Bumblebee is one of the movies that I can re-watch and still enjoy it as much as the first time I watched it. It's fun, it's got heart and, well, there's this love story vibe with Bumblebee and Charlie, and I'm not going to go into the comparison too much with Iron Man, it's just a vibe I get watching it.
So the story sets in 1987, before all the action that we have seen in the other Transformers movies, Bumblebee is beaten up and living in a hidden place on the planet after a fight, seeking to stay out of trouble, and finds himself in a junkyard in this little California town, disguised as an old yellow VW Beetle. He's the one that finds Charlie Watson. Teenage girl, Charlie, in a state of grief for her father, somewhat feeling out of place and just being. This broken down car is no problem for her, she doesn't know that it's actually a giant alien robot, but she still decides to fix it up anyway. After that, the relationship between them simply develops naturally, and it's not like "girl finds robot," but rather, "two broken things finds each other at an appropriate moment.
But, here is my real assessment on this one, as most reviews just end up saying “it's the good Transformers film” as if that's all there is to it. To me, the true magic of Bumblebee is how little action it has, think about it, it's a Transformers movie that took the time to show some emotion first, the grief and loneliness of a teenage girl before it moves into giant robots fighting. It's a big step for a franchise that is typically all sound and fury, Because Charlie's pain is real, not just a plothook, and you feel her isolation, and that feels more like this quiet rescue than a plot-accelerating action sequence, so it works.
For me, that's where the Iron Man analogy fits in. They aren't exactly the same kind of plot, but something that all of them have is somebody who's alone and is going through something, and then this is the unexpected support or meaning that brings them out of it. Tony regains his sense of purpose after he almost lost it and Charlie after her dad and a bit of emotional numbness with Bumblebee. Underlying warmth, different stories.
This fun tension is also added by John Cena's character, a government agent who is on the hunt for Bumblebee, believing that he's a threat and that helps give the movie just enough outside pressure without making it a complete pandal. The stakes are also raised when the Decepticons come along to hunt down Bumblebee as well, without taking away what really made me love it in the first place, which is the relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee.
I also just adore his personality in Bumblebee, because he doesn't really say many word for most of the movie, due to his voice box being damaged. He communicates via radio songs, and expressions on that big robot face that somehow say more than words would. One scene in which he's just playing with the radio to play something he wants to say, but, um, it's really a straightforward thing, but it works both emotionally and such.
It is indeed a movie that I think should be seen again, and I don't say that about every kind of movie, it's not a story that has too much, not a big universe building game, it's just a solid, fun, emotionally solid story in a Transformers shell. Each and every time that I return to it, I still enjoy the journey, I still laugh and enjoy Charlie and Bumblebee discovering each other.
If you haven't seen Bumblebee or if you have seen it once, and now you have forgotten about it... then once again, it's your sign to go back, It's fun, it has soul, and it deserves it all the love people give it.
Rating: 90/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.
