Bumblebee - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Bumblebee

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
As someone who grew up with the Transformers cartoons, and watched every single one of the live action Michael Bay movies as they came out (yes, I paid money to see them in theaters), I honestly didn’t see a time when I would say “hey, that new Transformers film is actually fun!” again. What began as a fun franchise (yes, I actually enjoyed 2007’s Transformers), quickly devolved into a mind numbing ball of destruction, overused CGI, and increasingly bland and boring movies that culminated with a fifth entry that actually revolted me. If there was ever a franchise in need of revitalization, it was the Transformers movies. When I initially heard that they were making a prequel to the 5 film Michael Bay monstrosities I was turned off simply due to the fact that I had become so burnt out with the last 2 films. However, hearing that Michael Bay wasn’t going to have his fingers in the pie actually piqued my interest and once the good word of mouth started rolling in I actually started to get excited about the movie. Checking out the 4K disc felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, as I once again was EXCITED watching a Transformers film, and while the movie has a few flaws, is easily on par with the 2007 Michael Bay film that started this whole thing, and in some ways is more true to the source material than any of his films.

The year is 1987 Earth time, and the war on Cybertron is going full throttle. At this point Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen once more in his cameo as the legendary autobot) is leading a full scale retreat against the evil Decepticon forces and launches B-127 (we all know him as bumblebee) into space in order to make it to Earth and pave the way for the rest of the fleeing Autobot’s in the future as they escape their dying world. Arriving on Earth in a ball of fire, Bumblebee stumbles upon the secret training ground of a military group named Sector 7, heaved up by Agent Burns (John Cena). Agent Burns and his team recognize a threat when they see one and track down the lone Autobot, only to be dragged into a battle between B-127 and the newly arrived Decepticon, Blitzwing (who ends up destroying B-127’s voice synthesizer in the struggle). Barely making it out alive, B-127 stumbles down to a local lake and transforms into a beaten up VW Bug before his memory core shuts now.

Fast forward a little bit and we meet up with Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), a troubled teenager who is just turning 18 and living with the painful memory of a father who has passed on. Stumbling across this yellow, beaten up, VW Bug in a junk yard, Charlie decides to try and fix the thing so that she can actually get a pair of wheels. Low and behold, this little old VW Bug is something a LOT more , and the young girl finds a friend with an Autobot who is suffering from a damaged memory core. Both of them are lost, helpless and alone, which breeds the perfect formula to find friendship in each other. However, their friendship can only go unchecked for so long, as Decepticons Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) have arrived on Earth, deceiving the U.S. military to give them access to their satellites in order to hunt down the dangerous “criminal” known as B-127.

Bumblebee is literally a breath of fresh air for the Transformers franchise. It brings the series back to its roots in many ways, forgoing the giant spectacle that was was the Michael Bay films, and going back to what the series of animated robots was actually about. Robots. Bumblebee himself is adorably lovable, whether it be voiced by Dylan O’Brien at the beginning when he was a soldier on Cybertron, or when he’s acting almost like a child after he has been “reborn” on earth with his damaged memory cores. Hailee Steinfeld isn’t a Witwickey, but she does great as Bumblebee’s foil and mirror at the same time. The two need each other to survive and grow to their true potential and Travis Knight works with the simple formula to make the movie feel like a kids film once more, instead of a giant ball of CGI.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a LOT of action in the film. The opening shot of Cybertron is incredible, with huge leaps forward in technology to make the Transformer battles look even better than they have been in the past. The same goes for the battles on earth, as Shatter, Dropkick and Bumblebee make for an awe inspiring final battle. But no matter the action, this is all about the robots this time, with humans playing a more reserved role this time around. Charlie is a major part of the story, but only insomuch as she is one of the catalytic events that transforms B-127 into Bumblebee rather than the Autobots just helping out the humans.

While Bumblebee is a fun movie, it DOES introduce some plot holes in terms of how it interacts with the Michael Bay film. If you notice in the opening act all of Michael Bay’s redesigns of the transformers are all gone, with all of them showing their Gen 1 designs from the animated series. We even get to see Shockwave in his original form instead of being a mute riding a drill like he was in Dark of the Moon. It also adds some eccentricities into the history as well. Here Sector 7 is a military organization, while in the Bay films they were a “Men in Black” type black ops group that was formed BECAUSE of Megatron being hidden on earth in the 1930s. Also we get to see Optimus and the rest of the Autobots landing on earth at the end of the film in 1987, completely negating their entrance in 2007 from the first Transformers opening. I’m not sure whether Bumblebee is a prequel, or a bit of a soft reboot, as Travis Knight and Paramount is playing a bit loose with the backstory, and seem to be retconning a lot of the more ridiculous stuff we saw in The Last Knight and Age of Extinction.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence




Video:

Bumblebee was shot on 3.4K digital cameras with a 2K digital intermediate, and looks GREAT on Blu-ray. This is actually the first time (outside of some of the 1.78:1 framed IMAX shots) that the series has strayed from the 2.39:1 framing that Michael Bay always used for his epics. This one was theatrically 1.85:1, but Paramount has opened up those edges just a tad and give it a 1.78:1 framing for the home video release. The image is stunning throughout, with some digital noise in low light shots (a side effect of most digital cameras), but overall clarity is really really good. Faces and backdrops are nuanced with fine details (such as the junk yard where Bumblebee is found), and the Decepticons and Autobots themselves are vibrant and boldly colored with their Gen 1 designs from back in the day. The CGI technology has certainly advanced since 2007, and the robots look even more detailed and gorgeous looking than they have in the past. Bumblebee's bright yellow veneer shows dirt and grime due to his stint on earth, while Dropkick and Shatter looking glossier and shinier due to be fresh to the solar system. Blacks are healthy and show plenty of shadow detail, BUT the film sometimes look a bit softer than I'd like giving room for a lightly hazy look in some shots (usually bright outdoor ones).






Audio:

A Transformers film wouldn’t be a Transformers film if it didn’t have an awe inspiring audio track, and Paramount delivers the goods on that front with a heavy hitting Dolby Atmos track. The opening salvo on Cybertron rocks the listener in their seats with chest cracking bass and a wide sound stage that pummels the listening position from all angles. The surrounds and overheads are used with great aplomb, with the sounds of Transformers leaping from above to the back of the sound stage, and back again with the chaotic car chases. The music is integral part of the film as well, with 80s tunes blaring throughout the runtime (as well as Hailee Steinfeld making a song or two for the score), and the base is...well...devastating. Like all Transformer movies, it’s a sonic delight, but it IS slightly toned down from the Michael Bay extravaganzas due to the fact that the movie itself is more reserved. It’s not 100% action, and those dialog heavy portions of the movie (especially in the center act) are more restrained. But when the action gets going, this is a track that rivals any of the Michael Bay films in terms of audio quality and ferocity.




Extras:

• Sector 7 Archive
- Agent Burns: Welcome to Sector 7
- Sector 7 Adventures: The Battle at Half Dome (All-New Motion Comic)
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Outtakes
• Bee Vision: The Transformers robots of Cybertron
• Bringing Bumblebee to the Big Screen
- The Story of Bumblebee
- The Stars Align
- Bumblebee Goes Back to G1
- Back to the Beetle
- California Cruisin' Down Memory Lane

Final Score:
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Bumblebee is one of the most balanced Transformer films of the entire franchise. It’s all about fleshing out characters, particularly the Autobots and Decepticons, but also makes room for CGI extravaganzas as well. There’s action galore, but also more restrained and story oriented bits in the film that makes for a unique watching experience if you’ve seen the previous 5 films. The action is also not nearly as stylized and frenetic (Michael Bay couldn’t seem to make a fight scene that you could actually follow and keep track of to save his life), with us actually able to SEE the battles between killer robots. The 4K UHD disc is definitely the superior disc due to the upgraded visuals, but audio specs and extras are killer on both Blu-ray and 4K, so whichever one you get should more than please you. I am shocked to say it, but this is the first time since 2007 that I was this tickled over in regards to a Transformers movie. Recommended for a great watch.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, Peter Cullen, Dylan O'Brien
Directed by: Travis Knight
Written by: Christina Hodson
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core) Spanish (Latin), Spanish (Castilian), French, French (Canadian), Italian, Portuguese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 114 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: April 2nd, 2019

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Great Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I wanted to see this in theaters but was not able to. Will get this one.

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I will see this one with the family.

 

[Jack]

Michael you're killing me here, but ok I will make this mine as well. Thank You for the review.

 

[Jack]

I really liked this movie, it was very approachable. Even my wife liked it and she is not a fan of the other films.