Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movies are a lot of things:
loud, incoherently plotted, ridiculous, vaguely racist. But one thing they’ve
never been is sweet. Now along comes the comparatively small-scale prequel
“Bumblebee,” with its pleasant nostalgia and actual characters we care about.
The new film is a major departure, stripping away the previous films’
impenetrable mythology and Bay-tastic excess while
adding some genuine emotion and family-friendly fun. It’s a welcome course
correction for a franchise that until now has been kind of a mess.
The story is set in 1987, and follows Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), a The Smiths-loving tomboy with a knack for
mechanics. Living with her well-meaning mother (Pamela Adlon),
stepdad (Stephen Schneider), and younger brother, she’s still mourning the
death of her father, even as rest of her family have taken the first steps
toward moving on. She’s also desperate for a car for her 18th birthday, and
checking out the prospects in the local junkyard, she sets her sights on a beat
up, bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
We already know, however, that Beetle is really Bumblebee, a
transforming alien robot in disguise. We’ve already seen him flee a massive
battle raging between the Autobots and evil Decepticons on the distant planet of Cybertron,
homeworld of the Transformers. But after crash
landing on our planet and fighting off some Decepticons
who’ve followed him, the robot has suffered serious injury, losing his voice
and memory in the process. Taking her new car home to her garage, it’s not long
before Charlie discovers the vehicle’s secret, and some robot alien/human
bonding ensues.
Hoping to prevent Bumblebee from falling into the wrong
hands, namely a pair of evil Decepticons hot on his
tail and a Special Forces soldier (John Cena) who
believes the massive robot to be a threat to national security, Charlie has her
work cut out for her. Luckily she gets some assistance from her geeky next door
neighbor, Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), who eagerly
joins her cause.
Picking up the directing reigns this time around is filmmaker
Travis Knight, the CEO and lead animator for stop-motion animation studio Laika, and director of the studio’s “Kubo and the Two Strings.”
Knight is a child of the 80’s, and it shows. The narrative is based in a sweet 80’s
nostalgia, keeping with the era of the original toy line these films are based
on. But thankfully, he keeps the winking 80’s references to a minimum. And to
his credit, there are several moments where the film truly feels like something
that might have been released during the era it’s set
in.
Knight and writer Christina Hodson
aim for a Spielbergian, “kids on bikes” adventure
story. As more directors who grew up on Spielberg’s films are given the keys to
their own big-budget franchise flicks, we’ve gotten a lot of directors turning
in their own version of the Amblin-style family action-adventure picture, and
it’s bordering on old hat at this point. But Knight does a remarkably good job
as recreating the feel of films he’s paying homage to.
Knight’s background in animation lends the film a strong
visual sense and attention to character that helps make “Bumblebee” the best
Transformers movie by a mile, though it’s admittedly not a high bar to clear. Steinfeld makes a likeable lead, and the decision to center
the story around a broken family unit (another Spielbergian
touch) yields some genuinely touching moments.
Knight and Hodson bring an
agreeable sincerity that’s been missing from Bay’s films in the series and
thanks to their earnest approach, against all odds “Bumblebee” ultimately
succeeds by finding the beating heart beneath the machinery.
This article appears in Rochester Ten 2019.
