Bumblebee (Dir Travis Knight, 1h 54m)

They did it. They actually went and did it. Something vaguely associated with Michael Bay's cinematic aberration that itself bears a vague similarity to beloved Hasbro toy franchise, Transformers, is not just a competently watchable film, but one that is entertaining, treats the Transformers franchise with the respect missing from the franchise for years, and focuses on the believable bond between stranded AutoBot, Bumblebee, and an emotionally lost teenage girl, Charlie, as they battle forces to find their place in the world.

Taking place in California in the late 80s, complete with soundtrack of 80s hits, from the Smiths onwards, so the fatherless Charlie is struggling to find her place in the world, and after finding a bashed up yellow VW Beetle that eventually reveals itself to be defeated and badly injured AutoBot Bumblebee, now hiding from the dastardly Decepticons who soon arrive to hunt down Bumblebee, so
she begins to bond with the machine.

And this is by far the best thing about a film with a lot of good things about it-there is more than a touch of Spielbergian charm about the budding friendship between Charlie and Bee, from their initial meeting once she recovers Bee, and the autobot comes to life in her garage, with both unsure what to make of the other, before Charlie begins to help the autobot get to grips with the world around him, and to protect him from both human and Decepticon forces that seek to destroy him for information about Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

Charlie, for her part, is better than any previous Bayformers protagonist to date; a well written sarcastic teen still recovering from the loss of her father, and angry at her mother for remarrying, despite all the things around her, from the car she worked on with him to his records and tapes colouring her own musical taste, and his absence is felt throughout the film in a subtle and well-written way. Moreover, Charlie talks like a normal teenager, acts and dresses more like a normal teenager than a previous Bay protagonist, (thankfully), and has a tough resourcefulness to her in all aspects whilst working alongside Bee, who she is shown to be protective towards-she is thus a refreshing change in all respects from the previous Bay heroes.

Bumblebee, for his part, is a likable, if largely silent hero; whilst we start to see the familiar radiohopping that makes up Bee's language towards them end of the film after a decepticon cruelly rips out his voicebox midway through the film's first main action scene, this is clearly the character at an earlier point of his existence, growing from a rather defensive figure, slow to trust anyone but Charlie herself, and having entirely lost his memory, to a truly selfless defender of earth, as well as a key friend and ally to Charlie, protecting her in several key scenes.

Pitted against them are John Cena, (for it is he, proving, much as Dwayne Johnson has already, that his acting chops do not merely stop at comedically playing themselves-Jack Burns, Cena's character, and the rest of Sector 7. quickly begin to hunt down Bumblebee, but their allying with Shatter and Dropkick, a particularly nasty duo of Decepticons (the film even smartly points out that they should think again about working with creatures that call themselves Decepticons), begins to unravel as the Decepticons take advantage of the military to enact their own plan. For the part of Shatter and Dropkick, they're an enjoyably nasty duo, who act as excellent foils to Bumblebee, and who, even without being big-name Transformers, add a sense of menace to proceedings.


What Bumblebee is, in essence, is a smarter, tighter, smaller Transformers story-whilst the good elements of Bay's earlier films are present, in some places, the fight scenes actually benefit from the simplicity of the action, with only one-on-one or one on two fights meaning the shots are uncluttered, and from Knight's background in animation with Studio Laika, with more emotion and pathos throughout. Even the fights on Cybertron, the Transformers' homeworld, introducing cassette armed Shockwave, are better paced and shot than the confused and overcomplicated shots of Bay's films

But most of all this is a film far more emotionally fluent than anything Bay was ever capable of-there is a warmth, a 80s childrens' movie's charm to Bumblebee, a film in which a girl is saved by her car, and the car saves the world. Bay could not make a film so charming, could not make a film that riffs off the 1980s that birthed Transformers, could not be as smart and fun  as this. And that is the crux, this is why Bumblebee is sitting at the highest critical rating a Transformers' film ever. It's fun. Beautifully effortlessly fun.

Rating: Highly Recommended