Bumblebee is the sixth film in the live-action Transformers movie franchise. It is set as a prequel and directed by someone other than Michael Bay. It's story is deliberately on a smaller scale with a smaller cast and this works in the movie's favor. The opening scene is stunning, especially if you are a fan of the G1 cartoon. The amount of characters that you can recognize, the way it was set in Cybertron and especially the designs (although it was odd in that Bumblebee was the only one sporting his movie-styled head...) was so much fun. Unfortunately, those few minutes are probably the closest thing to what we want of a movie without humans. Going back to the setting on Earth, the story is about Bumblebee arriving on the planet and settling down. He bonds with Charlie, a teenage girl and it is more like a coming-of-age story. The best thing about the movie is contrary to any of the others in the franchise, while the story isn't anything complex, it tells it coherently and you care about the characters. The Decepticons were cool and that you wanted to see more of them. They're portrayed not as mindless machines but manipulative schemes worthy of their names. Yes, the action sequences is not as flashy and could be improved upon but the movie has more heart than the rest of the franchise combined and is finally a step in the right direction.
