#I love B-127 he's just too much for this tired Shockwave

[feralpurple]

Aftermath of Meeting B-127

Shockwave has never been so grateful for how little Soundwave speaks

[ramblesandmumblesofanerd]

Rambling Reviews: Bumblebee [Spoiler-ish]

So, Bumblebee. The last time I talked about any Transformers movie was when I reviewed The Last Knight. To make a long story short, that film absolutely sucked. This had been a trend in the recent Transformers live action film, each new film seemed to be worst than the last in spite of any choices meant to spice up the film franchise. They felt too big, too rushed, too stupid, too...well, just too much. So, when a prequel for Bumblebee, a character whose presence has overshadowed Optimus Prime, was announced, you couldn’t blame me when I groaned. Then I noticed something: Michael Bay was not directing this film. Then the trailers came out and the characters had new forms reminiscent of the classic cartoon series. My interest was piqued, and would continue to be stimulated by everyone praising the film upon its release. So, is a prequel about a voiceless Autobot who turns into a Volkswagen Beetle really that great? Well, let’s find out.

The plot of this film is mercifully simple: Cybertron has fallen into chaos due to a civil war between the destructive Decepticons and the heroic renegade Autobots. Optimus Prime orders an evacuation of the planet, scattering his troops to random locations while assigning Bumblebee, known as B-127 on his homeworld, to head for Earth and establish a safe haven for his fellow troops. Bumblebee arrives only to discover the Decepticons have followed him and want the location of his Autobot brethren. So, the Autobot scout hides in the form of a Volkswagon, but gets discovered by a teenage girl named Charlie. Now, Bumblebee must protect her while she protects him from being discovered by Transformer and human threats alike.

The characters are definitely much more tolerable in this film. In previous live action Transformers films, their personalities were somewhat jaded, tired and angry even during the more comedic bits. In this film, while no character is always upbeat and positive all the time, their other emotions are not drowned by angst and anger. The human characters have significantly improved, which is funny to say considering this is the first time these characters have been used in these films. Charlie, while a teenager with obligatory teenage problems, is a go-getter who wants to be independent from her family. Unlike Sam Witwickey or Cade Yeager, she has skills which she fully utilizes within the plot of the film, and she feels like an active part of the film rather than something that gets in the way of what we all want: giant robots punching each other. That’s not to say all the characters are like this, as we have the obligatory parent(s) who know nothing about the robot in the garage and an obvious soon-to-be-boyfriend who kinda comes outta nowhere and sicks around for the remainder of the film. And then there’s John Cena. Yeah, his character has another name, but it’s just John Cena in a military uniform. He’s a serviceable character who gives a decent performance as the human villain who just doesn’t understand these aliens and how some are actually good.

Meanwhile, there’s the robots. Bumblebee, in spite of lack of voice, is actually quite a treat. He’s cute and round and full of innocence and good vibes. He’s a curious alien in a new world trying to adapt to it’s laws and people. However, he’s no coward on the battlefield, and certainly knows how to handle himself in a battle even against an enemy much bigger and more powerful than him. Meanwhile, the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick are a great if not serviceable bad guy duo. Unlike previous films, these Decepticons have personalities beyond “RAWR!”. They are cunninng, snarky, sly, blunt, and, above all, deceptive. There are also bits on Cybertron, as seen in the trailers, which I love immensely because they feature more robots like Optimus Prime, Shockwave and Soundwave with wonderfully designed new bodies and exceptional voice acting from veterans like Peter Cullen (who sounds like he’s actually having fun for once) and newcomers like Jon Bailey (aka the Epic Voice Guy).

One more thing I must make a note about is the action. In previous Transformers films, the action was the most anticipated thing until everyone collectively realized those scenes were terribly written and shot. Prior to Bumblebee, ever action scene consisted of swirling metal masses, explosions, incoherent screaming and confusion. No one knew who was fighting or who was wining the fight, mainly because the movie would focus on the humans rather than the actual fight. In Bumblebee, however, you can clearly see the robots and how the fight is going even when the scene cuts to other events going on in the same area like the humans trying to turn the tide. Since Bumblebee is bright yellow and most of the Decepticons are darker colors, you can tell who is fighting who and who is winning, even if sometimes things seem to blur a little bit (though that’s probably just me).

All in all, I would say this film, while not exactly stellar, is a vast improvement over the steadily rising howling five headed monstrosity that is the Transformers film franchise. It’s honestly great to see this kind of movie even if it came a little bit late to the party. But, hey, with a decent plot reminiscent of Iron Giant, lovable robots, relatable human characters, and decent action scenes, better late than never.