your new step-dad but she tries a lot to have a nice relationship with you, so maybe not be a b!tc#? Thinking that her music rocks, both figuratively and metaphorically and that she fixes cars no matter how clumsy she is, it is a lose-win scenario about her personality. Social side skills of the girl as a protagonist do not blow away the main theme of Transformers because they are kept short and to a minimum.
Second “what the f@&%” moment, is when the girl finds out about her car being Bumblebee. She gets shocked. Her reaction in the first 2 minutes is to hide it from her mother. Who in his right mind would hide the existence of a huge and probably alien robot when he does not know if it is hostile or not?
Do you realise that if Bumblebee remained hidden no bad sh!* would happen? Well, I chose not to realise it, because the plot is cool. Anyway from the perspective of the viewer, a nice relation and series of events is unraveled. The girl’s teenage life and the final acceptance of her new family member through the final part of the movie is well implemented based on the theme of the movie.
The enemy Desepticons act smart by trying to appear as the good guys to the mankind having a fresh twist in a Transformers movie. Strong and intelligent enough to believe that Bumblebee is threatened, but with weaknesses to show Bumblebee stands a chance to at least slow them down.
Finally, plus 2 points for skipping the cliche kiss and letting Bumblebee follow his own path. Generally a pleasant movie to cover the personality of Bumblebee and keep an interest about the rest of the Transformers.
Favourite quotes:
“Optimus Prime: Old friend, you kept this planet safe. Because of you we have a future, B-127. Bumblebee: My name is Bumblebee.”
“Memo: The darkest nights, produce the brightest stars.”