BUMBLEBEE: A Laika-Inspired Transformers Movie Packed with Artistic Action, Effective Humor and Plenty of Heart

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi

Produced by: Michael Bay, Don Murphy, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Tom Desanto

Directed by: Travis Knight

Written by: Christina Hodson, Kelly Fremont Craig

Production Company: Paramount Pictures

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider     

Runtime: 113 minutes                        

SYNOPSIS: 

 

Set during the 80’s, Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) discovers a new car on her 18^th birthday, which transforms into a Transformer robot/an Autobot Bumblebee (voiced by Dylan O’ Brien). Separated by race, yet the unlikely friends manage to find a connection through common struggles. Unbeknownst to Charlie, Bumblebee is a key piece to the survival of both the Transformers and human race, which brings the couple in conflict with military man Agent Burns (John Cena) and Autobots’ foe the Decepticons. 

REVIEW: 

If there is a franchise that is responsible for the word “critic-proof”, it is the Transformers franchise. Ever since action movie director Michael Bay brought Hasbro’s most iconic robot action figures to live-action blockbuster life back in 2007, the Transformers franchise has gained the reputation of being a movie studio’s greatest dream and critics’ worst nightmares. Critics certainly didn’t mind the first Transformers movie, but it’s really with the sequels where the bad blood began. And to this day, it’s the kind that seemingly is not showing any signs of reconciliation. For almost a decade since Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (2009) rubbed critics the wrong way, they continue posting negative reviews after another in an attempt to stop the studio from making more Transformers movies. And since three more sequels followed Revenge of the Fallen, it proves that their letter of disapproval fail to convince the audience. 

Whatever the critics say, the Transformers franchise always had the Midas touch. The fact that Revenge of the Fallen became the highest-grossing Transformers movie in the North American market with $ 402.1 million and Dark of the Moon (2011) became the highest-grossing in the worldwide market with $ 1.12 billion sums up why the studio keeps making more Transformers sequels with Bay at the helm. The studio doesn’t really care about making good films, as long as they are making profits at the box office. 

Profit was something that the previous installment the Last Knight (2017) didn’t have. In the North American market alone, it grossed a record low $130 million against a $ 217 million budget (the series’ highest). If a run of critically-derided movies isn’t enough for the studio to change their ways, then a financial disappointment certainly is. 

And change is the precise word to describe the latest Transformers movie Bumblebee. A spin off, yet technically the sixth Transformers installment, its trailer suggests a movie that is somehow uncharacteristic of the brand. It’s a two and half minute sneak peek where any trace of Bay’s over-stylized, more action-driven storytelling is gone, and in its place a grounded, more character-driven one. Like so many tired franchises’ attempt at a fresh start, the Transformers franchise has to prove its worth once more, to see whether Bumblebee’s change in style and tone is the right direction for these movies. 

Based on the action alone, Bumblebee is the best in the Transformers series so far for one fundamental reason: Michael Bay isn’t directing these movies anymore. There is no denying Bay’s talent as a visual director, but there is also a reason why the masses invented a genre using his namesake (Bayhem). There is a reason why people associate Michael Bay with the word “mayhem”. 

Watching Bay put together action sequences, particularly the robot v. robot showdown in these Transformers movies, is equivalent to watching a car crash. On a CGI and pyrotechnics standpoint, they’re well-rendered car crashes. It’s clear that the people Bay hired to design the robots and integrate them into the live-action environment as well as set up the explosives to blow things up to smithereens are professionals. The CGI and pyrotechnics are never the problem. There’s never a moment in Bay’s Transformers movies where the CGI looks out of place or the bazillion explosions look in any way fake. 

But still, a car crash is a car crash. It’s basically just two or more hunks of metal coming together, creating noises and maybe, a few sparks or fire, but there’s no rhythm, no aesthetic to such imagery. Even seeing that level of carnage played out through multiple angles and slow motion doesn’t help make them prettier. Sure, chaos and noises are an important part of an action sequence, but it should just be a small part of it, not the whole thing. Certainly, in the Transformers cartoon, the robot v. robot action isn’t just about the chaos and noises. With every clash of metal and every missiles fired, they were fashioned in a way that resembles visual poetry, meant to be admired. It’s an element that’s absent in Bay’s live-action movies. 

And so, it makes sense that the perfect man to recapture the cartoon’s spirit is none other than Travis Knight, a man whose heart and soul breathes animation. He established himself as one of the groundbreaking visual poets out there through Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). Given his first crack at a live action movie here, what Knight does with the action sequences, he provides the Transformers franchise with something it never imagined needing: a bit more Laika. If there is ever a best way to describe Bumblebee, then it is really Transformers with a taste of Laika animation, in the sense that the robotic fights this time around had more grace, elegance and artistic value than any of its predecessors. 

Such directorial style is evident already from the opening Autobots v. Decepticon battle sequence in Cybetron. In theory, it’s a sequence that’s like any other Transformers movie where robots fight. However, the big difference is Knight’s preference on the art over grandeur. How the Transformers bob and weave through laser fire, missiles and swaying planet in this movie is like seeing the gorgeous origami sequence in Kubo recreated, this time with metal replacing the paper, but just as artistic. 

Like in Kubo, there’s so much energy in Bumblebee’s imagery in a way that teeters closer to mind blowing rather than mind numbing. For one, the Transformers here have brighter skin than Bay’s. And when they butt heads, the scene looks more alive with a variation of colors clashing rather than just a blur of gray metal. Talking about blur, at last, there’s no more slow motion editing as the Transformers here prove that they’re just as cool when they move in normal speed. And it’s clear that Knight is influenced by Laika’s stop-motion animation in the way he animates the Transformers in action, which further helps make looking at the action feel like looking at an artist at work. Every barrel roll, every back flip, and basically every Transformers’ action hero move on display here looks like it’s crafted by a man who treats even the slightest stroke of paint with care, as opposed to just throw a bucket of paint over them and wait and see what sticks. 

Inspired by Stranger Things’ success with nostalgia, the Transformers franchise is the next to ride the 1980’s bandwagon with Bumblebee traveling back to that particular era for its latest adventure. For most parts, the movie does a fine job in transporting the audience into the 80’s culture and lifestyle. It doesn’t quite fully commit to the proposed 80’s conceit, since a lot of the movie takes place in valleys or suburban homes where it’s really hard to be sure whether what’s taking place is in the 80’s or not. But at the moments when the movie decides to commit to the 80’s conceit, it gets very little wrong. 

Whether it’s an accurate depiction of the 80’s only the people who truly lived through the 80’s know, but Bumblebee toys with the masses’ general idea of what the 80’s is: this bright, colorful, idyllic world that best describes a fun party more than a time period. And Knight’s idea of the 80’s aesthetics doesn’t shy away from such perception. It’s easy to look at the hair styles, fashion choices and people’s mode of transportations and say that they look 80’s, but the same can also be said for the landmark choices. The rainbowy lighting and decor thrown on the amusement park setting here are so distinctive in a way that it’s the kind that only exists in the 80’s. 

However, nothing screams 80’s in this movie more than the pop culture references, displayed through its selection of music and movies that’ll get the old timers crooning and reminiscing while the millenials scratch their heads. After all, an 80’s tribute movie does not earn such title if it does not reference John Hughes’ the Breakfast Club (1985). Besides its use of 80’s references for visual purposes, the movie also successfully connects the references with the story and character development. The musical choices here aren’t just for the sake of having music play in the background of a scene, as it is also imperative in fleshing out the characters, for instance how a song connects with Charlie’s past memories. Going back to the Breakfast Club scene, even the sight of Bumblebee watching the movie, raising his fist while mimicking Judd Nelson’s freeze frame pose, are enough to bring to light the human quality of such an extraterrestrial creature. 

But really, what’s surprising about Bumblebee is its emotional story. It’s in this area where female screenwriters like this movie’s duo of Christina Hodson and Kelly Fremont Craig excel over the men. As the saying goes, it is about the man behind the gun who makes the bigger impact than the gun itself. It’s a saying that’s reflected in this movie’s lead human character and the human lead’s relationship with Bumblebee. Sure, on the one hand, the humans aren’t the main reason why people go see these movies. On the other, if the studio persists on making more live-action Transformers movies with the human characters at the center of it, the least they can do is make them people worth spending time with. 

And here, spending time with Charlie Watson and her family and friends is worth as much as watching the robots fight. At last, a Transformers movie has a lead human character that feels, in a way, human. In an era that begs for more stronger female representation in movies, this is just what the Transformers movies, a franchise known for its sexist perspective on women, needed: a strong, independent yet very relatable heroine in Charlie. With Charlie, Hodson and Craig have created a teen heroine that isn’t like the typical teenage girl character. She is not the kind of teen movie girls who spends day and night mooning over a boy. And surely, she is not the kind of girl who would do whatever it takes just to impress the hottest guy in school. 

Hodson and Craig realize that real-life teen problems extend beyond just crushes. Charlie here deals with something much deeper, the kinds that people of all ages can relate to: grief, identity crisis. It’s really her close-to-home arc about a teenage girl trying to find her place in the world and overcome trauma that makes the character feel grounded and real. The duo further showcases neat writing with Charlie’s character in two scenes involving her run-ins with water, which beautifully sets up and wraps up her aforementioned arc. 

Even the human-robot relationship in this movie comes off as more sincere and well-developed than its predecessors. It really helps that the movie sidesteps the franchise’s action-packed formula for a more character-driven story. It’s more dedicated to showing Charlie sweetly and comically trying to teach Bumblebee human customs than an hour long robot action set-piece, and as a result, the more time spend with their relationship, the easier it becomes to feel the two’s human connection. 

As much as Bumblebee sets the Transformers series on the right path, it is by no means a perfect movie. It is a movie that is so inspired by 80’s movies aesthetically and tonally to the point that, almost inadvertently, it feels like a beat-by-beat remake of the most popular movies of that era. In this Transformers installment, Hodson and Craig explore the human-Transformers relationship in a way that’s akin to an alien contact family drama. Nothing represents alien contact family drama and the 80’s better than Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Extra Terrestrial (1982).  

Fortunately, the similarities aren’t as blatant as Gus Van Sant’s 1998 shot-by-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960’s Psycho, but to those who had seen E.T. many, many times would have figured out what happen with the rest of Bumblebee’s story. Hodson characterizes its two leads as misfits in their own respective races, in a way that is similar to how Elliott (Henry Thomas) and E.T. are misfits in their own respective races. By then, it is easy to say that John Cena’s government agent character Agent Burns is a bulkier version of the man with the dangling keys (Peter Coyote) from that same movie. Beyond character traits, there are a lot of character moments here that feels like a semi-recreation of the famous scenes in E.T. Take the scene where Bumblebee is clumsily exploring Charlie’s family’s house (which is in the trailer, by the way). It’s a sweet, funny moment, but it’s a moment that’s already been done before. Put Bumblebee scene side-by-side with the one where E.T. is exploring Elliott’s family’s house’s fridge, then it is hard to tell the difference. Or take the scene where Bumblebee is mimicking Judd Nelson’s pose from the Breakfast Club, which is similar to how E.T. uses pop culture to learn about human behavior. As a Transformers movie, such a personal approach to a movie about fighting robots indicates one that takes a big risk, but without the Transformers brand, it doesn’t take as much risk to distance itself from the E.T. comparison. 

Still, a live-action Transformers movie just isn’t complete without a military subplot. It doesn’t take as much focus here as it was in Bay’s movies, but so often, Bumblebee cuts back and forth between the main coming-of-age story involving Hailee Steinfeld and then the side story involving military men like John Cena. As separate pieces, they’re entertainingly told. Together, they don’t flow as smoothly as perhaps the filmmakers would have liked. 

They are two stories that feel like they belong in two different realities, but two that are so contrastingly different that they never reach a meeting point. Steinfeld’s scenes are so grounded and real in a John Hughes’ 80’s teen drama kind of way while Cena’s scenes are so cheesy and campy in a Sunday morning cartoon kind of way. Sometimes the movie lurches from a touching story of grief and human connection between a woman and an alien to an 80’s action movie with tough guys cracking one-liners. Talking about Cena, is he supposed to be as tongue-in-cheek as he is in the movie?  If Agent Burns is a character meant not to be taken seriously, then the movie succeeds. If it’s the other way around, then the movie fails miserably as everything Burns does in this movie is both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious, even in the serious moments.  

Hailee Steinfeld leads the live-action cast as teen misfit Charlie Watson, and she gives uncharacteristically the series’ most compelling performance. At the same time, she is also blessed with such a fierce, independent heroine that feels very different than any other movie’s teen heroines. It’s a role that requires a lot more than the typical Transformers lead, in the sense that it requires an actress who can shift freely from quirky to emotional while making it all feel human altogether. No one can transition from funny to dramatic naturally than Hailee Steinfeld. She convinces as both this quirky young woman who performs crazy antics in front of a mirror while brushing her teeth and this grief-stricken young woman who cannot get over her father’s death. Her humanity also helps sell the emotional aspect of her relationship with Bumblebee, or in other words a CGI character.  

   

John Cena contributes to the production with a supporting role as the human villain Agent Burns, and he gives quite an entertaining performance. In truth, Burns has very little to no character depth. In the Transformers world, he is just the ordinary military man walking in and out of frame, just like the many military men that came before him. But he does his job well. In a way, it’s a role that tailor-made for him in the sense that it utilizes his comedic and 80’s action hero charm. Like the military men that share the screen with him, Burns is so cartoonish, tongue-in-cheek with the things he say and the way he conducts himself. Even half of Cena’s lines here are one-liners, and as one-liner machine, Cena channels Arnold Schwarzenegger circa Commando (1985) so masterfully and hilariously.  

CONCLUSION: 

Bumblebee is Transformers with a taste of Laika animation and it’s a whole lot fun. Travis Knight finally delivers mech battle sequences that are worth a damn and artistic value as well as a coming-of-age meets alien contact drama story packed with humor and heart. 

Score: 9/10