Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, reminisce about your first car and discuss Bumblebee, which premiered in the United States on Friday, December 14, 2018.
Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.
Now, join Shara White as she talks about Bumblebee. [Note: Spoiler-free!]
Shara: When I first saw the trailers for Bumblebee, I wasn’t all that excited. I mean, can anyone blame me? The Transformers movie franchise is one that’s easily made fun of, as Michael Bay’s turned each installment into something bigger, badder, and more bombastic. Sure, I enjoyed the very first installment back in 2007, but there’s been a lot of crappy movies since then.
I’d made a somewhat snide remark along the lines of “Do we really need another Transformers movie?” to my husband, and when he told me it was supposed to be a prequel to all of the big, bad, bombastic installments, I paid closer attention to the trailers. Bumblebee had always been my favorite from the franchise, and with a girl in the lead, I realized I couldn’t resist, especially when early reviews embraced the movie.
So, let me swallow my pride and say those reviews are right on. Yes, it’s fun, and it has a lot of action, but oh, Bumblebee has so much HEART. I loved seeing Bumblebee’s character arc, which was something of an origin story, and Charlie, played by the amazing Hailee Steinfield, was a fantastic, complex lead. I can’t tell you how many times I got choked up during this movie.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of things that made me scratch my head and go, “Hmm…” but then again, I didn’t grow up watching the franchise or playing with the toys, so there’s a lot of world-building I just have to accept and roll with. But I’m so glad Michael Bay didn’t write or direct this one. I said before this movie has heart: it treats its heroine with so much respect, and I have to say I wasn’t surprised to see a woman wrote the script when end credits popped up. Christina Hodson is a writer to keep an eye on, especially since she’s currently attached to the forthcoming Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and Batgirl.
Long story short: Bumblebee is absolutely worth it, even if, like me, you’ve long grown tired of the franchise. Bumblebee breathes fresh life into the Transformers franchise, giving us a great story of a girl and her robot who get to save the world, and it’s making me want to re-watch 2007’s Transformers, just for kicks.
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