Bumblebee review - Transformers spinoff that dumps 'Bayhem' for old-school spirit

by Phil Hoad

 

Old school ... Bumblebee Photograph: Allstar/PARAMOUNT PICTURES/HASBRO

 

In a better, truer cinematic universe, Travis Knight would have been in charge of the Transformers franchise all along.

 

For this prequel/spin-off, the sixth in the series, the director gets under the hood of Michael Bay’s pumped-up blockbuster machine, and strips it down to something succinct, fun and sweet-toned.

 

Hitherto – with its two-and-a-half- hour runtimes, mindless plots, jive-talking robots and Victoria’s Secret casting–the series seemed to have been scripted by an AI that had done its deep-learning on Donald Trump’s Twitter feed.

 

Instead, Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) and writer Christina Hodson offer up a heartfelt, old-school, almost ET-esque story (albeit with the full CGI trimmings) of a teenage girl and her faithful protector: in this case, her Volkswagen Beetle-cum-alien footsoldier.

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/09/bumblebee-review-transformers-spinoff-that-dumps-bayhem-for-old-school-spirit

A movie for kids. What else to say ?