Rent BumbleBee (2018)
3.4 of 5 from 810 ratings
1h 49min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Cybertron has fallen. When Optimus Prime sends BumbleBee to defend Earth, his journey to become a hero begins. Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), a teenager trying to find her place in the world, discovers and repairs the battle-scarred robot, who's disguised as a Volkswagen Beetle. As the Decepticons hunt down the surviving Autobots with the help of a secret agency led by Agent Burns (John Cena), BumbleBee and Charlie team up to protect the world...
- Actors:
- Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, Jason Ian Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider, Ricardo Hoyos, John Ortiz, Glynn Turman, Len Cariou, Kollin Holtz, Gracie Dzienny, Fred Dryer, Isabelle Ellingson, Mika Kubo, Felicia Stiles, George Anagnostou, Brandon Wardle, Lenny Jacobson, Megyn Price
- Directors:
- Travis Knight
- Producers:
- Michael Bay, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian
- Voiced By:
- Dylan O'Brien, Peter Cullen, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, David Sobolov, Grey Griffin, Jon Bailey, Steve Blum, Andrew Morgado, Kirk Baily, Dennis Singletary
- Writers:
- Christina Hodson
- Aka:
- Brighton Falls
- Studio:
- Paramount
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Collections:
- 2019, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know: Angela Bassett
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 13/05/2019
- Run Time:
- 114 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Bumblebee's Next Adventure in an All-New Motion Comic
- Deleted/Extended Scenes and Outtakes
- Explore Cybertron Through Bee Vision
- Discover Bumblebee's Origin and More!
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- Not released
- Run Time:
- 113 minutes
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 13/05/2019
- Run Time:
- 114 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles:
- English, English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
More like BumbleBee
Reviews (9) of BumbleBee
How not to make a film - BumbleBee review by JM
Went out to see this one at the cinema. Walked out less than half way through. I usually enjoy the Transformer films and thought the past couple with Mark Wahlburg were great. This film is a complete stain on the series. Poor story. Poor background. Poor character development. Poor humour. No emotional attachment created with any of the characters. Bumble bee is just plain silly. The lead actress leaves you questioning why she was cast at all. John Cena's part may as well have been played by a crash dummy.
Sounds harsh but lacking in every department. The only positive I could possibly give is the choice of songs used but they completely littered those parts of the film I stayed to watch with these songs in attempt to distract the viewer away from everything else. If I want great music...I'd put my music collection on at home.
There are few films I've walked out on at the cinema in the past. In closing, don't waste your time; this film is frankly insulting to the viewer.
3 out of 11 members found this review helpful.
Much better than the Transformer films - BumbleBee review by PC
At last a Transformer film that is not merely throwing as much noise and special effects at the screen until you are bludgeoned into submission. A good cast, funny lines and characters that make sense, fans of the first films may be disappointed at an actual story but film fans should give it a go.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Resets the bar for Transformers films - BumbleBee review by Alphaville
Who’d have thought? A Transformers film with heart! English screenwriter Christina Hodson has written a heart-warming script far from the usual fanboy agenda and director Travis Knight embraces it with panache. In this prequel set in 1987, teenager Hailee Steinfield grieves for her dead father while forming a bond with injured Transformer Bumblebee.
It’s very silly, of course, but by focussing on their relationship it works like a more adult version of ET, with a killer score of 1980s pop classics and some great San Francisco North Bay scenery adding to the mix. It descends into the usual underwhelming cgi cartoon battle at the climax, but up to that point the journey is more involving than it has any right to be.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
BumbleBee (aka Brighton Falls) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
We can’t judge BumbleBee in the same vein as Michael Bay’s previous Transformers movies, despite being a prequel spin-off. Sure, it shares the same timeline and characters but outside of that, it’s a completely different film. To say it’s better than Bay-formers is an easy victory. Now the film must compete in the new realm of films where teenage kids make friends with an alien from space. And in this genre, the film turns up rather lukewarm.
But, yes, let’s give thanks to director Travis Knight for not making his film as muddy, convoluted, cynical, and aggressive with product placement. He has stripped away all of this needless junk to make way for a simpler story with simpler robot designs that look more like the G1 cartoon and less like mechanical vomit in motion. He has trimmed the cast, relegating the Autobots to one and Decepticons to two when it comes to the main story. He makes the human characters more relatable and less hatable, despite still being a bit cartoonish. In terms of the construction, yes, it’s a better film.
Now, setting all that retooling aside, let’s talk about its finer points. We learn that the heroic Autobot of BumbleBee crash-landed on Earth in 1987 with no memory and no voice, making it difficult to prepare for the coming of the evil Decepticons. He finds a human friend in the teenage automotive prodigy Charlie, played with charming pluck and frustration by Hailee Steinfeld. She’s not popular at school and her family ignores her so she naturally gravitates towards the scared and accidental BumbleBee. Though BumbleBee has lost his memory, he apparently remembers that Autobots are very specific about their 1980s music; they love Stan Bush and hate Rick Astley.
The central conflict of the story is not that interesting and unfortunately falls back into the same bad habits of the saga, despite being relatively trimmed. Visiting Decepticons of Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) have convinced the American military that they’re the good guys hunting down the evil BumbleBee and gain access to their tech. Their mission is simple: kill BumbleBee and take over Earth, zapping humans along the way. Standard bad robot protocol but with fewer subplots. But it’s going to take more than simplification to be won over by this adventure, especially if it wants us to care a lot about BumbleBee possibly biting the dust.
I gotta give the film points for trying. It wants to be sweet and gentle with the relationship of Charlie and BumbleBee but it feels so underdeveloped the whole cuteness comes off as mechanical, sweeter by design than genuine chemistry. I suppose I should be feeling something when BumbleBee tussles Charlie’s hair or Charlie teaches the robot the fine art of not being seen. But there seem to be a few scenes missing to make that emotion real, where the caress of metal carries a heart with it. It doesn’t help that the supporting players fall into the familiar Bay stereotypes as well, John Cena acting like the meat-headed soldier and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as the meek nerd who’d really like to ask Charlie out on a date.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m thankful director Travis Knight has steered away from most of the messy Michael Bay model of filmmaking and has constructed something more concrete for a film. Now he just needs to refine this stripped-down model of the Transformers so that the gentle and silly nature for kids carries more effort and not come off like a watered-down Iron Giant.