Posted on 12/19/2018 6:14:07 AM PST by C19fan
After five bruising and very loud Transformers movies, each with diminishing returns even for fans of the Michael Bay-directed series, I assumed we were done with the toy-turned-franchise. Well, it turns out Bay was done, but the series lives on in another form as a prequel and origin story for its most lovable piece of heavy metal, Bumblebee, the B-127 robot disguised as a Volkswagen.
Considering my lack of admiration for the previous editions, I had zero expectations for this one despite the fact it had a new, and very talented, director at the helm in Travis Knight (Bay is just taking a producer credit this time). Knight seemed an unlikely choice since his Laika operation in Oregon is all about stop-motion animation with gems like Caroline, ParaNorman and his directorial debut Kubo and the Two Strings. Yet here he is behind the camera for this live-action take on just how Bumblebee came into this world. And guess what? It is surprisingly entertaining, engaging and even emotional as Knight has moved the series more into the Spielberg arena, or a movie like Short Circuit. It’s the time-honored a-boy-and-his-dog formula, except in this case the boy is a girl named Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) and the dog is a yellow robot all dressed up as a VW beetle.
(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...
The director Travis Knight is Phil “Nike” Knight’s son. Daddy financed an animation studio for his scion.
Lead is a chick? ✔
Best bud a person of color? ✔
Our miltary are bad guys? ✔
Feh.
“Bumblebee, the B-127 robot disguised as a Volkswagen.”
I guess they think that all of us who grew up with ‘Herbie The Love Bug’ are dead by now, and won’t notice the rip-off.
“I’m not dead, yet!”
(I saw a tan VW bug with Herbie’s number and racing stripe on the road last week!)
Bumblebee was a VW Bug for the TV animation series.
Transformers were my generation. Yes, bumblebee was a VW big from the beginning. I sure wish I had kept my toys. Those generation one transformers are worth a fortune and I had a lot of the most valuable ones.
Yep.
I had the Generation 1 Soundwave, Thundercracker, Shrapnel and Blitzwing.
But before there were Transformers, there were Micronauts.
I wonder who remembers those.
I remember Micronauts. Fun toys. I may have a Transfomer or two from my childhood...in a box...somewhere.
This series came long after my childhood, but I did step into a theater showing the last “Transformers” movie at a multiplex and watch about three minutes of it while waiting for my wife. It was the most stunningly stupid thing I’ve ever experienced. It was concentrated idiocy, like enduring an hour’s worth of comments from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in three minutes. I had to leave while I still remembered how to walk.
If they’ve actually managed to make a good movie out of that primordial moron soup, then they deserve an award for alchemy.
Bumblebee = Pure unadulterated garbage.
The second I saw the OG Soundwave in the trailer I immediately told myself I’m watching this in theaters.
There was an episode of ‘Pawn Stars’ on not too long ago and a guy wanted to sell his entire collection of Transformers - it was valued at $10K!
This series came long after my childhood, but I did step into a theater showing the last “Transformers” movie at a multiplex and watch about three minutes of it while waiting for my wife. It was the most stunningly stupid thing I’ve ever experienced. It was concentrated idiocy, like enduring an hour’s worth of comments from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in three minutes. I had to leave while I still remembered how to walk.
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I don’t think last TRANSFORMER movie was too terrible...Sir Anthony Hopkins was fine in that movie...
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