Title: BUMBLEBEE
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Directors: Travis Knight
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Dylan O’Brien, Peter Cullen, Angela Bassett, and Justin Theroux
Runtime: 1 hours 54 minutes
Release date: December 21st (USA)
What It Is: An origin story of sorts for one of the most loved Transformers characters, Bumbleebee. The movie is set in 1987 and goes into details on how he is the way he is, from the vehicle he looks like, to the reason he doesn’t talk.
What We Think: I grew up in when the Transformers cartoon was at it’s peak popularity, and this movie gave me a lot of nostalgic feels, from the opening scene, to the use of THE TOUCH from the soundtrack to the animated Transformers movie from 1986.
The movie made great use of the music from 1980s including songs from The Smiths, Sammy Hagar, Simple Minds, and more.
Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie (who I’ve been a fan of since her role in TRUE GRIT) once again showed she is a great young actress. John Cena on the other hand should not be an actor, or at least get better acting lessons. Pamela Adlon (Charlie’s mother) and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (one of Charlie’s friends) both did good jobs in their limited screentime.
The fight scenes were terrific in my opinion, and hearing Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime again was great.
While Michael Bay did “produce” the movie, it did not feel like his Transformers movie at all, and for that I loved it even more.
Part of the reason my rating for the movie is so high, is because of the use of 1980s songs along with the nostalgic feel, and the fact this felt more like the Transformers movie we deserved compared to the Bay helmed ones.
Our Grade:4/5
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