Bumblebee

The Transformers are back on the big-screen this Holiday Season. Their latest adventure gives the spotlight to Autobot hero Bumblebee in Bumblebee. Long time director Michael Bay finally abdicates the director's chair in favor of Laika alumni Travis Knight.

The evil Decepticons and the heroic Autobots fight for control of their homeworld Cybertron. But the Decepticons overwhelm their enemies as the film opens. Autobot Leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) sends his scout, B-127, to establish a base on Earth. B-127 is warmly greeted with military fire and the Decepticon Blitzwing (David Sobolov), the latter of whom rips out his voice box. Broken and bruised, B-127 takes the form of a VW Beetle and drives off.

Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) finds B-127, or Bumblebee as she calls him, in her Uncle Hank's (Len Cariou) junkyard. She quickly befriends the Robot in Disguise and teaches him how to hide amongst humans. Her nerdy neighbor, Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), is let on to the secret. Meanwhile, Deception agents Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux), join with the military to look for Bumblebee. They also plan to call the other Decepticons to Earth. Our heroes have to stop them before that happens.

This isn't like the last five films. It mercifully clocks in at an acceptable 113 minutes. There's no sign of crass humor or a needlessly complicated story. No. Instead, Christina Hodson's screenplay is a simple, endearing story of a girl and her car robot. Charlie's frustrations are understandable. Her relationship with Bumbleebee is great. It's sad when Bumblebee eventually drives off to join the Autobots. But not before he shifts to a Camero in a nice moment. Memo is likable and his friendship with Charlie is enjoyable to watch. Agent Burns (John Cena) is a reasonable antagonist who's just following orders. My only real nitpick is that Bumblebee doesn't spend too long with his natural voice (Dylan O'Brien) before it's gone. But him speaking through radio clips made up for it.

There's much to appreciate on the technical side. The new Transformer designs are sleek and colorful robots. A majority of them are perfect CGI recreations of their cartoon designs. I'm sure that'll make a lot of people happy. Their interaction with real elements is seamless as usual. Cybertron was an amazing accomplishment of production design. The action scenes are exciting and they don't wear out their welcome. The sound design was appealing, rather than deafening. Dario Marianelli's score fits the less-bombastic tone of the film. It works just as much as Steve Jablonsky's score did for the last few films.

Bumblebee is the best of the series since the first ... and it's better than that. Its characters are a memorable bunch. Its scaled-back action and upgraded story makes it more than a toy commercial. Overall, its new direction is just the spark the franchise needs. See it in this year or next. But see it on the big screen first.