Michael Bay promised a continuation of the Transformers franchise, even after stepping away as director after last year’s Transformers: The Last Knight. Paramount Pictures have had Bay’s back, despite less than stellar reviews and waning domestic box office numbers. Why? This franchise is an absolute beast in the international market, earning almost 4x what it has brought in domestically. That’s big money and it’s an amount that can’t be ignored. And to keep things fresh, a new direction is being taken. The scope will be narrowed with the introduction of Bumblebee.
Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) is a teen trying to find her way while still feeling the effects of losing her dad. On the cusp of adulthood, her life is about be changed in profound and unimaginable ways. While searching for a car to assist in getting her from point A to point B without dealing with the embarrassment of a motorized bike, she makes the discovery of a lifetime. The beat-up VW Beetle that she stumbled upon in a scrap yard turns out to be more than meets the eye when she get’s it home. The autonomous robot is obviously not from Earth and is certainly here for a reason, but what? A special branch of the government has their own agenda, as does two other visitors to our planet. What begins as a curious companionship soon turns into a battle for our planet’s very survival.
Bumblebee dives right into its story and just keeps going. With Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Pamela Adlon, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and John Ortiz handling the human side of things, arguably some of the bigger names were only heard throughout. This includes Dylan O’Brien (Bumblebee), Justin Theroux (Dropkick), Angela Bassett (Shatter) and, of course, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime). Hailee Steinfeld does a solid job as the independent, yet vulnerable lead. Her energy is well placed as the driving point of this film. Things often get better with time, and in the case of the special effects, your eyes will reaffirm this point. The transformations of the Autobots and Decepticons are silky smooth and done at a speed that won’t drive you crazy. Earlier in this live action franchise, there was a struggle in getting the balance just right. Now it would seem that the bugs have been worked out.
The big debate with Bumblebee is whether it’s a prequel or a reboot. Having had the fortune of already watching this and time to really toss the idea around, I’ve come to the solid conclusion that I don’t know. The beauty of watching the fun-infused feature is that, at this point, it doesn’t really matter which category it falls in. The events that occur in this film happen during a time that wasn’t covered in the five Transformers films that were directed by Michael Bay. Since the plot takes place in 1987, a prequel label fits. The fact that Peter Cullen has once again voiced Optimus Prime doesn’t hurt this line of thinking.
The other side that tips the to the favor of a reboot would be that Michael Bay has handed the reins over to Travis Knight, who now serves as the director of Bumblebee, while Bay exists solely as producer. It’s also worth mentioning that Peter Cullen’s voice can be heard in just about every animated version of Transformers so it stands to reason that he’s simply ALWAYS there. The fact that there are no obvious mentions of human characters that are also in the Bay movies also helps promote the idea of a reboot. One could also easily argue that this could be the birth of a whole new spin-off/extended universe movement!
The bottom line is that we’ll know when someone in the know decides to talk about it. From a business perspective there’s no reason to commit one way or the other at this point. The freedom that Paramount Pictures has at this juncture is that they can steer the narrative in whichever direction that serves the success of the franchise. One thing that’s for sure, fans are going to eager to keep this franchise going, thanks to the success and enjoyment of Bumblebee.
Depending on where you first introduced to this franchise, Bumblebee may be more enjoyable to you than others. I, myself, got in on the ground level all the way back in 1984. The feelings experienced while watching this latest movie in theaters, rivaled those felt all those years ago as a kid. And if you didn’t start watching until these later Transformers, or even if this was your first, this is still a great choice to take the family to enjoy in theaters this December. Enjoy the action adventure sci-fi in theaters now.
