"Bumblebee" Review

(Published Sep 4, 2020)

Just saw "Bumblebee." Let's break it down: Firstly, the opening: The opening to "Bumblebee" is what all G1 Transformers fans have been dreaming of for the past 30+ years. New and old TF fans can concur that that opening was a blessing sent from the Guiding Hand, from Primus himself. The opening appears on screen suddenly. Not slowly building up. Just all of a sudden the scene begins from above and you see chaos below. It is reminiscent of the "War for Cybertron" and "Fall of Cybertron" videogames where absolute hell is breaking out, Cybertronians are crowded together as they fight on top of each other shooting, welding swords, axes, etc. flying in and fighting, and absolute hell breaking out. There are bodies piling, Cybertron is burning, the mighty cities are falling apart, and bright lights are everywhere from the bullets, lasers, optics, building lights, lights on Cybertronians, etc. and all the reflective light. While that chaotic war was spectacular of itself, the part that made me almost cry, and people scream, was the characters. Ratchet is the first to be scene, in his G1 design. Followed by Arcee, Wheeljack, Brawn, Cliffjumper, and Ironhide. Optimus Prime soon makes his appearance. All of these Autobots are their G1 design, Wheeljack lacking a mouth as his "ear" panels flash blue, Optimus Prime's battlemask moving up and down as he talks, Ratchet looking grumpy as ever, etc. And their sizes are correct with Bumblebee and Cliffjumper being mini bots, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Ironhide about the same height, and Optimus much larger than them. But it gets better. Seekers, of various colors, some coneheads some not, are all flying in their tetra jet forms (the alt modes they posses on Cybertron in the G1 cartoon). Then, Soundwave in his G1 design appears and is the first Decepticon to speak. "Decepticons: Attack." He says in his monotone vocalizer, EXACTLY the same as the G1 cartoon. And Shockwave appears in his G1 design (lovely bust) and Corey Burton does the iconic Shockwave voice we hear in G1 and Animated. But the most important part is when Soundwave and Shockwave appear, behind them is the most fabulous, important, and spectacular being of them all: Starscream. Starscream doesn't say anything, but he fights. He's only in robot mode for a moment before transforming with Skywarp and another Seeker and taking off in formation. There was a Seeker that resembled Thundercracker flying around with them, but not the one with Starscream and Skywarp when they bomb the Autobots. Soundwave also says, "Ravage: Eject" before releasing Ravage who actually looks more like a cat. The opening was bright, so much action was happening, it looked beyond incredible and amazing. And I wish the entire movie was just this epic battle. But, it wasn't. After the opening I would say the movie is more... "bleh." Before you rush to conclusions or fight me on this, I will explain. It wasn't bad. No, far from it. The movie was decent given how it was made for younger audiences (something Hasbro continuously shoots themselves with given how most TF fans are now adults and want to see TF movies or a TV show like the IDW comics. Where it's more for adults than children), with some adult humor thrown in, but nothing like Bayformers with all the hump and testicle jokes. It was actually appropriate humor. It annoys me so much this desire to make Bumblebee mute in the films and TV shows, but for the movie it made more sense. His vocalizer is damaged in battle and he is unable to communicate to the human that helps him. While G1 Bumblebee is part of Jazz's special ops team (spy), he's not some grand warrior. He's a decent fighter, yes, but in the comics as well as the cartoon he is easily defeated by larger Decepticons. He's quick, agile, and clever, but not brutal or strong. This is something that the live action films insist on him being. Some super warrior or something that can take on any Decepticon. It's immensely annoying that they keep him like this. It would be not only more truthful to the character to make him weaker, but would add to his character that he has to depend on his brain more than his brawn. The storyline is cliche, really. Alien comes to Earth, human helps, alien gets abducted by evil humans who want to experiment, alien is saved by human friend, they stop the real enemies, everyone lives happily ever after (sorta). So, no points to that. But, it does make up with all the G1 references. Besides the G1 designs and original voice actors being used, "The Touch" by Stan Bush is played, a song used in the original Transformers movie when Optimus fights Megatron for the last time. - Bumblebee is a yellow Volkswagon bug. - Optimus Prime is a cabin over engine rig with a silver trailer. - Autobots flee Cybertron in the midst of a battle realizing they have lost their home to the Decepticons - G1 transformation sound effects - Taking place in the 80s - Bumblebee momentarily uses the alt mode of a military jeep. This may or may not be a reference to the fact that Hound was going to be the best friend of Spike Witwicky in the G1 cartoon, but due to parents bitching about him being a military jeep they changed it to Bumblebee being the human kids' best friend, since he was a harmless VW Bug. I personally found John Cena's character annoying. But all humans in Transformers are annoying. The ONLY human I would make the exception for is Verity Carlos from the IDW G1 comics. She really stands out from other human characters and she does more than just befriend the alien robots. She even leaves Earth to be with them, fight with them, and sees them as her family. Other human characters stay from cliche and just there for the kids. The fights scenes were better choreographed, and definitely felt more like beings who have been in war for 4 million years and fighting is all they do. The two triplechangers weren't bad, but Bumblebee defeating them on his lonesome was just... Yeah... Cliffjumper always dies... That's 4 TF universes he dies in. And the Seeker seen in the commercials is just a generic Seeker. My overall thoughts in a nutshell? 200/10 for that opening and leaving panties wet with all the female fans (especially when those sexy Decepticons showed up). 7/10 for storyline. 5/10 for human characters. 6/10 for Bumblebee himself. 9/10 for the fight scenes after the opening. Overall, a 7/10 from me. But I hope that Hasbro and everyone else learns that that opening is what we REALLY want to see, and they seriously take live action (or at least heavily CGI scenes like that opening) into consideration of being a TV series for older audiences either based off the comics or very much like the comics. Go see it. It's worth your time. And if it does better than Bayformers than we will hopefully get more G1 based TF movies. When I get a chance to watch it a second time I will go into over analyzing mode as I do with the comics and put even more into this review. Maybe it was good that Starscream didn't speak. Because finding the right voice actor will be hard to do. If you go the more Chris Latta path... That may not be best for a realistic Starscream. But a Steve Blum path may not be best for a G1 Starscream. Something more in the middle might be the right way. But it is confirmed in the comics Starscream has an "annoying" and "higher pitched" voice so leaning more towards Chris Latta might be the right choice. Just not as... Screechy.