Bumblebee
2018
***½
Director: Travis Knight
Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider, Len Cariou
B-127 escapes the collapsing Cybertron and ends up on Earth in 1987, with its voice box and memory damaged. An estranged teenager Charlie Watson discovers the Autobot disguised as a yellow VW Beetle, unaware that the U.S. Army and a pair of Decepticons are looking for it. This spin-off and reboot of Transformers is easily the most enjoyable episode in the series (I have seen). Apart from the obligatory big robots smashing each other, there is an actual story and characters I can care about. Admittedly, the screenplay is formulaic and heavily influenced by E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, but the resulting movie is thoroughly watchable.
