Bumblebee was... pretty good!
Holy shit, they made a good Transformers movie, didn't see that coming. Unlike the mainline Transformers films that strove to outdo each other with increasingly ridiculous world-ending scenarios, Bumblebee does something Michael Bay himself seems incapable of, it exercises a modicum of restraint.
Taking cues from the excellent animated film The Iron Giant, this film opts to spend a much larger chunk of its run-time focusing on the character’s relationships. Gone are Bay's juvenile sense of humor, kaleidoscope action scenes, and bloated casts of one-dimensional stereotypes.
The humor is still pretty lame in this film, opting mostly for slapstick sight gags to get the kids giggling rather than anything clever, but it's a hell of a lot more endearing than the obnoxious edgelord garbage from previous films. The action scenes are finally shot from a respectable distance so you can actually follow what’s happening. The transformers manage to differentiate themselves with distinct move sets and design.
The CGI is also better than what came before by keeping things a little less ridiculous the effects look cleaner and smartly executed. The number of characters is definitely trimmed down and while they are clear archetypes meant to again appeal to a younger audience they are actually fleshed out. Charlie is given a significant amount of depth that is explored throughout the film feeding into her rather satisfying if predictable character arc.
This film is far from an ambitious foray into experimental film-making, but it's familiar beats and plot don't prevent the excellent presentation and solid writing from creating something worthwhile anyway.
7/10 Make Giant Robots Great Again
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