Bumblebee ★★½ Quote:
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On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary yellow VW bug.
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Bumblebee is at its most interesting and enjoyable when it is a fourwheeled version of ALF (which it references early on), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial or Short Circuit, and becomes tedious when it becomes an action-dependent Michael Bay-type movie with John Cena – a huge casting misstep – on screen.
It is a film with some charm, humour, and likeable characters, but one that doesn't sit naturally as a character-driven drama and, more's the pity, once to become an all action Transformers movie. I was happiest when it was just Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) playing music and grieving with the childlike titular robot.