To make the story short: Bumblebee is the BEST transformers movie to date. A tremendous work by film director Travis Knight which has created precise entertainment recipe consists of metals, emotions, tears, 80s hits, great cinematography and high octane action sequences.

Storyline (in short): On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle­scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug. For the rest, go and watch the movie.

Transformers movie no. 6

‘Bumblebee’ is the sixth in the franchise. The other five were directed by the high octane blockbuster action master, Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. First of all, in my opinion, this is by far the best transformers movie to date. Don’t get me wrong, I admire Michael Bay (even so he is one of the most defamed directors in Hollywood). Bay has set new levels in term of cinematography. Many copycats have been trying to mimc Bay’s genius style of shooting action and complex camera movements. You may dislike him, but almost every action movie implements his methods. Bay has invented new cinematography methodologies. However, regarding the Transformers franchise, seems that Bay has failed to hit the exact spot of the Autobots (or Decepticons) fans. Too much metals, complex transformations and explosions, less known transformation sounds and unfamiliar Autobots. Somehow, Bay made this a lot more of everything, which caused a mismatch.

Director: Travis Knight. Producer: Michael Bay

‘Bumblebee is like a fresh start, directed by Travis Knight, who was noticed with his first feature film Kubo and Magic Armor, named the Best Animated Film category at the 2016 Oscars. Travis is known for his work as a producer and director of animation successes. In other words, Knight arises from the animation world than live action. ‘Bumblebee’ was his big jump to deep water (literally – see the movie).  The selection of Oscar-nominated animated feature film director is well observed in the movie. The animated characters are immensely emotional which amplifies the main idea of the movie: The bond between a human and machine. Bay made it far more complex (too much from everything). Knight on the other hand, made it simple and created a world that brought us to our 80s.

Check out the Hailee Steinfeld Featurette by Paramount Pictures:

The selection of Oscar-nominated animated feature film director is well observed in the movie. The animated characters are immensely emotional which amplifies the main idea of the movie: The bond between a human and machine

Back to the good old 80s

What does it mean “brought us to out 80s”? Let’s take for example the filmmakers’ decision to portray Bumblebee as a mid-’60s Volkswagen Bug that may seem like a strange choice to some, but this model was the character’s original configuration in early stages of the Transformers timeline before morphing into the more muscular Chevrolet Camaro in later movies.

This is not only correct for Bumblebee but for other Autobots and Decepticons as well. You actually can guess which is which. Autobots were always cars, Decepticons were always aircrafts. Knight has simplified the robots structures by preserving the look from the original Transformers TV series, and less like extremely complex metal giants. Furthermore, there are number of Transformers that actually can be recognized by their original design from the 1984 series. Among those are Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Soundwave and his cassette Ravage.

There are number of Transformers that actually can be recognized by their original design from the 1984 series. Among those are Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Soundwave and his cassette Ravage.

­Bumblebee’s budget compared to the other Transformers movies

Bumblebee’s budget is estimated at $128 million. For comparison, Transformers (2007) was designed for $150 million, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $200 million, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) $195 million, Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) $210 million and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) $217 million. Which means that  Bumblebee is the least expensive Transformers movie to date. Also, Bumblebee is a shorter movie (less than 2 hours, compared to almost 2.5 hours of the other Transformers films).

Tech Spec: No IMAX cameras

Since you are reading this review in Y.M.Cinema magazine, we must also shed some light on the cameras used to shoot the film. Actually, we wrote about it before. First, no IMAX cameras have been used, contrary to Bay which used IMAX 3D cameras (Transformers 3-5). Bumblebee was shot on “simple” cameras like the ALEXA Mini, and mastered in ARRIRAW 3.4K (less than 4K). However, I saw the movie on IMAX 3D theaters and it looks amazing. Go see it on IMAX 3D if you can.

Check out the video below to explore BTS (Behind The Scene) footage: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3IanPb49E

Soundtrack

­As said before, the film was delightedly wrapped in 80s hits . However, the original soundtrack scored by Dario Marianelli, making this the first time Steve Jablonsky has not scored one of the films in the franchise.

Action

Regarding the action sequences, it doesn’t mean that there is no action in ‘Bumblebee’. Contrary, there is a lot of action, but somehow it’s in the right dose. The spirit of Michael Bay hovers overhead the movie as the producer (together with Steven Spielberg), balanced by the emotional animation capabilities of Knight, which creates precise combination and visual impressive compelling results.

The spirit of Michael Bay hovers overhead the movie as the producer (together with Steven Spielberg), balanced by the emotional animation capabilities of Knight, which creates precise combination and visual impressive compelling results.

The movie is initiated by a marvelous and well directed action sequence describes the end of the civil war in Cybertron, the home of the Autobots and Decepticons. Optimus Prime (making only a brief appearance here) commands young soldier B-127 (Bumblebee) to get to Earth and protect it. 

From that point, you are going to feel like being in an emotional rollercoaster, explore delightful visuals and start a journey back to your 80s combined with music hits from the good old days.

It might become a classical, like E.T, crafted by extraordinary combination of visuals and story telling. That movie demonstrates the power of filmmaking.