Bumblebee

The 504th film I have seen in theaters…

The best Transformers film to date.

In 1987, Autobot Bumblebee travels to Earth to establish a base for his people to regroup. He befriends a young woman named Charlie and they work to save the planet from the Decepticon threat.

Hailee Steinfeld plays Charlie, who finds, repairs, and names Bumblebee. She carries the movie quite well.

John Cena plays John Cena.

Jorge Lendborg Jr is Charlie’s neighbor, and secret admirer, Memo. He was delightfully geeky.

Unlike the action-gasms that were the first 5 Transformers films, this reboot brings the story back to reality and allows the young leads to bring some character work to the story. They were largely successful. The action was great, with some amazing effects. The designwork on this film is near perfect. The Transformers are allowed to look like their cartoon/toy originators. The 1980’s setting immediately brought the nostalgia with some of the best music of the decade. They completely nailed the set/costume design as well. Some of these scenes, particularly at the amusement park, were seemingly taken from my childhood. This is a good movie, and the best of the series. I hope they are allowed to continue the reboot.