Film Review: "Bumblebee" (2018).

"Every Hero Has a Beginning." This is Bumblebee. This science fiction action film directed by Travis Knight, written by Christina Hodson, based on the Transformers character of the same name. It is the sixth installment of the live-action Transformers film series, and is the first live-action Transformers film not to be directed by Michael Bay. On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.

In mid February 2016, it was announced that the sixth film in the Transformers series would be released on June 8, 2018, which was later revealed to be an untitled spin-off, featuring Bumblebee. However the release date was moved to December 21, 2018. In mid November, Deadline reported that Paramount Pictures was moving forward with the project with a script penned by Christina Hodson, one of the female writers Paramount and Michael Bay hired in the "writers room". In early March 2017, Deadline reported that Travis Knight would be making his live-action directorial debut. Beating out Chris McKay, Seth Gordon, Jaume Collet-Serra, Rick Famuyiwa and the Nee Brothers for the director's chair. In May, it was announced that it would be titled as Transformers Universe: Bumblebee, and it would be set in the 1980s. By late July, Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon, with Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, and Peter Cullen had rounded out the cast. In the same month, with a budget of $128 million, principal photography on the film began. Filming took place in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, under the working title Brighton Falls. In early November, filming wrapped 6 days ahead of schedule. In the same month, the film was revealed to have changed its title to Bumblebee: The Movie.

The film stars Steinfeld, Cena, Lendeborg Jr., Ortiz, Drucker, and Adlon, with O'Brien, Bassett, Theroux, and Cullen in voice roles. The cast proved to be a refreshing and major improvement over the cast in previous installments in the series.

While a perfect Transformers film is hard to come by, Bumblebee proves to be a refreshing and exhilarating addition to the Transformers series. It is the best film in the series so far, mostly because, unlike the previous films, it's undeniably a whole lot of fun. Unlike Bay, director Knight gives the robots a believably rendered scale and intimacy. It has a real sense of wonder, one of the things that's missing from so much of the big CGI lightshows released these days. It's a big, cool, non-stop action powerhouse that's a lot of fun. It's also shorter by an hour and it left my ears unaffected. The film gives you pretty much exactly what you always wanted from a Transformers movie. Finally! It's about time!

Simon says Bumblebee receives:

Also, see my review for Kubo and the Two Strings and Transformers: The Last Knight.