Bumblebee movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Bumblebee

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 114 minutes (This is the shortest of all the Transformers movies)

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B (the perfect score for this movie, right? BEE)

IN A NUTSHELL: If you’re a fan of the Transformers franchise, you’re probably happy to see a prequel origin story of sorts for Bumblebee. If you’re not a fan, then you’re probably asking, “Why?” I’m a fan, BUT. One of my biggest complaints of the previous movies is that the action and fight scenes are so fast and full of a jumbled clash of metal that it was hard to see what was really happening. THAT HAS CHANGED.

This movie is directed by Travis Knight who has slowed down everything, softened the storytelling, and given us a Transformers movie with tenderness. It’s a nice change of pace. You even get to see the transformers transform more slowly so that you can appreciate every movement. That softness can also be attributed to the fact that the movie was written by a woman, Christina Hodson with a rewrite by another woman, Kelly Fremon Craig. While Michael Bay didn’t direct this Transformers movie, he did stick around to produce it. Believe it or not, this is Travis Knight’s first live-action film. Well done! If this movie does well, it looks like we’ll have a sequel to this spin-off of the franchise.

THEMES:

“People can be terrible about things they don’t understand.” – Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld)
“Music can help you say what you’re feeling.” – Charlie
Friendship
Revenge
Loss of a loved one
Fear and courage

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

The movie takes place in 1987, so young kids may not be familiar with things like a Walkman, records, VHS videos, cassette tapes, Pong, Tab, Miami Vice and Alf. You might even want to introduce your family to the funny The Alf Collection: Season 1-4
Lots of Sci-fi violence, destruction, and explosions
Robot torture and deaths
People with bloody wounds
Cleavage, sheer fabric on some women’s clothing
A man blows up into a liquid substance when a Decepticon shoots him. The transformer says, “I like it when they pop.”
There are some really mean, snotty girls who are jerks to Charlie.
Some profanity.
A mom drinks wine and some teenagers hold cups that are presumably filled with alcohol.
People say cruel things to each other like “I will personally rip your face off.”
Car = freedom
Charlie’s mom says, “Tell me things some time. I’m your mother.” She is super busy and doesn’t have much time for her daughter. Moms, let your kids know they’re your priority. They won’t be around forever.
A “white trash” couple argues about how the husband tried to sleep with the wife’s sister. I guess that was supposed to be funny, but it wasn’t to me.
There’s a realistic arc that shows the evolution of the relationship between a step-dad and his step-daughter.
Some teenagers toilet paper a house. Product placement shout-out to Charmin. ha ha Toilet paper is fine, but eggs are just mean.
Just in time for Christmas presents…

THINGS I LIKED:

Hailee Steinfeld is such a great actress and is at that age where she can convincingly play a teenager and a college student. I loved her depth in True Grit (2010) and The Edge of Seventeen and her comedic timing in Pitch Perfect 2
Bumblebee’s expressive little horns, gentler eyes, and faceplate are so much more charming this time around. You even get to hear him speak! We learn why he couldn’t speak in other films too.
So many movies seem to be referencing The Breakfast Club lately. You should check out that classic. I thought it was cute what they did with the last scene in that movie with Bumblebee.
There are some very sweet moments when Charlie and Bumblebee hug.
She wears a blue-collar shirt that has the name Dutch on it. We don’t learn who Dutch is, but it caught my eye because I had an uncle Dutch who drove a big rig for many years until he passed away. He was hilarious and would say funny things like, “Hot dog! I swear y’all!”
Female transformer!
Awesome San Francisco. I’m going there next week!
The audience laughed when Memo tried to hold her hand and she said, “Oh! Yeah, I’m not quite there yet.”
I always get a kick out of John Cena in movies. He’s just so huge and makes the perfect Mr. Military.
I couldn’t wait until Charlie turned off her alarm every morning. I hate that sound. I love waking up to my Amazon Alexa because she plays me music and I don’t even have to touch a button. Yay!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

There are some super clichéd lines in the movie, like “Take us to your leader.” Funny or lame?
Sometimes it really drives me nuts when the writing is lazy. For example, Charlie asks Memo to take off his shirt so she can use it to cover her eyes to show off while she’s driving the car, but she’s actually wearing two shirts in that scene, so it just seems like a dumb attempt by the writer to get teenage girls in the audience to squeal with delight at a topless teenage boy. Another random thing that drove me nuts was when Charlie drove on her moped to catch up to her mom who was driving a car and then she just leaves the moped on the street to drive off in the car.
A kid barfs. Ick. (Played by Jason Drucker)
Charlie’s runny mascara towards the end of the movie was super distracting.
Memo? What kind of a name is that? Jorge Lendeborg Jr. was fine, but the character seemed like just a diversion.
I’m not sure whether to put this item in “Things I liked” or “Things I didn’t like.” Basically, this movie’s plot is E.T,The Extra-Terrestrial. I loved E.T,The Extra-Terrestrial, but I also appreciate fresh, new storylines.

FUNNY LINES:
* “They literally call themselves ‘Decepticons.’ That doesn’t raise any red flags?” – Agent Burns (John Cena)

“Did you just kiss me?” – Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.)

“On the cheek.” – Charlie

“Still counts.” – Memo

“Are you kidding me? Are you telling me you could have been a Camero this whole time?” – Charlie Good choice. Cameros were sooo popular in the ‘80s. My high school boyfriend used to always rent a Camero when we would go to Prom or the Christmas Ball.
“You sound like a bee. I’m going to call you Bumblebee from now on. It matches your outfit too.” – Charlie (My sons always laugh at me when I call clothes “outfits.” It’s definitely a girl thing.)
“You still working on that dam_ car?” – Uncle Hank (Len Cariou)

“You still working on that personality?” – Charlie

Want to revisit the other movies in the franchise? Here you go. Just click on the movie posters!