Tldr: The Bumblebee movie is a fun, heartfelt and action packed film that truly does the franchise justice. 9/10

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON SO STOP READING NOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED

Okay so assuming you listened to my warning and either saw it or wish to have it spoiled here you go. Hasbro seems to be indifferent as to whether the movie is a prequel or a reboot as Sector 7, Agent Simmons and Bee's old Camaro form all show up. But plenty of inconsistencies such as Blitzwing damaging Bumblebee's voicebox, Optimus and other Autobots arriving on Earth and Prime himself stating that Bee hasn't been to Earth before. All the bots have real, interesting personalities this time around including the Decepticons. Arcee, Ratchet, Brawn, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, Shockwave, Soundwave and I think Starscream all have speaking parts while Ironhide, Ravage, and several Seekers colored like Skywarp, Thundercracker, Acid Storm, and Bitstream all show up. Blitzwing damages Bumblebee's voice then Bee kills him. The final fight between Bee, Dropkick and Shatter is great and definitely don't start leaving before the credits, there's a scene near the start of them that you'll love. Also The Touch plays at one point.
Now the human factor, the actors are all pretty good, the romance isn't nearly as forced as Sam and Mikaela, each character is unique and we'll likeable. The writing is much improved with several lines being genuinely funny and pretty much every cliche dodged except a little bit of the standard family drama. Overall it's easily the best Transformers movie to date and you all should at least give it a chance.
Till All Are One.

 

Bumblebee Review - IGN

Only 7/10? Meh.

 

Way too low.

 

The review is so positive 7/10 doesn’t seem to correlate! Lol

“Bumblebee is a bit of a soft reset for the series, holding onto those elements that worked and ditching the baggage.” That’s music to my ears!

 

Overall fair. No fan is going to call this a prequel, though.

 

I might go a half point or point higher, but it's fair IMO.

 

Spoiler-free review:

What a beautiful movie! Definitely one of the top three greatest moviegoing experiences of my life!

This is definitely the Transformers movie I've been waiting for since I became a fan back in '06. Colorful designs! Fun personalities! A simple story with heart! This movie ticks 95% of the marks for things I've wanted to see in a Transformers movie. Heck, it ticks most of the marks I want in a movie period. Every second was pure nostalgia. This movie takes full advantage of it's premise, and it results in pure fun.

Bumblebee has a different structure than usual for modern blockbusters. The beginning and ending are very action-heavy, while the middle is devoted to character bonding and plot stuff (the plot is pretty simple, but solid). Pretty much no action during the middle 45 - 60 minutes. I found this to be a huge breath of fresh air, in a era where most blockbuster movies feel the need to to check-off an action scene every 20 minutes or so, even if it's pointless.

Practically every character in this movie was entertaining (even minor characters). It's similar to something like Home Alone, where everyone leaves an impact on you to some extent. Yes, even the Sector 7/government characters are memorable (and that aspect is usually the least interesting to me). Characters are established quickly without delay, using clever dialog and situations. This gives plenty of time to play with dynamics, and explore the characters to full potential.

There were a couple things that didn't sit well with me. There was one plot development that felt a little pointless, and seemed to only exist because "we're at that point in the story now". I won't give it away here (it's not a huge spoiler, but it was intentionally altered in the trailers), but it exists in both the Iron Giant and Big Hero Six. I thought it worked a bit better in those. As someone who is into the technical/worldbuilding stuff, I was a bit distracted by the implications of this scene. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, at least in relation to the brand as a whole. Still, it was short and overall non-offensive.

If I had to make another complaint, I could have done with a little less swearing. It probably wasn't as strong as a Bay movie (mostly D-words, H-words, and one or two S-words), but it was still a little surprising to me since this movie is aimed at a younger audience. There was also a scene when a character used a sexual euphemism (in a non-sexual context), which especially caught me off-guard. I guess they're probably trying to emulate the feel of '80s movies (which did tend to be pretty unrestrained), but I'm not entirely sure I'd be comfortable letting a child watch this (it also had a couple fairly dark moments). I'd say 12 or 13 and up.

Oh, the Cybertron scene probably could have been a bit longer too, although it served it's purpose fine. (Fair word of warning, it was probably 5 or 6 minutes, tops).

Overall Bumblebee was a highly entertaining experience, definitely my favorite of the series. I'd highly, highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the brand (and non-fans too). There's almost surely something you'll be able to get into. For me, I've been waiting 12 years for this movie, and I'll definitely be there again on opening night.

 

Quick review: I thought is was up there with the first 2007 movie in terms of quality, and I have a feeling it will do well enough to continue the live action movie franchise. It is neither a strict reboot nor strict prequel, and could be easily interpreted to be either. It rides the line between G1 and Bayverse in a way that I think a lot of people will enjoy.

 

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT approval rating.

Bumblebee (2018)

 

Bumblebee

73 on Metacritic, based on 11 reviews. Not bad.

Definitely pumped to see it now.

 

I'll go ahead and repost my review from another thread:

Wow, this film is tonally so different from the previous films and I absolutely loved it. Now, this is what I would call the perfect Transformers movie. It established the Autobots and Decepticons equally. It not heavily on the Autobot side like the '07 film. The Decepticons is this film actually feel like they have individual motives. Dropkick just wants to kill people while Shatter is actually trying to get through the main mission. I love that. Previous films, no matter how different the Cons looked, were more like drones than anything.

Also, Shockwave had an actual voice—the G1 one too! Hilariously, I was too busy nerding out to comprehend what he was saying. Did anyone remember his line?

I dug how Bumblebee had to earn his kill in this film. He had to put up with quite a beating to actually defeat his opponent.

Spoiler

Dropkick was my favorite death in that it was almost comedic in a way. "These chains can't do anything to me" *Bee kills him with the chains*

The parallels between Charlie and Bee were nice. Charlie fixed Bee and Bee fixed Charlie at the end. That was really cute.

Overall, this is the best Transformers film thus far—even better than the '07 film. Travis, please don't tease us like this. You need to come back for another one.

 

Pretty much in agreement here. I’ll see it again and I will recommend it.
The last few have been so god awful. I had to FORCE myself to see Last Knight. Ugh.
BumbleBee will serve as a nice reboot. Travis Knight gets it. And it shows.

 

I enjoy every single Bayformer movie, every last one. But I m also disappointed by every single one, they all have the same issue, too much time without robot interaction.

My short review:
By scaling back on characters this film dialed up characterization. So what established Sam and Bee as buds in the 07 film was dealt with in about 10min or less screen time. This movie, the entire second act is Charlie and Bee becoming friends.

In the mean time the decepticons speak! They interact! They kill humans! Dotm was the first time we saw this type of Decepticon discussion, in Africa, and it’s like a 2 min scene. Shatter and dropkick don’t just appear fight, speak jibberish and die. They are actual players in this story.

This movie is simple, it doesn’t have like 3-5 plotlines going on at once and 3 of them human only plots. This film knows what it’s doing, and it exceeds in it. When Bee says goodbye to Sam in Dotm it’s sad but I do not feel even a tenth of the emotion I felt when Charlie says goodbye to Bee.

Also when transfomers 07 landed I was single and in college. But even then I was thinking “oh... I could never show this to my kids” Now I am married with 2 kids and I COULD show this film to my daughter who will almost be 5 when it hits blu Ray... maybe I’ll have to cover her eyes 4 times or so. But the point is this is a film you can show to 7-10 year olds and not feel awkward. That’s what’s most important! Transfomers should be shown to that age group. And the amount of masterbation jokes in 07 do not allow that to be. I saw the 07 film and there were several kids in front of me under 10 and I remember thinking”this is so inappropriate “ I can’t show my daughter a single scene from TLk because every single scene someone says “SHIT!”

This is a transfomers film for all ages and THAT is it’s greatest achievement it’s for everyone! Women, Men, boys and girls this hits every single demographic it works for everyone! It is simply a fun movie and best of all it’s TRANSFOMERS!

I give it 9/10(a couple minor gripes that are enough to deduct 1 point, but not enough to stop me from seeing this movie 10 times in theatre)

 

I guess I'm a little torn and undecided right now with it being a prequel or reboot.
10 years of investment and hate reboots.
As a stand alone film without my personal attachment to the other films
I give it a 7.9/10.

 

Bumblebee Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

 

Can anyone tell me whether it'll be too intense for a 5-year-old? She did watch a good chunk of The Lord of the Rings and only really closed her eyes for the Nazgul.