Spoilers Bumblebee - Review and Discussion Thread

Grade: A-

I finally got around to seeing this and it is easily my second favorite of the franchise.
It does a lot to recoup that feeling that made the first TF('07) so good. About the only thing allowing TF1 to be better is it is the start of it all. This film ends with some inconsistencies (I know the proper TF sequels contradict themselves plenty or don't line up in places) but they can smooth those over in a sequel(s).

To boilerplate this they made Charlie an amalgamation of Sam&Milaela, loner family member whose family is a bit unique + the mechanical inclination of Mikaela. In this Memo is about forgettable and seems to only have the "girls are tough for me to figure out but will" trait of Sam from TF1.
Seeing a more raw Sector 7 with an intern Simmons was nice. John Cena's Agent Burns was as enjoyable to me as Captain Lennox.

My guess is that despite the positive WOM & RT score too many have been burned by this franchise, threw their hands up and just said "I'm done". I do think the WOM is finally winning some over cause otherwise it would've dried up already. It's pushing towards a 'break-even' at the US box office but has cleared $400m WW now, so sequel talk in some manner isn't out of the question now.

I'd like to see either a direct sequel set a few years ahead, maybe early 90s.
If not that then an Optimus Prime solo staring film.
I also really love the animated all Cybertronian War film the director talked about.

 

I think it's far more likely that they're just gonna use this as a soft reboot opportunity and basically ignore the other movies going forwards.

 

Uh, so? That's no excuse to not like it or enjoy it. Progress would never be made if people didn't do something just because another person did something similiar before. Sure, "too much of a good thing", can lead to an overdose or an addiction, st al. But usually, when people like something enough, they want more. Just because "Bumblebee" shares story elements with previous stories, is not a bad quality.

Think of food and beverages. Sex! Money.
"No thanks. I ate that once before and I drank that once before and I have had her before, and I have one example of currency. Why should I repeat those experiences or acquire more money? That's so boring it is daft! Show me something that doesn't exist yet!"

That's what such posts remind me of.

 

They should.

 

Uh huh. This is the part where you tell me exactly where in my post I said any of those things were a negative. Go on. I'll wait...

 

Been a few weeks since I've seen it. I really enjoyed it quite a lot, very entertaining. The first Transformers and Bumblebee are to me to the only really enjoyabe movies in this entire franchise, with the rest only being CGI porn and nothing more. This one really had a heart to it.

 

Hi! Oh, sorry if it seemed that I went too far, but I was repeating myself. The part to me that was a negative, was the part where you wrote that it wasn't a great movie, just an okay movie, and I gave it an A+ grade. To me, it is a great movie about a girl and her robot friend. A welcome change of pace from the usual boy and his robot story, that even exists outside of this particular franchise. ("The Iron Giant", comes to mind.) Would the "Pen Pals" episode of, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", count as a story about a girl meeting a android, at least?

But the parts in which you brought up what it reminded you of, seemed like a negative to me. Because, it would of course remind people of similar stories.
But I don't see such reminders as a negative in this case.

I hate to have my feelings hurt, so I try not to hurt others' feelings. So I may be oversensitive there, when it seems like others are being insensitive by posting a negative thought after a positive thought, and it seeming like it wasn't a negative.
Drat! I just got here! Time to close, and go recharge. Hopefully, I'll be back sooner. But "Solitaire" has most of my attention now that I can play it again. When I couldn't play games, I spent more time reading the forums here. Sigh. Bye for now.

 

This is the first Transformer movie I would feel comfortable taking kids too. Not perfect, not overly exciting or funny but it's a nice movie. Had a fangasm the first ten minutes or so. Was that Corey Burton's voice as Shockwave?

 

I was a little worried with the humvees and black tactical gear in the opening it wasn't going to feel very 80s but it settled nicely into a groove once it got going. (That stuff may have been present to some degree in the 80s but it's not the first thing that comes to mind). It's more Spielberg than Bay. It's a very solid if maybe not stellar breezy piece the whole family can enjoy. Basically, it kind of comes down to if that's what you're looking for or not.

I did like that it allowed a little leeway to the formulas such as the rich kid generally seeming excited to have Charlie dive with him and without having to make the stepdad a complete ass. Also in this day and age I liked that Cena's character was still shown as protective of Charlie even when he was being the baddie.

 

Wow, he's one talented voice actor. I thought I was listening to the 80's voice cast.

 

Finally saw it, and enjoyed it a lot. Easily the best of the live action Transformers for me. (Not hard, I grant you.) I feel like the opening on Cybertron should really have taken place during Bee's memory flashback later on, but other than that no complaints.

Watched the deleted scenes too and am very glad they cut the extended sequence where Bee caused a bunch of household appliances to come to life.

 

So have we gotten any kind of definitive statement on whether or not this is the start of a reboot? I haven't seen the movie, but from some of the articles before it came out, it sounded like it was left purposefully vague as to whether or no it was part of the same universe as the Micheal Bay movies or the start of a new one.
I just thought that since it's been out on home video now, and seemed to get a better reaction from critics and fans than the Bay movies did they might have made up their minds by now.

 

The movie itself is weird about it. Some things point directly at being a prequel, but other things flat-out ignore the Bay movies. (But then, most of the Bay movies contradict each other anyway, so that's nothing new.)

If we fans get a vote, I'd be down for a total reboot.

 

It's a soft reboot. They aren't totally erasing the previous movies (which is obvious by the look of Bumblebee) but it's a sort of restart. Hopefully with better direction and consistency.

 

Was at the video store today (yes, they still exist!) and saw this, lol
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9301884/

 

Gotta love those mockbusters. I always wonder when I see them how many kids ask clueless people for the big movie, and end up with one of these instead.

 

I'm always annoyed Star Trek was never deemed mockbuster-worthy.