Bumblebee Movie Review
Source: IMDB
Review: “Bumblebee” Becomes the Perfect Holiday Treat!

We grew up watching a pretty good Transformers movie down to a very bad one (the Mark Wahlberg one is terribly bad). In 2018, when “Bumblebee” spin-off was announced, we were a bit skeptical and feared that it will be another Michael Bay’s man-made disaster. When the director turned out to be Travis Knight who did an amazing animation film called “Kubo and The Two Strings”, we became less negative. The “Bumblebee” film timeline went before Shia LaBeouf marched to town with a Camaro slash Bumblebee he found. The original comic which was created in Japan clearly stated that Bumblebee first transformed into an old VW Beetle, so this time it followed suit. The film started off with an ongoing war in Cybertron, the planet that hosts both Decepticons and Autobots. Fleeing their home in search of a safe haven, Bumblebee was tasked to go to earth and established a base before the rest of Autobots troops could join him. It first encountered armed troops of the United States led by Agent Burns (John Cena) when it fell to the earth. Seeing Bumblebee (or B-127 then) as a threat, they tried to shoot and captured it.

A Decepticon found Bumblebee and forced him to tell where the rest of Autobots hid to no avail from the yellow soldier. The Decepticon eventually broke the voice of Bumblebee that made him voiceless. Albeit managed to beat the Decepticon, Bumblebee was still seen as a threat by US soldiers which forced him to transform into a VW Beetle that made him end up on an old junkyard. On another scene, there’s Charlie, an 18-year-old teenager played by Hailee Steinfeld whose father died two years ago. Living with her mom, brother, and a stepfather became her own kind of hell because no one understood her as her late father did. For her 18th birthday, all she wanted was a car, but her mom refused to give her one. So, she found her own way to an old garage where she stumbled upon a malfunctioning yellow VW Beetle. She brought it home for free, without knowing that it was actually an Autobot. While mending the Beetle in her garage, Bumblebee chose to reveal himself that becomes one of our most favorite scene from the movie. Both clearly showed their fear to one another and Bumblebee comically expressed it through his gestures.

Bumblebee Movie Review
Source: Paramount Pictures

Charlie and Bumblebee became good friends, where they could tell secrets and hidden feelings. Charlie helped him to find back his voice through old records and radio station. While Bumblebee’s signal was activated that meant as a sign for his Autobots friends, Decepticons found it first and tracked him back to earth. With the help of a clueless scientist that works for the US the army, Decepticons used humans’ technology combined with their own to search for the yellow soldier and declared a war that will take place on earth. Throughout the whole film, we were truly entertained by all the dialogues, scenes, and the fighting. Unlike Bay’s Transformers who look too sophisticated to the point of cheesy, the whole Transformers’ look more humble and less machine. The sound effect also went perfectly, so their transformation process and fighting scenes didn’t look tacky. Plus, this film offers nostalgia for 80’s rock music aficionado. You could hear music from Hall & Oates, The Pretenders, The Smiths, when Charlie casually sported t-shirts from Elvis Costello and many more. It was a holiday treat for almost all ages, especially those who read the comic books. “Bumblebee” single-handedly returns our faith to this franchise. Watch it on cinemas near you!