I think whoever did assembly for the trailer wanted to evoke that idea with the underwater scene, to draw on Shape of Water in people's minds. That being said, I also think it is likely entirely different context in the movie proper and is just editing misdirection.
Bumblebee is going to be an interesting part of the Transformers saga. It's the first film not directed by Michael Bay — LAIKA founder Travis Knight takes over behind the camera — and it's a prequel with a very different tone than the rest of the series. But, that might actually be a good thing.
We were at CinemaCon and got to see the first footage from Bumblebee. And Paramount just released the first trailer. Check out our reaction! More Iron Giant Than Transformers
The comparisons 'Bumblebee' has gotten to 'The Iron Giant' are actually pretty true.
The first Transformers spin-off is set in the '90s and features the franchise's first female lead, a teen named Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld). The scene we saw had Charlie and the titular Autobot meeting for the first time.
Charlie awakens on her 18th birthday and goes to the garage where she discovers a yellow VW Beetle. An amateur mechanic, Charlie slides under the car only to discover a robotic face as part of the chassis. The Beetle then transforms into a robot. While Charlie is frightened at first, she sees the robot cowering in a corner and whimpering. It's more afraid of her than she is of it.
Thread necro, I know, but we've got a new trailer and man those are some slick updates of the G1 designs. Digging the Triple Changer transformations from Blitzwing's mooks too.
Holy shit that Cybertron. I thought I was watching a trailer for a live action movie, not a Fall of Cybertron sequel.
Also what little is actually seen of plot looks good (Decepticons actually deceiving like what the fuck is that), and it largely seems to 100% ignore bayformers canon which is both something I like and in line with bayformers canon.
Thread necro, I know, but we've got a new trailer and man those are some slick updates of the G1 designs. Digging the Triple Changer transformations from Blitzwing's mooks too.
Feedback. If it does well, it's the first film in a reboot. If it does poorly, its the last film in the Bayverse.
Edit: And if it is the last film in the Bayverse, the next one will divorce itself more from the Bayverse aesthetic and not try to be compatible with its narrative.
Rotten Tomatoes is at 98% (40 positive, 1 negative) so it looks like this was a successful reboot critically, time will tell if its a box office sell as well. It comes out next Friday so we'll know soon enough.
Rotten Tomatoes is at 98% (40 positive, 1 negative) so it looks like this was a successful reboot critically, time will tell if its a box office sell as well. It comes out next Friday so we'll know soon enough.
I'm almost disappointed, in a way. I lost interest in the Michael Bay movies after the second instalment and despite the rather heavy advertisement I've seen my outlook has been profoundly "meh". I still don't know if I want to see it. It would be pretty tragic if it actually turns out to be good but no one goes to see it because we all got tired of Bay's shit.
I suppose that's a small price to pay for what looks like an actually decent live-action TF movie
I already experienced the horror of Alexis x Starscream shippers and also the massive schadenfreude from that ship being completely sunk by the Unicron Trilogy
Just got back from seeing Bumblebee. Didn't realize exactly how hyped I'd gotten for this one, I'd kept telling myself not to expect much but then today I impulse bought a ticket instead of one for Spiderverse and then vibrated with excitement the rest of the day like a puppy on cocaine.
First of all, everybody's already said it but holy shit that opening scene. Hot fucking damn that was good.
The rest of the movie was fantastic as well, though not without flaw (most noticeably Memo just kind of drifts into the movie and then slides out right before the climax - I suspect his original introduction and some later sequence were both cut because it was really kind of weird). Charlie was great, had her own skills and motivations and character arc and all of them were relevant to the plot. She's a mechanic and a diver, feels disconnected from her family due in part to dead parent syndrome, loves music, and all of this comes back into the plot one way or another. She has agency! She does things! I'm unreasonably excited by basic character shit because good god Bay set that bar deep in the Earth's crust!
Seriously though there's a loose parallel with her arc and Bee's that actually works really well, and she rides that fine balance between being important and overshadowing the robots we came for very well.
Speaking of robots, the character design for them really is well done in this one. It's what the Bayformer aesthetic always should have been. There's that plethora of small moving parts and mechanical bits, but the characters remain bright and vibrant and incredibly distinct from each other (the small cast helps but they pulled that even on Cybertron). The heads, man, it's not quite all in the heads but the heads are all fuckin' great. It's also amazing what not making all the Decepticons various shades of grey does for the visuals.
Character-wise, Shatter and Dropkick actually had this neat dynamic with each other that made them feel alive and interesting. I do suspect the original script had Starscream as the villain though, with him eventually being cut for a duo act and his role in the early sequence on Earth either too done or too good to remove so he got Blitzwing'd (that scene was very very good BTW, solid action and some great little touches and a lot of menace from a dude who was basically a one scene wonder). Bumblebee and Charlie play off each other great, and while Cena was definitely the only interesting human bad dude he actually had a really interesting character and a little arc all his own.
This is definitely some kind of soft reboot too. There are touches of the Bay continuity like Bumblebee turning into the Camaro at the end and Sector Seven existing (Cena even calls one nobody agent Simmons at one point), but the entire reason for Bumblebee on Earth is different and there's no mention of the Allspark or Megatron being lost and Optimus ends up on Earth at the very end.
Musical choices were great across the board, though the actual score was lackluster.
Seriously this was great and I already want to go see it again.
So, just the first 10 minutes of Bumblebee was a better Transformers movie than every other live action Transformers movie, combined.
The Transformers are all colorful and distinct. You immediately know who everyone is. No gun metal grey Decepticons. And past the opening action scenes, the girl, Charlie, has more chemistry with Bumblebee than Sam managed in 3 movies.
Only downside of the movie is John Cena, who finds a new way to make you hate him in every scene he's in. But he can't sink the whole movie. If you like Transformers at all, see this movie.
Idea to have the lead human be female was cool and they gave her a decent role too with some agency. Females in TF movies thus far have mostly just been eye candy or background.
A big female MC Transformer like Windblade or Arcee would be cool eventually.
Box office for this and Mary Poppins Returns is fine, but less then Aquaman in most regions so far.
All three are fun movies from what I've seen.
Disney though has had mixed results this year.
Flops in steady franchise like Star Wars Solo, good reviews but bad sales for the budget.
Sequels, remakes, and other works having trouble.
Original IPs also having trouble despite some critical success at times or a devoted hardcore fanbase.
But they've also made some commercial success.
