You wouldn’t think it would be that much of a challenge.  Transformers movies are about Transformers, right?  And yet, how often have the movies tended to gloss their way over each transformation to or from a car or jet or other vehicle?  The latest trailer for Bumblebee looks like Hasbro and Paramount are scrapping the Michael Bay style and about to deliver the goods.  And not just once or twice.  Great transformations happen all over the new trailer released this morning for the film heading to theaters this December.  Jet and helicopter to cars and then Transformers and you can actually see the components change instead of a magic CGI flash?

At last.

Everybody who has ever loved a car can see something of themselves in the trailer for the latest film in the Transformers movie series.  If you’ve ever seen an old car on its last wheel and thought there was something more to be brought back, then the young Oscar-nominated actor Hailee Steinfeld is you as we meet more of the film’s human star in the second trailer.  In the same way that R2-D2 and BB-8, or Number Five, or WALL-E, or CHAPPiE, or Marvin, or Iron Giant were made lovable in their iconic sci-fi films, Paramount and Hasbro are turning back the clock, and at first glance they may finally get it right.  More heart.  More Transformers!

It’s a car, but it might as well be alive.  And better yet, BumbleBee–that classic toy yellow Volkswagen Beetle turned Optimus Prime-protector–is returning to its VW roots as this film shows him back in 1987, instead of the Camaro incarnation we saw in the movies.  And if your favorite Transformer is Optimus Prime, this trailer won’t disappoint.

Check it out:

Bumblebee is directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) and written by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Birds of Prey).

It stars Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Ender’s Game), John Cena (Psych, Ferdinand), Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. (Spider-man: Homecoming), Jason Drucker (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Long Haul), Kenneth Choi (Counterpart, Bright, Marvel Cinematic Universe), John Ortiz (The Cloverfield Paradox, Kong: Skull Island), Gracie Dzienny (Zoo), Rachel Crow (Rio 2), and Pamela Adlon (Bob’s Burgers).

Look for BumbleBee in theaters December 21, 2018.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com