Bumblebee Review

Bumblebee is a great return for the Transformers series and might win over some new fans as well. This movie is about a girl named Charlie who discovers Bumblebee in a junkyard in the 80s. Haliee Steinfeld gives a fantastic performance. She makes her character immediately likable and is very easy to root for. She also does an excellent convincing us that she had a friendship with Bumblebee. John Cena gives a really good performance as our military lead. He is playing it more over the top, but it fits well with the tone of the movie. Some of his one liners are absolutely hilarious. Jorge Lendeborg Jr. gives a decent performance. He is good in the role, but his chemistry with Steinfeld is a bit forced. Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon and Stephen Schneider give okay performances as Steinfeld’s family. However, by the end of the movie I was warming up to them. Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux give great villainous voice performances. Peter Cullen and Dylan O’Brien give good voice performances in small roles. Travis Knight did a fantastic job directing. The action sequences are coherent and easy to follow everything going on. The script is the right mix of emotional and cheesy. The character work between Steinfeld and Bumblebee brought me to tears, while John Cena’s military plot keeps things light and fun. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments here. However, there is one bully subplot that feels unnecessary. The cinematography is overall quite good, but occasionally reminded me too much of a Nickelodeon movie. The visual effects are fantastic. All the transformers look great and you believe they are there. At 114 minutes the pacing is very good, though it does occasionally feel a bit long. Overall, I had a fantastic time with Bumblebee and recommend it to Transformers’ fans of all ages.

8.5/10