For many people, the Transformers movies represent the modern Hollywood blockbuster at its most overdone and unpleasant, and after the relatively weak box office returns of Transformers: The Last Knight, the pressure is certainly on for Bumblebee to fix the public image of this once wildly successful sci-fi series.
Fortunately, the Travis Knight-helmed spinoff appears to be a more agreeable affair than what came before it and has already earned the curiosity of some of the franchise’s long-time detractors. Now, another trailer has arrived online to sway the rest of us and again, it’s really looking like this could be a step in the right direction for the Autobots.
Packed full of action, teases of a coming of age story and a surprising amount of heart, Bumblebee will no doubt be a bit of a departure from what we’ve come to expect from the Transformers franchise, but it might be just what it needs after the last few entries have underwhelmed. If nothing else, it looks a heck of a lot better than The Last Knight.
While Optimus Prime, Soundwave and other familiar bots will have parts to play here, the primary emphasis will be on the relationship between the film’s titular yellow VW Bug and the teenage Charlie Watson, the latter played by Hailee Steinfeld. And after six films of wearying ‘bigger is better’ spectacle, the shift to a smaller scaled story will surely come as a relief to many.
While reports of Paramount hitting the reset button on the series may have proven exaggerative, it’s pretty obvious that this franchise is in need of fresh ideas if it wants to keep going and we’ll see if Bumblebee can put the sci-fi saga on the right track when it hits theaters on December 21st.