Bumblebee [2018] review

I enjoyed Bumblebee, but it wasn't without its flaws.

While the first Transformers movie was supposed to be about "a boy and his car" according to Spielberg, this movie was definitely about "a girl and her car" almost to a fault. Hailee Steinfeld felt genuine and true to the character. Her overall arc was well done. I wish there was a little bit more meaning to her final "heroic" act instead of just the act itself.

As for the rest of the cast, they didn't get much development. It's not like I needed more about (Steinfeld) Charlie's family, but they seemed poorly written to almost non-existent. They were really only needed for one part towards the end. Thankfully they didn't have Michael Bay cringe-worthy dialogue, but some of that went to John Cena and the doctor character. The guys at Collider said John Cena was acting like he was in a Bay movie and I agree with them. I appreciated his effort, but he was a little too much. He did have one or two good one-liners. The boy neighbor and mean popular people weren't really needed and didn't add anything to the movie for me.

To echo the sentiments of other critics, the G1 stuff was great and there's no reason why we couldn't get that in the first place. If this was the first ever Transformers movie, people would have lost their mind. It's kind of like serving your guests burgers for the past 11 years when you have a fridge full of filet mignon the whole time.

As for the connectivity from this movie to other movies, there are some plot holes, but Bay's movies are so full of holes that this one kinda fits with them in that aspect unfortunately.

This movie was good for Travis Knight's first time and we'll see if he gets a second shot at it and where things go from here.