Review | Bumblebee film review: Transformers spin-off is franchise’s most character-driven outing yet
- With more humour and heart than any of its predecessors, this film never lets the action swamp the story
- Set in the 1980s, the film’s soundtrack is stuffed with tracks from the likes of Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, A-ha and The Smiths
3/5 stars
Watching the first moments of Transformers spin-off Bumblebee, you could be forgiven for thinking the franchise’s regular director Michael Bay was back in the hot seat.
Set on the faraway planet of Cybertron, a battle rages as Autobots leader Optimus Prime sends his fellow robot scout B-127 to Earth to hide out before the evil Decepticons discover their whereabouts. It’s loud, garish and typical of the five Bay-directed films based on the Hasbro toys.
Yet Bumblebee lacks the signature carnage of Bay’s films. Directed by Travis Knight, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated stop-motion fantasy Kubo and the Two Strings , it’s an origin story with more humour and heart than any of its predecessors.
The year is 1987 and when B-127 makes it to Earth, he’s soon being chased by a military posse led by John Cena’s muscular military agent, until he hides out. The next thing we know, teenager Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) has discovered a dusty old yellow VW Beetle in a junkyard. It is B127 in disguise, of course.