Nothing was cooler than Transformers when I was a kid. I still love robots, in fact, but in spite of this, I'm not one for nostalgia. If a movie or product is bad I will not let sentimentality colour my perception, which seems rare to me nowadays, as people tend to defend their interests at the fanatical level. Don't believe me? Say that a Marvel or Star Wars movie *could* have been better (or that you're not a big fan of the series in general) online and watch as an alarming (and hilarious) level of hostility comes your way. Anyway, it's with a heavy heart that I say that I went into Bumblebee really wanting to really like it, but it's only above average... but you know, average still isn't bad.
What sets this Transformers movie apart from the others is the emphasis on story and characters. The other movies were three-hour long explosion fests. Bumblebee instead is slower-paced, taking its time to tell a story about a grieving, outcast girl connecting with a lost creature from another world. The relationship between the two works, and it's sweet: the relationship is not like a friendship between two people but more like one between a person and a cat. Bumblebee can't speak, he huddles into a corner when afraid, and he leans into the girl's hands, which is cute. At this point in the movie, Bumblebee has lost his memory, so neither he nor the girl realize what a powerful soldier he is. We get a taste of this awesome potential when she is threatened late in the movie and he switches into kill mode, with red flashing eyes. It made me think of the "You are not a gun" scene from The Iron Giant: but the scene does not carry the gravitas or spectacle that it could have.
What's missing is the spectacle of the other Transformer movies. I forget which Transformer movie it is now, but there was one film that featured the Constructicon robots merging together to form a titanic Deception called Devastator. That knocked my socks off when I saw it, years ago, in theatres: no matter how bored or annoying you find the other Transformer movies, Devastator's transformation into a metal titan was impressive. Bumblebee unfortunately features nothing really like that in this film. The closest we get to that level of spectacle are the scenes of Cybertron, with the war raging, but those are fleeting and over too soon.
However these Cyberton scenes give us some fantastic the cameos. It was a treat seeing Soundwave, Shockwave, Starscream, and Thundercracker on the big screen, in their proper, G1 forms: and Soundwave spoke in his vocoder voice: joy, joy, joy (I really am not one for nostalgia, honest, but hearing Soundwave speak in his real voice made me smile). I wish we could have seen more of the G1 Transformers on screen.
The CGI is as cool as always; watching the Transformers transform is always a delight; but during climactic fights that characters move / animate so quickly it's hard to keep up with what's happening. And, the entire movie has kind of a slow build. There's a whole subplot featuring some "mean girls" that could have been cut out entirely, helping with the pacing of the film.
But whatever. This is still the best live-action Transformer movie to date. It's not average, it's *above* average, and I hope we see future Transformer movies made in the same vein. More G1 robots, please, more Soundwave and his cool voice, more humans in wonder, please, please, please. Filmmakers of Allspark Entertainment, here is a homework assignment for you: watch and re-watch Pacific Rim for that sense of wonder.
What sets this Transformers movie apart from the others is the emphasis on story and characters. The other movies were three-hour long explosion fests. Bumblebee instead is slower-paced, taking its time to tell a story about a grieving, outcast girl connecting with a lost creature from another world. The relationship between the two works, and it's sweet: the relationship is not like a friendship between two people but more like one between a person and a cat. Bumblebee can't speak, he huddles into a corner when afraid, and he leans into the girl's hands, which is cute. At this point in the movie, Bumblebee has lost his memory, so neither he nor the girl realize what a powerful soldier he is. We get a taste of this awesome potential when she is threatened late in the movie and he switches into kill mode, with red flashing eyes. It made me think of the "You are not a gun" scene from The Iron Giant: but the scene does not carry the gravitas or spectacle that it could have.
What's missing is the spectacle of the other Transformer movies. I forget which Transformer movie it is now, but there was one film that featured the Constructicon robots merging together to form a titanic Deception called Devastator. That knocked my socks off when I saw it, years ago, in theatres: no matter how bored or annoying you find the other Transformer movies, Devastator's transformation into a metal titan was impressive. Bumblebee unfortunately features nothing really like that in this film. The closest we get to that level of spectacle are the scenes of Cybertron, with the war raging, but those are fleeting and over too soon.
However these Cyberton scenes give us some fantastic the cameos. It was a treat seeing Soundwave, Shockwave, Starscream, and Thundercracker on the big screen, in their proper, G1 forms: and Soundwave spoke in his vocoder voice: joy, joy, joy (I really am not one for nostalgia, honest, but hearing Soundwave speak in his real voice made me smile). I wish we could have seen more of the G1 Transformers on screen.
The CGI is as cool as always; watching the Transformers transform is always a delight; but during climactic fights that characters move / animate so quickly it's hard to keep up with what's happening. And, the entire movie has kind of a slow build. There's a whole subplot featuring some "mean girls" that could have been cut out entirely, helping with the pacing of the film.
But whatever. This is still the best live-action Transformer movie to date. It's not average, it's *above* average, and I hope we see future Transformer movies made in the same vein. More G1 robots, please, more Soundwave and his cool voice, more humans in wonder, please, please, please. Filmmakers of Allspark Entertainment, here is a homework assignment for you: watch and re-watch Pacific Rim for that sense of wonder.