Bumblebee Is Remarkably Robust

There is no doubt that Transfomers is successful as a toyline. The cartoon adaptations have been both a hit (Transformers:Prime) and miss (Beast Machines). The movies, to put it delicately, have been severely underwhelming and gotten worse with each new entry. After helming every live-action iteration of the robots in disguise, Micheal Bay steps down as director and hand's the reigns to Travis Knight, fresh from his success of the stop-motion action fantasy Kubo and the Two-Strings.

Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) meets Bumblebee. 

The war between the Autobots (the good Transformers) and the Decepticons (the bad Transformers) has left their home planet Cybertron uninhabitable. Lead by their leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), the Autobots retreat into the far reaches of the galaxy to find a new base of operation. Cut to Earth in the year 1987, Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld from Pitch Perfect) gets an old yellow Volkswagen for her eighteenth birthday. She quickly discovers her car to be an Autobot, a rookie who she names Bumblebee (Dylan O 'Brien from The Maze Runner in a quick voice cameo). As the two begin to form a friendship, it isn't long before the military and the Decepticons track him down.

The first Transformers movie to tug on my heartstrings. 

Transformers fans rejoice! Bumblebee achieves of being the first good Transformers movie. I know the first movie from Micheal Bay has its fans but after repeated viewings I found it equally as bad as the rest. Gone are the annoying side characters, women being oversexualized, misrepresentations of cartoon characters, vulgar jokes and the multitude of mindless explosions. Knight and his team do what should have been from the beginning of this franchise by capturing the best elements of the cartoons from the character growth of the heroes and the action-packed battles.The bond between Charlie and Bumblebee is one of the best human and transformer team-ups in the film series thanks to Steinfeld's performance. While the story has been done to death like The Iron Giant and E.T., I didn't mind it too much seeing how it was the main component sorely missing from the franchise.

John Cena as Agent Burns.

For once, the supporting cast isn't annoying. John Cena is a military agent hunting Bumblebee but we understand his reasons for distrust. Pamela Adlon and Steven Schneider are Charlie's goofy parents who are ten times more tolerable than the the last goofy but irritating parents of the past installments and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. steps in as the likable friend and possible love interest for Charlie who discovers her Autobot companion.

Bumbleebee on the run.

Bringing his keen eye on detail and demonstration, Knight makes the Transformers look better and more real than ever before; I wouldn't be surprised if set-pieces were used in certain scenes. The action is glorious. It's sleek, clear and and focused that you can tell every robot apart.

Decipticon Shockwave in his original design.  

Eighties nostalgia continues to trend including a playlist of eighties hits that I didn't mind. Given the setting and time period it was a perfect opportunity to appease fans, by redesigning a majority of the Transformers with their classic Generation One look from when the franchise first launched.

It's Blitzwing not Starscream. 

There are a few gripes though the first one is a nitpick. I know this being a standalone movie on Bumblebee but I wished we could have seen a few more Transformers onscreen. All we get are the few who do a quick cameo in the prologue. This leads to the Decipticons that we do spend time with as the main villains: Shatter(Angela Basset) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux). Both are powerful adversaries for Bee to face but didn't leave much of an impression. Blitzwing (David Sobolov) another Decipticon who tracks down Bee was more memorable that I wished we spent time with him as the lead villain.

Bumblebee and Dropkick brawling as Charlie makes a run for it.  

Bumblebee is step in the right direction and while it can get corny at times and rely heavily on a familiar story troupe, I'll take this over any of the past five movies we have had. Really hoping this is more of a reboot/prequel than an actual spin-off in the Bay-formers timeline. 

Final Verdict: B